Ballymacelligott (Kerry) 1-16

Clogher Eire Og (Tyrone) 0-13

Paul Keane reports from Croke Park

A THUNDEROUS SECOND-HALF performance turned a tricky situation into a famous Croke Park win for Ballymacelligott, the new AIB All-Ireland club JFC champions.

Trailing by two points at half-time, Ballymac turned on the style in the second-half to outscore their opponents by 1-8 to 0-3 in that period and claim the silverware in style.

It’s the 12th success for a Kerry club in this competition and the first since the Clifford brothers drove Fossa across the winning line three years ago.

That win also came at the expense of Tyrone opposition and as good as Ballymac were in this one, Clogher Eire Og will have nightmares about how this game unfolded.

The Ulster champions tallied nine second-half wides, 12 in total, and created no less than four decent goal-scoring chances in the last 10 minutes, none of which they were able to take.

That’s not to suggest that the Munster men stole the win, far from it. They too had several goal chances they didn’t take – two in the last few minutes – but the overall ferocity of their second-half performance meant they were deserved victors.

Donal Daly grabbed the game’s only goal in the 55th minute, sliding low beyond the Clogher ‘keeper to leave Ballymacelligott 1-15 to 0-11 at that stage and just about in the clear.

Darragh Broderick, veteran Aidan Breen, Jack Joy and Daire Keane all came strongly into the game when they were really needed in that second-half too.

Ballymacelligott will also reflect on a potentially game-swinging moment that arrived as early as the fifth minute.

Joy had just drilled the club’s second two-pointer, following Broderick’s earlier lead at the Davin End.

The scoreboard turned over to register a 0-4 to 0-0 advantage for the Kerry men but the score was then ruled out as play was brought back for an earlier 4/3 breach.

It ended up that Ciaran Bogue had a handy tap over free for Clogher’s opening score to leave Ballymac now just 0-2 to 0-1 ahead.

They still kept the throttle down and went on to open up a 0-5 to 0-1 lead despite the setback.

Breen, Broderick again and then Daly all added points. But the rest of the half belonged to Clogher who dominated the second quarter to lead by 0-10 to 0-8 at half-time.

Ciaran Bogue came increasingly into the game, finishing the half with five points, and a second Ballymacelligott breach resulted in another routine score from a Clogher free that Ryan McCaughey knocked over.

That was as good as it got for Clogher, though, as the Southerners restarted with four points in a row to take the lead. And they stayed in pole position all the way to full-time as Clogher clocked up the wides at the other end.

Ballymacelligott scorers: Donal Daly 1-1, Darragh Broderick 0-4 (1 tpf, 2f), Aidan Breen 0-3 (0-3f), Daire Keane 0-2, Jack Joy 0-2, Mairtin McKivergan 0-1 (0-1 45), Adam Sheehy 0-1, Micheal Reidy 0-1, Niall Collins 0-1.

Clogher Eire Og scorers: Ciaran Bogue 0-5 (0-2f, 1 tp), Ryan McCaughey 0-2 (0-2f), Conor Shields 0-2 (tp), Marc McConnell 0-2, Cillian Barkey 0-1, Michael McCaughey 0-1.

BALLYMACELLIGOTT

1. Christy Leen

2. Eoin Creedon
3. Daniel O’Shea
4. Eoin Moriarty

5. Cathal Dunne
6. Tadhg Brick
7. Micheal Reidy

8. Aidan Breen
9. Darragh Broderick

10. Adam Sheehy
11. Mairtin McKivergan
12. Jack Joy

13. Niall Collins
14. Donal Daly
15. Daire Keane (Captain)

SUBS

23. Dylan Dunne for O’Shea (25)
20. Darragh Regan Sheehy (60)
21. Josh O’Keeffe for Collins (64)
18. Sean Rice for Moriarty (64)
19. Brian Cassidy for Reidy (64)

CLOGHER EIRE OG

1. Rory McElroy

2. Sean McCaffrey
17. Eoin Mellon
4. Ruairi McCaughey

5. Conor Shields (Captain)
7. Mark Bogue
18. Jamie Callaghan

8. Barry McKenna
9. Darragh Mellon

10. Sean Bogue
11. Ciaran Bogue
21. Cillian Barkey

13. Ryan McCaughey
14. Marc McConnell
15. Vincent Lowry

SUBS

12. Michael McCaughey for Lowry (34)
23. Finbarr McCaughey for McKenna (51)
22. Eoin McCarron for Barkey (55)
3. Dominic McKernan for McCaffrey (59)

Referee: Seamus Mulhare (Laois).