Stradbally advance despite late scare

2015 County Senior Football Champions Stradbally are through to the semi-finals of this year’s competition after they had a hard fought win over Ardmore at Fraher Field on Friday night last.

Over the past two decades the Cove Men have being a model of consistency in the Senior Football Championship.

In this time they have developed a terrific knack of doing just enough to win a game and are often more content winning by a point or two than to win by a big margin.

This was another game in which they did enough to just grind out the result. They won’t need telling from anyone however that had this game gone on any longer they could have found themselves in a lot of bother.

As Ardmore did against An Rinn in the opening minutes of the last qualifier game, Ardmore made life very difficult for Stradbally in this game.

The Round Tower men got the scoreboard ticking over when Kenny Murphy split the posts, but it was followed with efforts from Eoin O’Brien and Daniel Weldon.

David Gartland levelled matters once more and when Ardmore net minder Sean Barron put over a ’45 it looked as if Stradbally were going to have dig extra deep in this game if they were to come out on top.

Shane Lannon levelled matters for the third time on the quarter of an hour mark

In the next three minutes the reigning champions hit three points which proved to amongst the most crucial of the game.

Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh hit the first of his three points in this game which was followed with an effort from Shane Ahearne and when ‘The Brick’ hit his second of the game on 18 minutes his side were 0-6 to 0-3 in front.

As was the case in the opening quarter of this game, the remaining time in the first half proved to be an evenly balanced affair with both sides sharing four scores, two each with James Kennedy and Kenny Murphy finding the range for Ardmore while Shane Ahearne and Eoin O’Brien split the posts for the Cove Men, giving them a 0-8 to 0-5 lead at the interval.

Stradbally proved to be the better side in the third quarter. They hit three points in this period and kept their opponents scoreless.

Shane Ahearne landed a brace of points for the eventual winners and Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh hit one to give their side a 0-11 to 0-5 lead.

Stephen Keating pointed for Ardmore on 50 minutes and Michael Sweeney pointed three minutes later to keep six between the sides.

But this proved to be the final score that Stradbally would kick something on another day that could have cost them dearly.

With three minutes of the hour remaining, Tom Power pointed and the same player moments later finished to the Stradbally net to leave just two between the sides.

Stradbally now had to call on all their experience to ensure that another score would not be registered as it could cost them dearly and this they managed holding out for a two point win but they will know that when they play Ballinacourty next weekend in the semi-finals they will have to up their game considerably if they are to retain their grip on the Conway Cup won last November.

Stradbally: Eoin Cunningham; Cathal Cusack, Kevin Lawlor, Jack Mullaney; Tommy Connors, Shane Lannon, Tony Grey; Michael Walsh, Paddy Kiely; Robert Aherne, Shane Aherne, Daniel Weldon; Paul Tobin, Eoin O’Brien, John Coffey. Sub: Michael Sweeney for John Coffey.

Scorers: Shane Ahearne 0-4 (2f), Michael Walsh 0-3, Eoin O’Brien 0-2, Shane Lannon, Daniel Weldon, Michael Sweeney 0-1 each.

Ardmore: Sean Barron; Daniel Power, Declan Prendergast, Michael Cronin; Niall Hennessy, Seamus Prendergast, Richie Hennessy; Wayne Hennessy, David Gartland; Tom Power, Kenny Murphy, James Kennedy; John O’Brien, Eoin Conway, Stephen Keating. Subs: Sean Duggan for Eoin Conway, Declan Fitzgerald for Niall Hennessy, Seamus Keating for John O’Brien.

Scorers: Tom Power 1-1 (0-1f), Kenny Murphy 0-2, Sean Barron (’45), David Gartland, James Kennedy, Stephen Keating 0-1 each.

Referee: Anthony Fitzgerald