Robertstown pull away from wasteful Ballykelly in second half
A high challenge by Ballykelly's Eddie O'Connell on Robertstown's Niall Kane Photo: Sean Brilly
Ballykelly had 18 shots on goal in a dry and sunny Manguard Park on Friday evening last. 13 went wide, one dropped short, another hit the post, and three managed to find the target. That in itself tells its own story.
It was a comfortable win in the end for Robertstown as the men in blue and white defeated this year’s Division 7 finalists, Ballykelly, without conceding a single score in the second-half in the opening Round of the 2024 Junior Football Championship Section B. There were eleven wides on the victor’s part though, yet, Robertstown’s dominant second half display, best showcased by outscoring their opponents 0-10 to 0-0, saw them through to victory in the end.
It took only 20 seconds for Robertstown to fire over their opening point of the game when Jason Butler turned and pointed off his left. Five minutes later, and centre-back Ciaran Byrne would stroke over a wonderful ’45 off the Hawkfield grass to put Ballykelly on the scoreboard, while in the tenth minute, Owen Whelan laid the ball off to an onrushing Lee Moore who scored a great point to put the Division 7 finalists in front for the first and only time in the contest. Goalkeeper Conor Murphy was called into action when he tipped over a shot on goal fired by DJ Percival, whom was on the end of a slick team move a minute after Murphy’s team found the lead. In the 20th minute, Brion Kennedy’s free would push Robertstown ahead once again, though the last point of the half came six minutes later with a Lee Moore free to level the sides at 0-3 apiece. There would be no further additions to the scoreboard at half-time, though Ballykelly lead the wide count at nine to Robertstown’s eight.
Ballykelly would then be kept scoreless for the remainder of the game, as Robertstown took avail of the mishap and scored ten points on the bounce. Brion Kennedy would strike off his left foot within the opening minute of an enjoyable second-half for his team, though a miserable one for their opponents. Three points would be added between the 38th minute and the 42nd minute thanks to the efforts of Brion Kennedy and DJ Percival. From the 47th to the 52nd minute, half-back Dara Cosgrove took the limelight and struck two frees between the posts and an elegantly hit ’45 to match. Brion Kennedy was aided by the post to put in his final contribution to the scoring in the 56th minute, while a minute into injury time, half-time substitute Dean Bagnall stepped up to score his point after Niall Kane laid the ball off to the scorer to ensure Robertstown ten point victory was assured.
