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Mike O’Halloran watched the Garvey’s Supervalu Kerry Senior Hurling Championship First Round replay between Crotta and Ballyduff at Austin Stack Park on Friday evening…
Crotta O’Neills 1-16
Ballyduff 0-10
The Crotta O’Neills team. Photo by Dermot Crean
A comprehensive and well deserved win for Crotta over Ballyduff last night at Austin Stack Park.
Crotta blitzed Ballyduff in the second half with a blend of great game management and top quality hurling that was superior to Ballyduff in all aspects.
The Ballyduff inside backs were in bother all night — even when playing with the wind — and were torn asunder by Jordan Conway.
Ballyduff led by a point at halftime seven points to six. The Ballyduff scores came from Padraig Boyle 0-03, Aiden Boyle, Jack Goulding, Michael Boyle and Eoin Ross 0-01 each.
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Crotta O’Neils had 0-05 from Shane Nolan and 0-01 from the stick of Jordan Conway.
Ballyduff were playing with a gale and relied on the option of the long ball into Aiden Boyle, a strategy that had very little return.
At the start of the second half, there was a discussion between the Ballyduff mentors and the referee as they crossed to the dug out, (I have no idea what that was about).
Shane Nolan put Crotta ahead with two pointed frees in a row, a lead they were never to relinquish. Shane added five more before the end, with man of the match Jordan Conway adding three.
But it was Declan O’Donoghue who well and truly buried the Ballyduff challenge when he drove through with great determination to slam the ball to the net.
The Ballyduff team. Photo by Dermot Crean
Take nothing from the Crotta win, they were excellent and with Barry O’Mahony back and more hurling under his belt in the next few weeks without the distraction of the big ball, they will be a match for any club in the competition.
As for Ballyduff, they seem to have gone back to the well once too often, not only to find that the well is nearly dry, but that their bucket is also leaking.
It’s hard to see them being involved at the business end of the championship, except for a huge improvement in performance and game management.
