Ballybay Notes

U14s:Ballybay u14s drew with Inniskeen on Saturday last booking themselves a semi-final clash on September 15th.Full details next week of their opponents and venue.In the mean time training continues every week and all players are asked to make every effort to attend.

U16s(St.Pats):Last Thursday evening saw the meeting of the top two ,Cremartin and St.Patricks in the U16 Dev.3 League Final.Cremartin and St. Pats had met twice in the league this year with Cremartin coming out on top on both occasions.On this occasion too it was Cremartin who started strongest and held possession for the first 15 minutes when the score was 0.3 to 0.1 in their favour.On the 15th minute Cormac Duffy found the net with a lovely goal set up for him by Owen Quinn but Cremartin retaliated quickly with first a point and then a goal putting Cremartin 3pts. ahead.Then a foul on Owen Quinn resulted in a penalty being awarded to St.Pats,unfortunatly this effort by Shane Monaghan was saved by Cremartins James Lavelle denying St.Pats to chance to even up the scores.However St.Pats recovered quickly and Cormac Duffy closed the gap to 2pts.but Cremartin were quick to respond with a point themselves.Paddy O Neill then levelled the teams with a terrific goal leaving the sides at Cremartin 1.5 St.Pats 2.2.With a few minutes to spare to half time Cremartin hammered home another goal but St.Pats not to be out done,quickly responded with points from Michael Duffy and Cormac Duffy leaving the half time score Cremartin 2.5 St.Pats 2.4.It really was a game of two halves and from the moment the ball was thrown up for the second half it was St.Pats time to shine and they dominated the play from the off kicking 2 wides in the first 2 minutes before Michael Duffys effort in the 3rd minute reached the back of the net turning the game around and leaving St.Pats leading by 2 points.Cremartin closed in quickly once again with a point from Kevin Mc Vicar but a superb point from Eoin Mc Kearney extended St.Pats lead to 2pts again.Michael Duffys fourth score of the game,a point,gave St.Pats a 3pt lead followed by another terrific point from Cormac Duffy in the 17th minute.Adam Counihan had a vital save in the 19th minute blocking Mark Brennans effort at goal ,keeping St Pats lead at 4pts.,however a point from Cremartin,their second score only in 20 mins,left just a kick of the ball between  the sides.The last 10mins of the game was a thrilling nail biting affair with both teams battling hard for the title and provided great value for money for the supporters.A goal from Cormac Duffy set the crowd ablaze leaving 6 between the sides with just 8 minutes to go.Shane Monaghan tapped over another point but Cremartin were not finished yet and with no choice but to go for goal despite the valiant effort of the St.Pats defence they did just that with just 3 minutes of normal time left.St.Pats managed to keep possession of the ball until to much relief the final whistle was blown leaving St.Pats much deserved winners of the Dev.3 Curley Cup on a scoreline of St.Pats 4.8 Cremartin 3.7.Congratulations to the whole team on a fantastic team effort and to the mamagement -Colm Duffy,Martin Duffy,Gavin Shierdan and Enda Monaghan.A big Thank-you to all the parents and supporters who came out and supported the lads.Thanks also to Pat O Brien (sponsered water to the team) and to Stephen Duffy (compared on the game ).A DVD of the game is available at a cost of E10 and anybody wishing to purchase a copy can do so by contacting Joan Counihan.
Team :Adam Counihan,Daniel McGregor(Capt.),Cian Hand,Simon Duffy,Eoin Mc Kearney 0.1,Mantas Pankinas,Cormac Duffy(B) 2.03,Ryan Sherry,Ronan Duffy,Patrick O Neill 1.0,Shane Monaghan 0.1,Michael Duffy 1.3,Owen Quinn. Subs: James McElearney,Cormac Duffy(D),Colm Lennon,Niall Duffy,Jason McEntee,James Lavelle,Gary Duffy and Mark Ross (came on for Mantas Pankinas)

With the league done and dusted St.Pats will now set their sights on the Championship.They have a home semi-final on the 6th September and will play the winners of Seans v Aughnamullen in Drumhowan at 6.30pm