Brave Ballyhaise shock Gowna with three first-half goals

SFC round 2

Ballyhaise 3-9

Gowna 0-17

Paul Fitzpatrick at Ballinagh

Ballyhaise produced the upset of the championship so far when three first-half goals helped them to a stunning win over Gowna at a wet and windy Ballinagh last Sunday afternoon.

Last year’s intermediate champions rocked the defending senior champions when they opened a 3-5 to 0-5 win after 25 minutes and while Gowna dominated the remainder of the match, they had left themselves too much to do and will rue a lot of missed chances.

That shouldn’t take away from Ballyhaise’s performance though. Having pushed Ramor all the way but ended up with nothing to show for it, this was a big step forward and marks the Annalee Park side out as a team to watch.

Gowna started well with a point from the lively Oisin Pierson, turned over the bar by Gary O’Rourke, but Ballyhaise, who were raining long ball on an unusually-jittery Gowna defence, struck for their first goal when Martin Conaty bravely contested the ball and bundled it home.

Gowna hit back with well-taken scores from Conor Casey and Aaron Brady – a super effort – but Ballyhaise replied with a good score from Jack Maguire.

There was little between them at this stage, with Mark McKeever laying off for Ryan Brady to knock over a score which seemed ominously easy at the time.

Then came the second goal and it was a cracker. Ballyhaise turned the ball over and, spotting Daire Madden off his line, David Brady sent a pinpoint shot from outside the 45 to the net.

Gowna got in for a goal chance at the other end as the open nature of proceedings continued but Pierson was off target and in their next attack, Ballyhaise made it 2-2 to 0-4 with an excellent mark from Michael Brady.

Back came Gowna, Ryan Donohoe galloping through and knocking over but Conaty responded with another for Ballyhaise, who then struck for their third goal, Michael Brady, who was on fire, blasting to the net.

Brady then added another quality point with the left and when Aodhagan Watters scored with the outside of the boot, it was, implausibly, 3-5 to 0-5. Gowna finished the half strongly with two points from Tiarnan Madden (one free) and a free from his brother Cian to leave the score 3-5 to 0-8 at half-time. Despite leaking three majors, they were still in the game and when Conor Casey and Oisin Pierson both curled in good points on the resumption, the gap was back to four.

Michael Brady converted a free for an important point for Ballyhaise but Gowna, by now squeezing Ballyhaise with their patented press, were on top. Scores from Pierson and Robbie Fitzpatrick cut the gap further before a huge moment when McKeever played Cian Madden in but Gary O’Rourke saved brilliantly.

A poor missed free from Tiarnan Madden let Ballyhaise off the hook but the Annalee Park men were still having to work extremely hard just to get the ball out of defence.

Conaty relieved the pressure with a great point but Gowna immediately hit back through a well-struck Fitzpatrick effort to make it 3-7 to 0-13 with 43 minutes played.

A Cian Madden free edged Gowna closer but three wides in succession hurt their chances of a comeback. Madden tacked on another free after Casey was fouled but, again, Gowna were off target with their next chance and then had another goal opportunity denied when Darren Reilly cleared off the line. After a long ball out of defence, Michael Brady won possession well and found Cormac Callaghan for a timely fisted point for Ballyhaise, who now led by two entering the last 10 minutes. Re-energised by that goal-line clearance, Ballyhaise soon added another, Marcus Duffy finding an untracked David Brady, who fisted another.

Gowna pressed hard late on. After a foul on Ryan Brady, Tiarnan Madden converted a free and, in the final play, Ryan Donohoe got a fist to a high delivery – but it was too little, too late as Ballyhaise held on for a famous win.

Ballyhaise: Gary O’Rourke, Aaron Watson, Darren Reilly, Adam Heaslip, Cormac Callaghan (0-1), Aodhagan Watters (0-1), Kevin McGovern, David Brady (1-1), Evan Crowe, Jack Maguire (0-1), Eoin Clarke, Colin McKiernan, Brían O’Rourke, Michael Brady (1-3, 1m, 1f), Martin Conaty (1-2)

Subs: Kevin Tierney for C McKiernan (ht), Marcus Duffy for A Heaslip (50), Luke Gilmartin for J Maguire (56), Sean McCormack for B O’Rourke (60)

Gowna: Daire Madden, Cillian Brady, Eoghan Hartin, David Philips, Fionan Brady, Cormac Brady, Cian Madden (0-3f), Ryan Donohoe (0-2), Ryan Brady (0-1), Robbie Fitzpatrick (0-2), Aaron Brady (0-1), Tiarnan Madden (0-3, 2f), Mark McKeever, Oisin Pierson (0-3), Conor Casey (0-2)

Subs: Ryan McGahern for D Philips (18), Seanie Hartin for A Brady (ht), Conor Brady for Cormac Brady (40), Darragh McConnon for M McKeever (46)