Ballyskenach 3-9 ....... Drumcullen 0-5
By Eugene Hogan
Of all the sporting victories ever, the first in a respective grade is the one to savour most and the tiny club of Ballyskenach sampled that inagural sweet fruit when they took home thier first ever minor hurling title on Saturday at Lusmagh at the expense of Drumcullen in the Minor Hurling B championship final.
Ballyskenach certainly fashioned that feat in a most impressive manner as the comprehensive way in which they dealt with their opponents undoubtedly erased all the memories of previous disappointments in the grade.
There was never an real doubt about the outcome of this clash as Ballyskenach made the running for the entire hour and never allowed their opponents to establish any foothold in the exchanges and although Drumcullen will consider themselves hard done by with the final margin they, nevertheless, cannot harbour any well founded reservations about their defeat as they were simply outclassed.
Ballyskenach were far ahead of their opponents in virtually every sector of the field. They were more disciplined, seemed to possess a greater fitness level and, above all, had a few individuals who had the ability to sway the destiny of the match.
However, standing head and shoulders above the rest was corner forward Padraig McLoughlin, who played his roving role to perfection, taunting the opposing defence continuously and also augmenting in defence. In attack he received more than adequate assistance from Peter Murphy, who scored 2-1 from play, and Donal Golden.
The free taking ability and all round work rate of centrefielder John Dooley was invaluable, while in defence 'keeper Thomas O'Toole did well to keep a clean sheet, while Denis Doughan, Cathal Murphy and Keith Russell performed valiantly in the rearguard.
However, on this occasion, the traditional endeavour of Drumcullen was not enough to save them from defeat as it was clear from early on that they faced a task that was above them in their attempt to collect the laurels.
Nevertheless, they had some staunch performances from the likes of Liam Molloy and Angus Byrne on the full back line and centre half back Tony Ryan, who in particular made oustanding attempts to stem what was almost a steady flow of attack from the opposing forward line, and also their net custodian Aidan Mannion, while elsewhere Raymonod Quegan, Kieran Dooley and Finbar Carroll caught the eye.
Early Prominence
Ballyskenach set a sign of things to come as early as the first minute, when they opened the scoring thanks to the irrepressible Padraig McLoughlin and within eight minutes they reaped the first of their two goals when John Dooley slammed home a penalty after McLoughlin was fouled in the square.
Drumcullen's poor early showing was evident in the fact that it took them over 12 minutes to open their account when Tony Ryan pointed a free and they brought the deficit back to two points when Raymond Quegan pointed from an acute angle.
But in the 16th minute Ballyskenach got what was a decisive score when Peter Murphy broke through the porous Drumcullen defence to slam the ball into the top corner of the net for their second goal. This score opened a decisive five point lead and both Donal Golden and John Dooley added a point each before the interval to leave Ballyskenach in a comfortable and commanding 2-3 to 0-2 interval lead.
Fighting Spirit
Undaunted by this ominous half time standing, Drumcullen came out defiantly in the second period thanks to three points by the 5th minute from Quegan again and two Tony Ryan Frees, but they failed to grab a badly neeed goal and indeed failed to figure on the score board for the remainder of the match as Ballyskenach sustained the rally and went on to completely overwhelm their opponents and added a further 1-3 during the remainder of the game, the goal coming from Peter Murphy when he slammed home from an acute angle.
Scorers:
Ballyskenach: Peter Murphy (2-1), John Dooley (1-3), Padraig McLoughlin (0-3), Donal Golden (0-2)
Drumcullen:Tony Ryan (0-3) and Raymond Quegan (0-2)
Ballyskenach: Thomas O'Toole, Martin Maher, Keith Russell, Cathal Murphy, John Ormond, Denis Doughan, Raymond Treacy, John Dooley, Liam O'Toole, Peter Murphy, Donal Golden, Noel Murphy, Keith Kirwan, Ger Mullall, Padraig McLoughlin.
Sub: Derek Russell (for Liam O'Toole)
Drumcullen: Aidan Mannion, Mark Ryan, Liam Molloy, Angus Byrne, Pierce Gath, Tony Ryan, Paul Mannion, Fran Reddan, Gavin Nugent, Fergal Dooley, Finbar Carroll, Raymond Quegan, Enda Reddan, Declan Murray, Kieran Dooley.
Subs: Ger McIntyre (for Declan Murray), Davd Conroy (for Fran Reddan), Cathal Boyd (for Fergal Dooley)
Referee: James Dooley
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