This article is from page 68 of the 2011-03-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 68 JPG
Ballyea 2-19 – Tubber 1-10 at Ruan
BALLYEA are closing in on another under 21 title, two years after they last won the title in this grade. Standing in their way in the semi-final are St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield after the black and amber scored a comprehensive over disappointing Tubber side on Saturday afternoon.
All down to new county minor captain Tony Kelly, who followed up his virtuoso performance in the first round when his tally of 2-10 put reigning champions Wolfe Tones to the sword with another man-of-thematch display.
This time the midfielder accounted for 1-10, with his brilliant 28th minute goal putting Ballyea on the road to victory. That strike, from a very difficult angle, followed up three earlier points and helped Ballyea forge a 1-9 to 0-6 interval lead.
Up to that point it was an even affair with Tubber, thanks to the immense display of Patrick O’Connor at centre-back stayed in the ball game. O’Connor hit five of Tubber’s first half total from frees, Ballyea never looked back after Kelly’s strike.
They were the more evenly balanced team, with Niall Deasy’s contribution of 0-5 from play being also crucial to their cause as they eased to a 12-point win. Points by Conor Clancy and Patrick O’Connor from play early in the second half did reduce the margin to four points, while O’Connor’s goal in the 37th put the game back in the melting pot once more as the margin was down to two points.
However, from there Ballyea kicked on once more as points from Deasy, Paul Flanagan and Cathal Doohan by the 40th settled them once more, while Kelly resumed his scoring spree in the last 15 minutes when adding five more to his total.
Any lingering hopes Tubber may have had of launching a last-ditch rally were extinguished on 55 minutes when Paudge McMahon struck for Ballyea’s second goal as they stretched their lead into double figures.