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Sunday 27th June saw Drumgoon host Balieboro in an ACFL Division 1 clash from which it was important for both teams to take ‘something’. Fresh from championship wins against Ramor and Castlerahan the previous week, Drumgoon were keen to keep the winning habit. To date, Drumgoon had secured a win over Knockbride away in the league and a draw against Castlerahan at home. At the throw in, it was Drumgoon who were first to show. Rapid movement in the forward line and the trademark close interplay resulted in the first strike from half forward Martin Clerkin veering to the right and wide. The first Balieboro attack came after four minutes with centre forward, Frank Brennabn who would prove very influential in the match, shooting just wide. It was Balieboro who registered the first score with corner forward Brian Reilly converting an 18m free in the fifth minute. It wasn’t until the eighth minute that Drumgoon secured their first score of the game, coming from a fine passage of play, and converted by the newly-wed Martin Clerkin. Early Lead Drumgoon edged into the lead in the 12th minute when a promising move through the middle resulted in a free from 25m, which was confidently converted by Niall Fortune. Attempts from Paul McCabe and a free from Keith Fannin went narrowly wide before a brace of points from Niall Fortune, both from frees, pushed Drumgoon into a 4 points to 1 point lead after 24 minutes of play. Drumgoon now appeared comfortably in control, and on the 25th minute, Fortune struck again, this time from play to stretch the gap to four. But Balieboro were to finish the half strongly. Charlie Clarke at midfield fielded well and delivered a long pass to his midfield partner Mulhall, who struck cleanly over the bar. Then on the stroke of half-time, a close in free was converted by Brennan to bring Balieboro back into the game, finishing the half down two points at Drumgoon 0:05, Balieboro 0:03 Battling Performance Balieboro were first to strike in the second half with Brennan again converting from play. After six minutes, a passage of play from the Drumgoon half-back line resulted in a finely taken point from Paul McCabe following a pacey run from Niall McIntyre. Keith Fannin’s trusty left foot extended the Drumgoon advantage to 3 points with a free on the eighth minute of the half, before Brennan struck twice more before the end of the third quarter, with a converted free, followed by a well taken 45. The game was now finely balanced, with Drumgoon leading by the narrowest of margins. From the kick-out, Reilly’s clearance was fielded by Edward Jackson who delivered to Jim McNally. McNally delivered through Keith Fannin and on to Brian Bates. Bates connected with Philip McDermott who fired over the bar to restore the margin to two points. Two minutes later, a searing run off the half back line by Michael Hannon deserved better as the final strike passed narrowly wide of the left upright. Into the final minutes, Balieboro found themselves two points down with two minutes plus injury time remaining. Then in a three minute spell, Brennan struck three times, once from play and twice from free’s, to push Balieboro into an unlikely lead with the clock ticking down. In fact, Balieboro could have closed the game out, but for a tremendous save from Drumgoon ‘keeper’ John Reilly in the dying minutes of ordinary. With three minutes of injury time up, Drumgoon rallied and again launched an attack on the Balieboro defence. This time, Sean Clerkin was fouled on the left-side of the field, in a difficult position for the free-taker. However, the sure-footed Fortune cooly slotted the 21m free between the posts to secure a share of the points for the home team, and what was probably a fair result on the day. |