Ballyragget 0-17
Ballygar 1-10

Darren Kelly  in Nenagh

BALLYGAR’S All-Ireland dreams were dashed last Sunday by a young Ballyragget outfit, but the North Galway side’s spirit was evident until the final whistle and they nearly overturned a 10 point deficit for the most unlikely of wins.

Two minutes into the second half, Paddy Flynn’s charges trailed 0-13 to 0-3 to Kilkenny hurling’s emerging force who were finding scoring chances easy and should well have done better than seven first-half wides.

The second-half wind would favour the Ballygar men but having survived two goal chances along with their opponents’ constant attacks, few in McDonagh Park gave them a chance of getting back into the contest.

To think by the end, glorious goal chances for Stephen Lohan and Eric Walsh, that would have found the target any other day, was all that prevented Ballygar from successfully completing a great comeback as well as highlighting their character in this All-Ireland semi-final. Against the wind in the opening period, Ballygar needed to keep the scoring tight and for 20 minutes seemed to be achieving that target. Ballyragget’s lead was just 0-6 to 0-3 at that stage thanks to three Kevin Kelly scores, a Bill Staunton brace and one from stand-in captain Brian Phelan.

Ballyragget had lost captain Kieran Delaney to a hamstring problem while full back Geoff Morrissey also didn’t start after a muscle strain, but their replacements Paddy Cahill and Robbie Healy were still able for the challenge of restricting Ballygar’s scoring opportunities.

Walsh split the posts twice from placed balls while Declan Nolan pointed from a Padraic Mannion pass but Ballyragget’s guilty wide count showed their threat and they finished the half with five unanswered points. Kelly added two more points either side of the Kilkenny champions’ best goal opportunity on 24 minutes when Michael Brennan’s fierce shot was excellently saved by Shane Harkin.
 

Ballyragget, fielding eight of their county’s under-21 ‘A’ winning team, continued with Brennan, Phelan and Kelly all finding the target for an 0-11 to 0-3 half-time advantage. Had Phelan looked up to see the unmarked Joe Brennan before driving his sliothar over the bar, Ballygar’s deficit could have been much wider.

The interval couldn’t come quick enough for the Connacht representatives but the concession of two early second half points seemed to spell the end. Within 11 seconds, Jody Phelan sent over a Ballyragget point before Kelly got his seventh score to put ten between them.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.