Ballyporeen 1-15 Borrisokane 2-8

It was four unanswered points in the dying minutes that grabbed glory for Ballyporeen in Holycross last Sunday in a thrilling Tipperary IFC final against Borrisokane. After the recent rain the underfoot conditions were a little greasy, but this did not deter both sides from serving up some fine football to the large crowd of supporters that attended. It was Bally that started proceedings after two minutes with a well taken point from Tommy Sweeney, but just as Bally were settling down, Borrisokane were awarded a penalty at the other end when their corner forward Gary Power was deemed to be fouled with the game just four minutes old. Borrisokane Tipperary inter county player, Philip Austin stepped up and made no mistake putting it past Mikey Sweeney in the Ballyporeen goal. Bally replied with a point from Shane Lynch, before Philip Austin at the other end pointed from a free.

Bally’s man of the match, Darragh Lyons, was beginning to cause problems for the Borris defence, with his lightning pace and in the thirteenth minute he found the target with a well taken point. At this stage Bally were beginning to settle and a break from midfield saw players link up with each other to find Darragh Lyons who cut through the Borris defence to find the back of the Borris net, much to the delight of the Bally supporters. Borris replied with a pointed free in the eighteenth minute, getting their first from play in the nineteenth minute. Coming up to the half-time mark Bally had points from John Martin and Conor Sweeney. Borris brought proceedings to a close with a point just before half-time. With the minimum between the sides at half-time, it was Bally just in front, 1-5 to 1-4.

The second half was just a minute old when Borris had things all square 1-5 each. But Bally’s wingback, Eoin Morrissey, who has been inspirational all year, had a great solo run up the wing and had a fine point. Darragh Lyons shortly after had his second point of the day. Borris replied at the other end with three points. Bally then made changes, bringing on Eoin Kearney for wing forward Paudie Fitzgerald and Anthony Crotty for corner forward Fionan O’Sullivan. Kearney was not long on the pitch when he made his presence felt by popping over a point. The other sub, Anthony Crotty, made a blistering solo run up the left wing beating defenders in his path, a goal looked on but Enda Brennan in the Borris goal pulled off a top drawer save, knocking the ball out for a forty five. Conor Sweeney stepped up and converted.

Borris found the Bally net for the second time after some fine passages of play, this put Borris on top by two points 2-7 to 1-8 with nine minutes remaining. Bally introduced two further subs, Danny Barrett and Bobby Breedy for Shane Lynch and Seamus O’Callaghan. Borris were beginning to dominate and added another point to put three between the sides, with six minutes remaining. Conor and Tommy Sweeney replied with a point each, this put just one point between the sides in the dying minutes. Bally supporters were now on their feet to cheer on their team and their team responded with a point from Tommy Sweeney, the sides were now level. The Bally supporters were now in full voice encouraging on their team. Bally dug deep as they did all year and finished out strongly with four unanswered points, two from Tommy Sweeney, one from Conor and one from Danny Barrett. The 21 year wait was over! Ballyporeen ran out winners 1-15 to 2-8. We had some great performances from everybody and our young backline of Seamus O’Callaghan, Riain O’Callaghan, William English and Eoin Morrissey were superb.

Team and scorers: Mikey Sweeney, Seamus O’Callaghan, Dave Russell, Riain O’Callaghan, Shane Molan, William English, Eoin Morrissey (0-1), John O’Callaghan, John Martin (0-1), Paudie Fitzgerald, Conor Sweeney (0-4), Darragh Lyons (1-2), Fionan O’Sullivan, Tommy Sweeney (0-4), Shane Lynch (0-1). Subs used: Eoin Kearney (0-1), Anthony Crotty, Danny Barrett (0-1) and Bobby Breedy. Panel also included: Francis Martin, Jack English, Jason Cahill, Dave Hyland, Neil Barrett, M J Meaney and Tomas Molan.

Congratulations to the management team of Michael Sweeney, Declan Hickey, Paddy O’Gorman, Pat O’Farrell and all involved. The club would like to thank all our sponsors and supporters.

Ballyporeen now move on to the Munster end of business, where they take on the Waterford champions, De La Salle, on Sunday, November 3 at a venue to be confirmed.

MINOR FOOTBALL

Our minor footballers are in the county semi-final this weekend. We travel back to Holycross this Saturday 26 to take on Kildangan at 3pm in the minor B semi-final.

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