Castle suffer final heartache

BALLYCASTLE travelled to Lisnagarvey Hockey Club to play their eagerly awaited Taylor Cup Final last Wednesday and left with a score-line that certainly didn't reflect the competitiveness of the game.

The game started with Portadown settling much more quickly; as early as the first minute they had a great reverse stick shot sailing well over the cross-bar.

The Ballycastle team, on the other hand, began nervously and were made pay when the Portadown midfielder nipped in to open the scoring.

The goal seemed to kick Ballycastle into life and as the tackles crashed in, Portadown knew they were in a game. As Ballycastle pressed and put their, neat playing, opposition under intense pressure until they forced a short corner. Trevor Linton took the responsibility and struck a sweet shot, which left the keeper rooted to the spot, only to see it narrowly sail the wrong side of the post.

The pressure continued and Richard McConaghie and Trevor Linton both made room for shots, but on both occasions they watched as the shots only just missed the target.

Ballycastle supporters were soon cheering only for the celebrations to be cut short as Trevor Linton scored from close range but the umpire correctly ruled it out for a foot infringement.

Unfortunately disaster struck against the run of play, immediately after the disallowed goal, Portadown hit Ballycastle on the break and played some excellent attacking hockey.

The speed of the attack caught Ballycastle out and when the centre forward received the ball five yards from goal he made no mistake.

Ballycastle still felt they could get something out of the game and on the stroke of half-time thought they had made the break through. Mark Mc Alister slipped the ball through to Steven Morrison who cleverly moved to the edge of the circle and fired a great shot into the bottom corner of the goal. Again the celebrations were cut short as the umpire hesitantly disallowed the goal claiming the ball wasn't inside the circle.

Half time: Ballycastle High School 0-2 Portadown College

A fired up Ballycastle came out for the second half knowing the next goal would be vital and the teams were matching each other all over the pitch. Chances were coming for both sides and the game was becoming a midfield battle with Ryan Esler and Craig Henry fighting for every ball. Steven Morrison then tested the Portadown keeper after break through three defenders only to see his shot well saved.

Ballycastle nearly pulled a goal back as Richard Mc Conaghie, who worked tirelessly all day, dribbled to the by-line before playing an excellent ball across the face of goal which Aaron Douglas was unfortunate not to get on the end of.

With Ballycastle pressing to get back into the game, they had to rely on their goalkeeper, Niall McCracken on performing heroics between the posts. He made two outstanding saves from close range when a goal looked certain.

With seven minutes left the outcome was decided when again, after some very fluent hockey, Portadown passed their way up the field and scored a third goal. This was followed by a late fourth as the Ballycastle team realised their chance had gone.

As the final whistle sounded the teams shook hands and the Ballycastle players applauded the Portadown team on winning and were gracious in defeat. The Portadown team realised they had been in a game and on another day the score could have been very different.

Ballycastle High School can be very proud of their team's performance throughout the season and no doubt will be aiming to go one better next year.