)Those who had seen Ballycumber’s poor form in their two recent outings against Edenderry would not have held out much hope for them on Friday night against St. Brigid’s. The Croghan team had come through a tricky group 2 with three wins out of three, and were very much favourites for this clash. But with the threat of elimination hanging over both sides for the first time this year, it was the west Offaly side who put together the more solid performance, and notwithstanding a very shaky first ten minutes, where they failed to register a score in reply to the four points chalked up by Brigid’s, they did what they had hitherto failed to do all year – perform consistently well throughout the match. With forwards of the calibre of Rory Guinan, Nigel and Ciaran Grennan, and Adrian Kelly all looking dangerous in front of goal throughout, a steady stream of ball was always going to result in flags being raised, and certainly fifteen points is a tally to be proud of against a side that had conceded only 25 scores in their three games this far.
To be fair to St. Brigid’s, they have always depended heavily on their very strong spine, and as with all club sides picking from a very small catchement area, replacing any of their top quality players can be nigh on impossible. Sean Casey had been one of the form defenders in Offaly this year, and his absence, reportedly due to a throat infection, was always liable to leave his team vulnerable at the back. As it turned out regular centre back Enda Egan dropped back and put in a fine performance at the edge of the square, but in turn his influence on the forty was sorely missed. To compound these miseries, star midfielder and captain James Carroll suffered an injury midway through the first half, and though he struggled on for a time, had to be replaced early in the second period.
To be able to carry losses like this, Brigid’s needed to impose themselves on the game early on and suffocate Ballycumber’s movement and running. The first part they did well – three frees in the first ten minutes were added to by a fine Ken Casey point from play, and at four points to no score, they looked set to go on and defy their personnel problems. As the game went on however, the greater pace of Ballycumber was too much to handle, and was decisive in determining which side advanced to the last four.
Ballycumber were struggling to get scores, and eventually it took a simple free from Colm Quinn on twelve minutes from 25m out to break the duck and get their first score. As regularly happens with this Ballycumber side, they then went on a hot streak of scoring. Ciaran Grennan and Quinn again struck frees, and points from Rory Guinan and two from Nigel Grennan with only a Casey free in response meant that with 25 minutes on the clock, the early advantage had been cancelled out, and Ballycumber now led by six points to five. Only one more score was taken before the break, but it was probably the best score of the match – a great Ciaran Grennan kick from way out on the right hand side with his right foot that split the posts – a truly inspirational score.
Starting the second half, for Ballycumber the danger was that they would continue their usual habit of following a hot spell with a lull. Casey again reduced the deficit to the minimum with only seconds on the clock, but from then on Ballycumber were just pulling away, and St. Brigid’s always looked second best. Rory Guinan first scored himself, and then drew a late tackle which gave Grennan an easy free. After Casey and Quinn traded scores again, the under 21 player really caught fire. On 43 minutes he made a catch and pass under heavy pressure leading to another Grennan point, and added two more points himself before the end to round off a man of the match performance. His four points tally only told half the story of his influence on this game from half forward.
Although the end scoreline shows only four points in it, in truth the result was always going to be a Ballycumber win once the second half got going. With only two minutes left on the clock the score was 0-14 to 0-7, a much truer reflection on the game. A quick Jody Kennedy free put just two scores between the teams, before Guinan sealed the result with his and Ballycumber’s final score. The consolation goal rounded off the game, David Egan getting in behind his marker to catch a long ball from Mick McCabe, and with only the keeper to beat he took his chance well. As leader of the Croghan attack all year, he won’t have been happy with his display in this game, but a lot of it was due to poor luck – he was struggling to win the ball up front, and when he did drop back to pick it up, he was too far away from goals to really hurt Ballycumber on the scoreboard. The injury to Carroll really took its’ toll in this respect, forcing their star man and senior panellist back out the field.
Looking forward to a last four which sees the two leading names on the Offaly senior championship roll of honour – Rhode and Tullamore – in with Shamrocks and Ballycumber, two sides with one title apiece, Ballycumber will certainly have no reason to fear anyone based on this display. They have a hardworking and tenacious defence, plenty of players around the middle who mightn’t make a lot of clean catches but will be hard matched in terms of winning and using breaking ball, and a very balanced and potent attack – very much their trump card. They’ve got to the last four very quietly, and if they can avoid the lulls in games that were the hallmark of their group matches, they can certainly be a match for anyone. Memories of last years hiding at the hands of Rhode will certainly still be fresh however, and it is psychological factors like this that Mick Lowry and his selectors will be keen to address in the coming weeks, because on both footballing ability and form, they have as much in their arsenal as any side in the county, and certainly they will not fail to bridge the 37 year gap since their last title due to lack of talent. Whether that talent will be matched by the necessary mental resilience is something we’ll see in the coming weeks.
Teams:
Ballycumber: Francis Boland; Diarmuid Donoghue, Francis Bannon, Declan Daly; Sean Hackett, Karl Daly, Alan Flanagan; Colm Quinn (0-4, frees), Diarmuid Daly; Rory Guinan (0-4), Brian Halligan, Simon Casey; Nigel Grennan (0-2), Adrian Kelly, Ciaran Grennan(0-5, 0-3 frees).
Subs: Fergal Daly for Simon Casey, Andrew Grennan for Brian Halligan, Glen Halligan for Diarmuid Daly.
St. Brigid’s: Laz Molloy; Eunan Lawlor, Enda Egan, Alan Kennedy; Mattie Moore, Billy Grogan, Anthony Foy; Mick McCabe, James Carroll; Michael Kennedy, Michael Casey (0-2, frees), Shay Hannon; Jody Kennedy (0-1, free), David Egan (1-0), Ken Casey (0-5, 0-2 frees).
Subs: Ger Hannon for James Carroll (inj.), Derek Egan for Michael Casey, Michael Carroll for Shay Hannon.
Referee: Liam Boland