Cromane 0-6, Ballylongford 2-9

Cromane lost out to table-toppers Ballylongford in this hard-fought Division 5 clash on Sunday in Cromane.  This was Ballylongford’s tenth win in a row in the Division.  Apart from the opening quarter, Cromane never really got going. They led by 0-3 to 0-2 after ten minutes with two Paudie McCarthy points from play and a free converted by Darren Houlihan.   Then Ballylongford got a grip on the game and struck for two goals in the

space of ten minutes.  First, Kenneth Foley bundled the ball over the line before wing-forward Jack Mulvihill struck for their second five minutes before the break.   By half time, Cromane had only managed to add another point to their tally (a fine outside of the boot effort by Liam Teahan) as Ballylongford tacked on three more, courtesy of Ciaran O’Connor, Joe McCarthy, and Jack Mulvihill,  to lead by 2-5 to 0-4 at the break.

Again, Cromane started the better team, but they lacked directness in their play and ran down too many cul-de-sacs. They lost possession numerous times and Ballylongford punished them on the break.  Points from Cromane’s Darren Houlihan (free) and Mikey Houlihan, from play, cut the gap to two goals (2-6 to 0-6) five minutes into the second

half, but the home side failed to hit the target after that, as they went looking for goals     too early.  Ballylongford composed themselves and further points from Mulvihill and

O’Connor sealed a convincing win to extend their unbeaten run in Division 5.

A highlight of Ballylongford's afternoon was the commanding defending of Stevie Deenihan and Jack Carmody, the thunderous runs from young Tadhg McEllistrim off half back and the lovely interplay between Ciaran O’Connor and Jack Mulvihill in the forward line.