Tactically-smart Gowna get the better of Ballyhaise

SFC quarter-final

Gowna 3-10

Ballyhaise 1-12

Gowna turned the tables on Ballyhaise and kept their dream of a first-ever three-in-a-row of senior titles alive with this impressive quarter-final victory on Friday night at Kingspan Breffni.

When these sides met in Ballinagh in round two of the championship, the expectation was that the reigning senior champions would prevail. With Gowna having drawn the opening round of the championship with Kingscourt, they knew a loss would put huge pressure on them in the final two rounds.

On top of that, the respective intermediate champions haven’t been competitive in their first year in senior in a very long time. Ballyhaise came with a game plan that day that stunned Gowna in the first half and they showed massive character to stay ahead in the second half during Gowna’s fight back to take the win.

But once bitten, twice shy. This was almost a carbon copy of that game but it was Gowna who stunned Ballyhaise in the first half with goals and held onto that lead in the second half. Gowna tactically were incredibly well set up having seen the effect of Ballyhaise’s use of the long early ball earlier in the championship they crowded out their own 45 metre line. This lead to repeated turnovers as Ballyhaise continued to force kick passes and with the ball in hand, Gowna’s counter-attacking game ruthlessly punished an open and exposed Ballyhaise defence.

Despite Ballyhaise winning the second half by four points, Gowna never really looked like losing this game. Once Ryan Brady and Eoghan Hartin restricted the Brady brothers, David and Michael, to a four-point total, Ballyhaise’s firepower was greatly diminished.

The victory may have come at a cost for the three-in-a-row chasing Gowna as Ryan Donohoe left the field clutching what looked like a hamstring injury. County man Conor Brady was also replaced in the second half but this looked like more of a precaution than an injury. Firefighting cornerback Cormac Brady played no part in Friday's quarter-final as he's in a battle against time to return from hamstring injury for the next round.

Gowna started the game in blistering fashion with Oisin Pierson opening the scoring inside the first minute with a point on his left foot. The impressive Ryan Donohoe doubled their advantage a minute later as he broke through to split the posts, also with his left foot.

After a missed opportunity by Ballyhaise, Gowna hit back with power when Daire Madden found Conor Brady from the restart. Brady quickly offloaded to Cian Madden who impulsively delivered the ball to the left corner-forward position putting Conor Madden into a one-on-one with Aodhagan Watters. Determined to hit the net, Madden ran at the Ballyhaise goal and rolled the ball low into the corner putting his side into a five point lead.

Ballyhaise responded two minutes later with a wonderful point from David Brady from 48 metres with the outside of his right foot, kicking over the mass Gowna defence in front of him. A point from Martin Conaty reduced the deficit to three with nine minutes played but Gowna were about to enjoy their second purple patch.

The energetic Seanie Hartin tapped over a point on his left foot with 11 minutes played after cutting through the Ballyhaise defence. After turning over Darren Reilly on the attack for Ballyhaise, Gowna sent the ball forward to Seanie Hartin once more. After playing possession to Conor Madden, who again ran at the Ballyhaise defence, Hartin stayed in support and played a quick pass across the goals to Robbie Fitzpatrick, who finished low to the net, propelling Gowna seven points ahead.

After a 13-minute spell without a score Cian Madden sent over a free to extended the Gowna lead further. A foul on Eoin Clarke 46 metres from the Gowna goal gave Michael Brady an opportunity to end a 20-minute spell without a Ballyhaise score and he made no mistake but Gowna’s Ryan Brady had the final score of the half as he raised the white flag to leave his side 2-5 to 0-3 ahead at the break.

Ryan Brady turned provider at the start of the second half as he played the final pass for Oisin Pierson to send over his second point of the game.

Half-time substitute Padraig Moore showed great energy and pace to get inside the Gowna defence and fist over a point with two minutes played. From the resulting kick out, Ballyhaise pressed up and won possession with Moore sending over a second point, this time on his left foot.

Ballyhaise won a second Gowna kick-out in a row and Michael Brady sent a long searching ball to the Gowna square which would have hit the hands of Moore through on goal if Tiarnan Madden hadn't sent it out for a 45 which was kicked wide of the posts.

When Ballyhaise won a third Gowna kick-out in a row, they worked the ball from side to side to create an opportunity to score but Moore’s effort came off the posts and back into Gowna hands. In a sweeping and pacey counter-attack Gowna worked the ball up the field with a combination of kick passes and hand passes to Conor Brady, who finished to the back of the net.

Ballyhaise replied four minutes later with a point from Michael Brady and the long-range effort from the resulting kick-out by Eoin Clarke reduced the deficit to eight points. A point from Oisin Pierson after 13 minutes kept the scoreboard ticking over for Gowna.

Ballyhaise continued to battle and the high ball sent to the square as the final quarter began was turned into the net by corner-back Adam Heaslip. Again Gowna’s ability to respond shone through and a marvellous solo run from deep inside the Gowna half of the field by Ryan Donohoe brought him to the scoring zone at the other end of the field, before tapping the ball over the bar.

A point each from Kevin Tierney and Michael Brady kept Ballyhaise on the front foot but two points from Robbie Fitzpatrick in the final three minutes of the game extended to Gowna lead to seven points as the injury time began. In injury time Ballyhaise added on three more points from Eoin Clarke, Darren Reilly and Kevin Tierney as they went in search of goals but the Gowna defence stood strong to seal a four-point win.

Gowna:  Daire Madden; Cillian Brady, Ryan Brady(0-1), Eoghan Hartin; Ryan McGahern, Conor Brady(1-0), Fionnan Brady; Ryan Donohoe(0-2), Robbie Fitzpatrick(1-2), Cian Madden(0-1f), Conor Madden(1-0), Tiarnan Madden; Seanie Hartin(0-1), Oisin Pierson(0-3), David Philips

Subs: Mark McKeever for R Donohoe, Conor Casey for C Brady, Shane Donohoe for O Pierson

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

Subs: Padraig Moore(0-2) for C McKiernan, Sean McCormack for B O’Rourke, Sean Og Teevan for J Maguire.