Strong finish sees Ballyea secure second title

Ballyea 1-20 Cratloe 1-14

Strong finish sees Ballyea secure second title

[team1]Ballyea[/team1][score1]1-20[/score1][team2]Cratloe[/team2][score2]1-14[/score2][/score]

A most remarkable comeback - during which Cratloe let slip a seven-point lead and were outscored by 1-11 to 0-1 between the 32nd and 60th minute - saw Ballyea crowned Clare senior hurling champions for the second time in the club’s history.

Two minutes into the second half, anything other than a Cratloe victory was impossible to envisage. Three points within a minute had Cratloe seven to the good, 1-13 to 0-9.

From there to the finish, though, Cratloe would only manage one further score, a Billy Connors free on 37 minutes. Thereafter, 2016 champions Ballyea struck 1-8 without reply to record the unlikeliest of victories.

Niall Deasy was immense for the winners throughout the second period, hitting seven frees and one ‘65. Having moved into a 0-18 to 1-14 lead seven minutes from time, Ballyea had one hand on the county cup when a short Cratloe puckout went astray and Martin O’Leary was on hand to punish the mistake.

All the more impressive was this Ballyea triumph when you consider that only eight players who began the 2017 All-Ireland club final defeat started this game. Emigration robbed the club of four first-team regulars, while injury sidelined Paul Flanagan and Damien Burke. And still, they triumphed.

Cratloe held a deserved 1-10 to 0-9 interval lead, their hunger greater and their movement slicker. The 2014 champions, chasing a third county title, held a double-scores, 0-6 to 0-3, advantage after 16 minutes, young Billy Connors and Rian Considine both sniping a pair of points.

Both sides could have had a goal by this juncture; Niall Deasy rattled the Cratloe crossbar in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Gearoid Ryan, while Rian Considine was hooked just as he went to pull the trigger.

As has been the case all summer, Ballyea were largely reliant on Niall Deasy and Tony Kelly to tally the bulk of their scores. Deasy clipped their opening three points, via the dead-ball, and when Ballyea outscored their opponents by 0-5 to 0-1 between the 19th and 25th minute to move in front for the first time, Deasy and Kelly were responsible for all but one of this burst.

Cratloe’s response to falling behind was to deliver the opening goal, Conor McGrath picked out Cathal McInerney and he batted the sliotar to the net.

Cratloe's dual commitments - the club footballers were knocked out of the Clare SFC last weekend at the semi-final stage - would appear to have come against them as the verve which defined their opening half performance was sorely missing in the second period.

Scorers for Ballyea: N Deasy (0-13, 0-12 frees, 0-1 ‘65); M O’Leary (1-3); T Kelly (0-2); G Brennan, B O’Connell (0-1 each).

Scorers for Cratloe: B Connors (0-8, 0-4 frees); C McInerney (1-2); R Considine (0-2); C McGrath, S Gleeson (0-1 each).

Cratloe: G Ryan; M Hawes, M Ogie Murphy, S O’Leary; D Ryan, L Markham, S Gleeson; E Boyce, S Collins; C McGrath, D Collins, P Collins; R Considine, C McInerney, B Connors.

Subs: S Chaplin for S Collins (55); D Browne for D Collins (58)

Ballyea: B Coote; B Carrig, J Murphy, J Neylon; B O’Connell, J Browne, A Keane; G Brennan, T Kelly; E Donnellan, T Lynch, C Brennan; M O’Leary, P Lillis, N Deasy.

Subs: B Casey for Neylon (HT); R Griffin for Donnellan (45); D Sheehan for C Brennan (60)

Referee: W King.

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