Doherty Woodshavings All County Hurling League Division 1
Ballycran 1-15 Portaferry 0-22
Portaferry came out on top in the big derby game on the Ards Peninsula on Tuesday evening after seeing off neighbours Ballycran in a game that hung in the balance right up until the final minutes. In an enthralling encounter that saw the lead change hands nine times, Portaferry’s greater potency in attack saw them claim the spoils with four points to spare.
Portaferry carried more the scoring threat from open play and in Tom McGrattan have a real star in the making. After landing 0-4 as a substitute against St Johns last Saturday, the young sharp shooter accounted for 0-9 of his sides total to justify his selection from the start. As well as his free taking, his movement was first class as Portaferry often hit the space for McGrattan to run into.
At the other end of the field, Conor O’Neill was exceptional at full back and cut out many of Ballycran’s long puck outs from Declan Ennis, while Conor O’Prey directed operations from half back.
Ballycran found their scores from play harder to come by and had to rely on the accuracy from placed balls from Aaron and Conor Dorrian. A testament to the Portaferry defence is that only 0-7 of the home side’s scores came from play.
Portaferry started the game the brightest and full forward Conor Mageean helped himself to 0-2 after just seven minutes to help the visitors establish an early two-point lead.
On 8 minutes Ballycran got themselves back into the game when Michael Ennis was dragged down in the square by O’Neill, and from the resulting penalty, Conor Dorrian slammed the ball past a helpless Peadar Mason.
Dorrian and McGrattan exchanged frees and at the first half waterbreak, it was Ballycran who lead by a single point, 1-3 to 0-5.
Portaferry looked to have taken control of the game when the scored four points on the bounce, the pick of them an effort from Conor Fay after great approach work from Kevin McGarry, but three unanswered points from the home team meant at the turnaround, Ballycran still held a point advantage, 1-8 to 0-10.
Portaferry dominated the Ballycran puck out for much of the contest and in the second half they started to be more productive of their possession. Fay and Mageean claimed further scores from play while O’Prey and McGrattan added a ‘65’ and a free respectively, but again Ballycran came fighting back.
A sublime score from the right wing by Niall Breen and another free from Conor Dorrian meant that there was still just one point between the sides with ten minutes to play with Portaferry leading 0-16 to 1-12.
Ryan O’Neill made an instant impact when he entered the frey and Ryan Convery claimed a second point of the night as Portaferry pushed their lead out three points as the game ticked into injury time, and further points from McGrattan and O’Prey rubberstamped the result that leaves the Down champions sitting pretty in division one after two games played.
Teams and Scorers:
Ballycran: Declan Ennis, Brad Watson, Thomas McManus, Rory Brown, Patrick Hughes, Aaron Dorrian (0-3f), Brett Nicholson, Sean Ennis, Cormac McAlister (0-1), James Clarke (0-1), Michael Ennis, Huw Flynn (0-2), Ben Arthurs (0-3), Niall Breen (0-1), Conor Dorrian (1-4 1-0 Pen, 0-4f).
Subs: Scott Nicholson for T. McManus (36), Stuart Martin for N. Breen (47), Padraig Flynn for C. McAlister (53), John McNamara for R. Brown (56) & Darragh Kelly for S. Ennis (60).
Portaferry: Peader Mason, Emmett O’Neill, Conor O’Neill, Ronan Smyth, Callum Smyth, Conor O’Prey (0-3 2f 1 ‘65’), Darragh Mallon, Niall Milligan, Fergal Rogers, Ryan Convery (0-2), Conor Fay (0-2), Kevin McGarry, Tom McGrattan (0-9 6f), Conor Mageean (0-4), Eoin Magee.
Subs: Ciaran Savage for C. Smyth (22), Ryan O’Neill (0-1) for E. Magee (41) & Sean Milligan for K. McGarry (47).
Referee: Mr Kevin Parke.
