The Big Three record second wins in Senior Football Championship.

The big three in the Waterford Senior Football championship have virtually secured their places in the quarter finals of this years competition after they all recorded their second win of the campaign over the past weekend.

Champion’s Ballinacourty inflicted a second defeat in successive weekends when they easily accounted for Ardmore at Bushy Park.

Ballinacourty at the break lead 3-7 to 0-4 at the break their goals coming from Shane O’Donovan, Gary Hurney and Mark Gorman.

Ballinacourty pulled up somewhat in the second half, and Ardmore did manage to come more into the game. David Gartland hit a goal ten minutes after the restart for Ardmore but it was cancelled out by an effort from Jason O’Brien just over ten minutes later.

Rathgormack had their first win of the campaign when they beat Clashmore at Fraher Field who are still looking for a win after two games.

Rathgormack turned around at the interval holding a two point advantage, but at the end of sixty minutes they trailed 0-10 to 0-9, but no game is over till the final whistle sounds and in added time, Jamie Kirwan struck the games only goal for Rathgormack to help them to a 1-9 to 0-10 victory, one that could prove to be crucial after three more rounds of league games in this years competition.

The third game in group one of this years championship over the weekend between Kilrossanty and An Rinn was called off as a mark of respect to Noreen Prendergast who died over the weekend.

In group two, the ‘big two’ both won.

The Nire recorded their second easy win in successive weekends when they beat Saint Saviours 2-10 to 1-3.

The winners lead 0-8 to 0-0 at the break in Fraher Field.

In the second half they continued to prove to be the better of the two sides as Shane Ryan who is in fine form of late struck two goals for his side.

Saint Saviours registered their first score just before the three quarter stage mark when Brian Power put the ball between the uprights. They missed a penalty taken by Joey Phelan ten minutes from time but he made amends when he struck a consolation goal in added time.

Stradbally also recorded a second win of the campaign but they did not have it entirely their own way against the 2013 Intermediate Champions De La Salle at Walsh Park.

With ten minutes played the city side lead 0-4 to 0-2, but the Cove Men recovered and retired at the break leading 0-8 to 0-6.

With ten minutes of the second half, Stradbally lead 1-8 to 0-6, Stradbally’s goal coming from Robert Ahern, but the city side refused to bow to their more experienced opponents at this level.

They added a goal from Stephen Dalton inside the last ten minutes but it was not to be enough as Stradbally held out for a 1-12 to 1-6 win, but from what we have seen of De La Salle this year, they could well not just retain their senior status for 2015 but also win for themselves a place in the last eight of the competition come the autumn.

The game between Gaultier and Ballinameela proved to be a scrappy affair with both sides conceding a huge amount of frees.

At the break Gaultier lead 0-6 to 0-4 but for much of the second half, they had to give second best to the western side.

With time almost up, it looked as though Ballinameela would secure a first win of this years championship, but a pointed free from JJ Hutchinson just before the end of the game meant that the two sides had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Weekend Results:

Ballinacourty   4-10     Ardmore          1-8

Rathgormack   1-9       Clashmore       0-10

Gaultier           0-12     Ballinameela    0-12

Stradbally        1-12     De La Salle     1-6

The Nire          2-10     Saint Saviours 1-3

League Tables:

Group 1:

Ballinacourty   2          2          0          0          5-19     1-17     4

An Rinn          1          1          0          0          2-17     0-7       2

Kilrossanty      1          1          0          0          0-11     1-4       2

Rathgormack   2          1          0          1          1-18     1-19     2

Ardmore          2          0          0          2          2-12     4-21     0

Clashmore       2          0          0          2          0-17     3-26     0

Group 2

The Nire          2          2          0          0          5-32     1-5       4

Stradbally        2          2          0          0          1-25     2-13     4

De La Salle     2          1          0          1          1-20     1-16     2

Gaultier           2          0          1          1          1-19     0-25     1

Ballinameela    2          0          1          1          0-14     3-34     1

St. Saviours     2          0          0          2          1-7       2-24     0