Late goal saves Gowna

Ballyhaise 0-10        Gowna 1-07

A late goal earned Gowna a share of the points in this well-contested SFL Division One game at Annalee Park, Ballyhaise on Sunday, 4th of March.  After an evenly contested opening half in which both sides had their period of dominance, the home side Ballyhaise went in at the break ahead by one point 0-4 to 0-3. However during that half Ballyhaise lost influential player Barry Lynch with a broken arm.

Gowna with the strong wind at their backs in the second-half were expected to dominate proceedings, but this wasn’t the case. The homesters upped their performance all over the field, and with the game deep into the last quarter they were ahead by 0-9 to 0-4 and looked on their way to a win.

At this stage the Gowna management reshuffled their side with the desired effect, and with the game now in its closing minutes they had reduced the leeway to three points 0-10 to 0-7. Ballyhaise were then hit on the counter-attack and a shot across the goal struck a Ballyhaise defender and ended up in the net to give the visitors a lucky share of the spoils.

Overall, the standard of play in this game was far from top-class as both sets of players found it hard to settle into a rhythm of play. Ballyhaise will be very disappointed to literally throw away a winning lead in the last minute. However new manager Gerry O'Rourke knows his team can play better. Gowna and their new manager Michael McCormick know they have a lot of work to do this season to compete with the top sides around. They went into this game without the services of two of their leading players, Dermot McCabe and Gerard Pierson, while Ballyhaise themselves were also short a number of regulars Adrian O'Rourke, Sean McCormack, Barry Kelly, Conor Lyons and Ali Pickett.

Gowna – Ronan Bannon; Gearoid Reilly, Fergal Harten, Willie Stephens; Bernard Soroghan, Gavin Harten, Emmet Madden; Niall Madden (0-1), Mark McKeever (0-3, one free); Cathaldus Harten (0-1), Raymond Keogh, Damien Fitzpatrick; Ciaran Fitzpatrick (0-1), Jim Soroghan, Shane Briody. Subs – Ciaran Brady (snr) for Niall Madden; Ciaran Brady (jnr) (0-1) for Damien Fitzpatrick; Colm Briody for Cathaldus Harten; Padraig Brady (1-0) for Jim Soroghan.

Ballyhaise – Brendan  Maguire; Cathal Buggy, Brendan Lyons, Declan O' Reilly; Micheal Rooney, Fergal Slowey, Barry Lynch; Raymond Cullivan (0-1), Mark O’Rourke; John Donohoe (0-1), Eamon Costello (0-2), Barry Reilly; Ciaran McGowan, Barry McCrudden (0-1), Stephen Smith (0-4, all frees). Subs – James Brady (0-1) for M. O’Rourke; Kevin Rooney for B Lynch (inj); Jarlath Moran for C. McGowan.

Referee – Noel McEnroe (Munterconnacht).