A third
title since 2007 for Ballinacourty and the seven point winning margin crowned
their most fulfilling triumph. This was a thorough team performance as
Stradbally were left grasping for air. The sending off tested their resolve but they continued to suffocate their rivals in fiery affair and eight different players posted a score.
Gary Hurney emphasised the collective effort afterwards.
"We knew
that sometimes we weren’t getting the best out of everyone but this time we got
the absolute best out of everyone and we needed that to drive on and win today."
Even with
fourteen, Ballinacourty remained in total control of their own destiny. Selector Neil Moore felt that the half time breather allowed
them the opportunity to reconfigure their forces. “We were lucky with the
timing of it in that it gave us a chance to regroup and reorganise. Maybe if it
happened in the second half, it wouldn’t have given us the chance to get them
together in the dressing room.”
They crossed the bridge in determined mood to tear up the pre match predictions. “The lads were determined that we weren’t coming over here and losing today. A lot of the talk around was that we were coming over to make up the numbers but we showed a few people that we can play football too.”
Ballinacourty showed a real willingness to scavenge. They pressurised from the front, forcing uncharacteristic errors from their opponents and didn’t allow Stradbally build patiently from the back. A true sign of their hunger however was their monopoly on breaking ball. During their second quarter purple patch, Mark Fives got his paws on three breaks in a row. The underrated captain, really rose to the occasion and polished off sixty minutes of sweat with two points from play.
On and off the field they outmanoeuvred an out of sorts Stradbally. Switching Sean O’Hare to full back and Shane Briggs to six allowed the latter to relax his defensive duties and move into advanced areas. The management resisted the temptation to place Gary Hurney at fourteen and instead used his aerial prowess to gain the upper hand at midfield. He also minimised the impact of the Ahearne brothers. Man of the match Hurney also came up with the crucial scores when they needed to enlarge their lead. In the second half, he produced two points and one assist. That point into the country end was something spectacular as he held off two Stradbally defenders to curl the ball inside the left hand post.
The Reds were seriously hindered from the moment that Michael Walsh hit the deck in the top right hand corner of the field. The Brick hobbled into the full forward line but was never able to run off the injury. Up to that point, he was probing for openings and proved almost impossible to dispossess as he surveyed each situation. His sumptuous pass played in Paddy Kiely for a point that was close to perfection. Stradbally didn’t seem the same without their link man pulling the strings. The supply line was completely cut off and amazingly, they only registered two points in 54 minutes of football after Kiely’s white flag on 11 minutes. The Ahearnes were also held scoreless from play.
They weathered the early Courty storm of singles from Patrick Hurney and Michael O’Halloran. David Grey, Shane Ahearne (smashing free from forty metres) and Kiely left them 0-3 to 0-2 in front. Normal order restored but there was a The Stradbally kick out collapsed for the second quarter of the contest. Gary Hurney competed strongly and Mark Fives swept up the crumbs coming his way. The industrious Fives levelled on eighteen minutes. James O’Mahoney nudged them ahead before Richie Foley sauntered forward from wing back for a brace of points. Cruising at 0-6 to 0-3 in front, they could have kicked on further but they sent six shots astray. Even John Hurney’s moment of madness didn’t deter them. The fitness programme implemented by James Keoghan was singled out for high praise afterwards as they maintained their intensity levels in the tackle and held their own in terms of the collisions. After the restart, Mark Fives added his second single and Gary Hurney screwed in that screamer off his left boot. No way back for the Reds.
The scoring statistics beforehand hinted at a looser final but familiarity tightened things up. The top three now meet so regularly that they know each other inside out. Space was at a premium and none of the forwards went on a scoring spree. The sides shared 27 goals beforehand but Courty only carved two openings and Stradbally mustered a half chance in the first half. There was needle in this one throughout and the free count rose above forty. Man in black John Condon controlled matters and flashed the colours when required (two reds and four yellows). The dismissals of John Hurney and Paddy Kiely were clear cut calls.
This is a revamped version of the Villagers. Five changes in personnel have been made from the victorious 2011 side. Under 21 medallists turned into senior starters this season. When hounding down Stradbally, you need a little extra. Sunday’s dominant march suggests that the green and white will be sticking around. For the pool of talent at their disposal and their consistency (five finals in seven seasons), they needed more silverware to show and a third Conway Cup for this group is a healthier return. The motivation now must be to build a long term reputation and that starts by putting together back to back titles.
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