A disappointing result for Oldcastle in the IFC Q/Final

Ballivor 2-10 Oldcastle 0-10
by Eoin Muldoon
On what felt like a winters’ morning in Trim (22/9/2024); Brian Donohue’s men couldn’t have come into this IFC quarter final meeting with Ballivor in finer form, however standing in their way was a resilient and well drilled side who looked like they had a point to prove.
It was indeed Ballivor who came out of the stalls the quicker of the two teams and registered two early points which injected life into their support. Ballivor continued to share the early spoils of possession and after Oldcastle failed to convert a scoreable free albeit into a strong breeze they were hit with a romping counter attack at the end of which Ballivor extended their early lead to three points. Conor McHugh’s kickout found Cian McPartland who worked the ball tidily on to CJ Healy who slipped willing runner Rory Crawley a hand pass but he was fouled on receiving it, giving McHugh a chance to put Oldcastle on the scoreboard about 40 metres out and he made no mistake in doing so, a much needed score for Oldcastle.
After getting on the scoreboard Oldcastle seemed to be settling into this game. A long spell of possession around midfield saw Pearse Sheridan and Oran Mulvanny link up well to fashion an opportunity to narrow the gap; however after Mulvanny’s curling effort dropped short Oldcastle found themselves light for numbers at the back and were forced to foul to stop a potentially dangerous counter attack. This free restored Ballivor’s three point lead leaving the score 0-01 to 0-04 in favour of the men in maroon mid-way through the first half.
A fine interception from Jason Scully high up the pitch led to the ball being slipped off to CJ Healy who made no mistake in clipping it over the bar. A couple of minutes later it was the same duo linking up for Oldcastle’s third score, Scully this time was fouled off the ball in a very scoreable position and CJ calmly slotted it over the bar as Oldcastle continued to reel in their opponents.
As the game drew closer to half time Oldcastle were seeing a lot of the ball and searching for an equaliser but after a long spell of possession broke down Ballivor were away on one of their trademark blistering counter attacks and won another free, the turning point of the game as the attempted shot dropped short and dangerously bobbled around the box before eventually being deemed to have crossed the line by the umpire which led to the raising of the green flag. It was a huge goal for Ballivor and an even bigger blow for Oldcastle to concede a goal of this nature right on the stroke of half-time.

Oldcastle began the second period sharply and a surging dart forward from Pearse Sheridan looked destined to lead to a score but the ball drifted narrowly wide at the last second and after a quick kick out Ballivor worked the ball forward smoothly to their sharp inside forward line who worked a nice score to further their advantage. Oldcastle went in search of a score and after a long searching ball forward from the creative CJ Healy it found its way into the hands of veteran Paddy Gilsenan after a fortuitous bounce, as he bared down on goal he opted to smartly fist the ball over the bar and open Oldcastle’s account for the second half.
Oldcastle won the Ballivor kickout and worked it through the hands of Dylan Garrigan onto Rory Crawley who laid it off to substitute Conor Delaney who saw his effort on goal saved but the play was brought back for a foul in the build-up on Crawley and CJ executed the free to bring the margin back to just two points. Two Ballivor wides followed this and Oldcastle had opportunities to bring the game level; however they couldn’t capitalise on them and it was Ballivor who got the next two scores, one of which was a marvellous long range effort into a strong breeze and it felt like the game was starting to get away from Oldcastle at this point.
After some nice work along the sideline Paddy Gilsenan was fouled and this time Pearse Sheridan took a nice point from a free to leave three points between the sides. Oldcastle tried to close in on Ballivor but another two quickfire scores meant Ballivor pulled five points clear two thirds of the way through the second half. Resilient Ballivor turnovers allowed them to keep their lead and a costly slip in the Oldcastle defence gifted them a pathway to get straight through on goal with numbers and the calmly dispatched this chance with a fisted goal, a dagger through the hearts of the Oldcastle men to find themselves eight points adrift with time ticking away.
Oldcastle took a direct approach to the closing minutes of the game and after some fine trickery between the Healy brothers Lee flashed a hand pass across goal to which Oran Mulvanny met with a fist forcing a fine save from the Ballivor goalkeeper. Conor Mchugh converted the resulting 45 which left seven points between the sides. With Oldcastle throwing everything at Ballivor, Stephen Lawless combined with Ronan Maguire who sailed one over the bar bringing the back gap to six points but it was hard to feel a goal wasn’t required from the well worked move.
Midfielder Oran Mulvanny who was being deployed as a target man late on saw his thunderous effort crash off the base of the post next and it was clear at this stage it was not going to be Oldcastle’s day. With minutes on the clock CJ Healy was given marching orders after two consecutive yellow cards. Ballivor now with the numerical advantage saw the opportunity to extend their lead and did so with another clinically taken point. In the dying moments Pearse Sheridan won a penalty for Oldcastle but the inspired Ballivor goalkeeper produced another marvellous save and this saw the action coming to an end with Ballivor running out winners on a scoreline of 2-10 to 0-10.

A hugely disappointing result for Oldcastle after a highly impressive group stage but Ballivor deserve the credit. Our lads will now have a well-earned break before doing it all again next year.

Oldcastle: Conor McHugh (0-02), Oran O’Reilly, Cian McPartland, Dylan Garrigan, James Cooke, Steven Lawless, Lee Healy, Pearse Sheridan (0-02), Oran Mulvanny, Ronan Maguire (0-01), CJ Healy (0-04), Keith Connell, Jason Scully, Garrett O’Reilly, Rory Crawley. Subs: Paddy Gilsenan (0-01), Conor Delaney, Paddy Rahill.