Ballycumber/Tubber 1-9 Ferbane/Belmont 1-7
They might operate over 100 yards apart from one another when playing on the football field, but between them the two Hiney brothers combined on Saturday evening in Clara to share “Man of the Match” honours and in doing so played huge parts in Ballycumber/Tubber avenging last years defeat by Ferbane Belmont at this level and taking this championship.
In the first half it was Niall in goals who was the star of the B/T show, making three superb saves from Ferbane goal chances on 13, 23 and 28 minutes, meaning that his side went in at the break, having faced into a very stiff breeze trailing by a mere two points. For Ferbane/Belmont, this was scant reward for the territorial advantage they had enjoyed in that period.
Up front, his older brother Adrian had opened the scoring after a mere forty seconds with a free, but in the second half he really came into the game, scoring three points, and the all important goal with seven minutes to go that gave his side a lead that was never relinquished. There were several other fine performers on this B/T amalgamated team that played very well, but it would be hard to pick out any who had as big a direct impact on the game as those two.
These teams have met very regularly in league and championship fixtures at this level in recent years, and with both sides having registered wins over the other at times, a close game was always likely. A feature of those games has been B/T starting very brightly, only for F/B to slowly creep back into the game. When the boys in green elected to play with the wind in the first half it looked as if that trend might be reversed, but true to form it was T/B who started brightly, with all three of the first half points coming in the first ten minutes – a free from Hiney, followed by close range scores from Conor Robbins and Keith Lawlor. F/B were getting a good share of ball throughout, but their shooting was really letting them down, as evidenced by a horrendous tally of nine first half wides, ultimately the main reason they failed to retain this trophy. They already had four wides kicked and had squandered a great goal chance when Niall Hiney saved at the feet of Dermot Daly in a one on one situation before their best attacker on the day, Daniel Cooney, hit over their first point. That was followed by a close range Daly free, and two more scores, from midfielder Joe Kenny and Cooney again. However having taken the lead with ten minutes to go to the break, they needed to build on that, and one further point from Dermot Daly before the break was not nearly enough. Donal Corbett, Mark Egan and Ronan Egan were all denied goals by last ditch heroics in the B/T goals and full back line in this ten minute spell.
B/T started the second half as they did the first, with three points in the first ten minutes coming without reply, two more from Hiney and a second from Robbins. They could easily have gone much further in front when a high sideline ball from Aaron Farrell was jumped for by both Shane Nally and goalkeeper Ronan Cassidy, but the ball spilled onto the crossbar and was cleared.
This reprieve spurred F/B into action, and after some good play resulted in a Colin Egan point, they put together their best move of the match to finally breach the B/T goal. Donal Corbett took a long range free which was well won by Colin Egan, and he beat one defender and drew another before laying off to Mark Egan, who finished very coolly under Hiney to put his side 1-6 to 0-6 in front.
It looked from here as if they might rob the game, but to B/T’s credit, they went about matters with great efficiency, and led by Noel Browne and Brian Kelly who were both having storming games at midfield, they reasserted their superiority, and began to get scores again. Eric Farrell had looked dangerous off very little ball throughout, and he got his first score on 51 minutes before T/B got what was in essence the winning goal. In Brian Kelly they had the star act on the field and a county minor player, and he showed his worth in one beautiful move, making a great catch from a Ferbane clearance and running at the defence. He beat two players before laying off to Hiney, who finished well.
With the wind making points so hard to come by for F/B, even that one point lead looked big, and when Adrian Hiney got his second point fisting over a crossed ball with five minutes to go, B/T looked very much like champions elect. A good score from a tight angle by Daniel Cooney kept nerves jangling for the three minutes of injury time that were allotted, but whatever chance F/B had, it disappeared when Eric Farrell kicked his second point with a minute of that remaining to round off the scoring at 1-9 to 1-7.
Teams:
Ballycumber/Tubber: Niall Hiney; Richard Dunne, Eoin Johnson, Olsen North; Lee Dunning, Aaron Daly, Colin Daly; Brian Kelly, Noel Browne; Peter Dunne, Conor Robbins (0-2), Aaron Farrell; Keith Lawlor (0-1), Adrian Hiney (1-4, 0-3 frees), Eric Farrell (0-2).
Sub: Christopher McDonald for Olsen North
Ferbane/Belmont: Ronan Cassidy; Declan Rohan, Shane Nally, Lorcan Walsh; Eoin Doolan, Jonathan Dunican, Ronan Egan; Joe Kenny (0-1), Colin Egan (0-1); Daniel Cooney (0-3), Donal Corbett, Jonathan Duffy; Robin Melia, Mark Egan (1-0), Dermot Daly (0-2, 0-1 free).
Sub: John Devery for Robin Melia
Referee: Carthage Buckley
