St Michael's lose out in incredible Tempo thriller

LURGAN lost their second league match of the season to a very well organised and experienced Ballymoney side at Brownlow on Saturday.St Michael’s Lurgan 3-19 St Attracta’s Tubbercurry 6-14 (aet)

INCREDIBLE. Unbelieveable. Heartstopping.

What a game of football it was with high fielding, passing, clinical forwards and believe it or not some very good defending.

Down by six points with less than 10 minutes to play against a clinical Sligo team, it would have been easy to just throw in the towel. However that did not account for the heart and belief shown by St Michael’s on Saturday when they conjured up 2-1 in those final frantic minutes to hit the front at the right time.

Back came Sligo and though some may argue that the free awarded as the last kick of the game was soft, it was given nonetheless and scored in unnerving fashion by Egan of Tubbercurry who struggled from play but whose placed balls were flawless.

St Michael’s started brightest, playing with the aid of a fresh breeze in the opening half, with scores from Christopher McGaughey, Niall McConville and Thomas McAlinden. However the alarm bells were ringing when St Attracta’s ran at the Lurgan defence with great pace and slick movement. They responded with a point of their own followed by a well worked goal illustrating their danger when given possession of the ball.

The Lurgan school kept the scoreboard rolling with more scores from McAlinden and McConville(2) with McGaughey notching up a couple of frees. Tubbercurry, however, were still scoring at the other end with some excellent long range frees. St Michael’s finished the half with scores from Andrew Nugent and Aaron Findon to leave the score St Michael’s 0-10 St Attracta’s 1-6.

St Michael’s seemed to be finding their feet in defence with Barry Seeley now back there helping out and launching attacks into the now stiffening breeze. But the Lurgan school were to be outdone by goals in the second half as each time they scored at one end then the Sligo team somehow fashioned a goal scoring opportunity which they never missed. McGaughey was continuing his fine form from placed balls by sending another three points unerringly over the bar. McConville chipped in with his fourth point of the afternoon and McGaughey added another excellent free but it was the goals at the other end, including a hotly disputed penalty that was to eventually be their downfall.

They left six between the sides with less that 10 minutes to go on the watch. These lads simply do not know the meaning of the word quit and they certainly weren’t searching for it either. Aaron Toland came through for a point with a rasping shot just over the bar. Brian Martin then finished to the net from a tight angle after a Niall McConville shot had been saved.

Time was running out and St Attracta’s were still trying to finish things off at the other end but some sterling work from James Doyle, Brendan McCarron and Ruairi McCaughley in the full back line kept them out and scoreless during this time – no mean feat! With a goal needed St Michael’s attacked again with Niall McCann’s superb solo run along the right wing, he fed Thomas McAlinden who somehow squeezed the ball over to Aaron Findon who then side-stepped his man and crashed a left footed shot to the roof of the net. Their was 32.45 on the clock at that stage but the referee was going to allow Tubbercurry one more attack and though some might say it was a soft free they scored it and sent the game into extra-time.

St Michael’s 2-16 St Attracta’s 4-10

Extra time in Gaelic football is very often won in the first ten minutes as teams tend to lose intensity and quality but not these two teams as they continued to go at it toe-to-toe in the two 10 minute periods.

St Attracta’s goalled again but back came St Michael’s with a long ball into Thomas McAlinden who rounded his man and crashed to the net for a super goal. McGaughey curled over another free, his eighth point of the day, and Shane Haughey finished off a good move down the left hand side of the pitch but each point was matched at the other end to leave it 1-2 a piece at the turnaround during extra time.

St Attracta’s scored first in the final period and then went two points up with another free but back came St Michael’s with a Barry Seeley point and they attacked again but just could not carve open another opportunity and as luck would have it they were again hit with a Sligo goal at the other end to finish the contest.

Final score: St Michael’s 3-19 St Attracta’s 6-14

St Michael’s coach David Wilson said after the game “I am immensely proud of what these boys achieved this year and of how they played today. I could not and will not single out anyone in particular as it was a panel effort from 28 players training solidly from last September.”

St Michael’s Lurgan : Damien O’Hagan, Stephen Magee, Brendan McCarron,

Sean O’Neill, James Doyle, Ruairi McCaughley, Aaron Toland (0-1), Aaron Findon (1-1), Niall McCann, Brian Martin (1-0), Christopher McGaughey (0-8), 0-7 frees,

Andrew Nugent (0-1), Thomas McAlinden (1-2), Niall McConville (0-4), Barry

Seeley (0-1)

Subs : Shane Haughey for B Martin, Ciaran Conway for A Toland, Niall Heaney for R McCaughley

Not used: Jake Casey, Adam McConville, James Haughey, Michael Beatty, Conleth McAlinden, Michael McConnell, Thomas Byrne, Declan Heaney Gavin McCormick, Sean Hyndman.

Early exchanges were fairly even with both sides showing confidence on the ball. Lurgan won the first penalty corner of the match with the shot being well saved by the Ballymoney keeper.

Almost immediately Ballymoney swept up the pitch and were awarded a penalty corner themselves which their sweeper confidently converted.

Lurgan tried to respond to this early setback and went in search of an equaliser. A penalty corner move on 17 minutes saw the Lurgan strike deflected just wide of the post and a Zoe McNally reverse-stick strike on 20 minutes was well saved by the Money keeper.

The rest of the half was fairly comfortable for the Money defence with Lurgan showing no real urgency and the visitors’ defence had plenty of time to play the ball around the back and set up their own attacks.

With three minutes to go to half-time Lurgan were dealt a killer blow. A Ballymoney attack which seemed to have been cleared was resurrected when a speculative ball was prodded back into the area only to find an unmarked attacker who gratefully deflected it into the Lurgan net. Two-nil at half time and Lurgan had a mountain to climb.

Lurgan tried hard in the second half to break down this well organised Ballymoney defence but to no avail.Too often passes went astray and when chances did present themselves the wrong option was taken.Lurgan seemed to be looking for the impossible ball to create a breakthrough when the simple pass would have been much more productive.

As the game progressed Lurgan seemed to run out of ideas and in the end the Ballymoney team, who were much sharper and quicker to the ball and pressurised any Lurgan player in possession, ran out comfortable winners.