Morgan Fuels Down SFC: Carryduff 1-12 Ballyholland Harps 0-09
Carryduff put their stamp on the race for the Down Senior title with a controlled win over a dogged Ballyholland Harps.
It was a thrilling first half as both teams went for the jugular with the handbrake off.
Ballyholland Harps found it difficult to track county man James Guinness, who scored four stunning first-half points, while the south Down side relied on some exceptional free-taking from Seamus Loughran, who converted from both sides of the posts.
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Played in Eoghan Rua Pairc at Kilcoo, there is no doubt that the Down senior management will have taken an interest in Loughran’s display.
Carryduff looked like a team on a mission, John McGeough’s direct running drew fouls and Cian Clinton was sharp at converting the resultant frees.
Ballyholland had numbers back, with the experienced Tony Havern playing as a sweeper but they couldn’t live with the pace of Carryduff’s transition from defence to attack.
Joe Tunney made a lot of ground and with James Guinness hovering around the 40′ for ‘drop-goals’ or McGeough’s surging runs, so the Duff broke through Harps’ wall.
The game was only 11 minutes old when Clinton converted a penalty to give Carryduff a 1-03 to 0-04 lead.
Joe Murphy, Mark Walsh and ace marksman Loughran grabbed the scores for Ballyholland, while Clinton and James Guinness did much of the first-half scoring for Carryduff, although Daniel Guinness’ point would have been a goal had Aodhan Furlong not got a hand to his fine shot.
Ballyholland had come back from six points down against RGU Downpatrick and seven points down at half-time against Warrenpoint last week and they started with similar energy against the Duff.
However, they gave possession away cheaply and although Seamus Loughran notched his sixth and seventh free, it was Carryduff that punished the gifted turnovers and McGeough and Clinton rattled over points in quick succession to stretch their lead to six points with 45 minutes played.
Sherry could have killed the game off but after running over 90 metres when his daisy-cutter shot went the wrong side of the post. That said, Daniel Guinness’ second point made it a three-score game with ten minutes of normal time remaining and there was no way back for the Harps.
Carryduff finished runners-up in the league and will feel they are best equipped to challenge for the title, while Ballyholland finish their championship season knowing they would be a much stronger force if they had their Irish League players playing in attack.
Carryduff scorers: C Clinton (1-04, 1-0 penalty, 0-4 frees), J Guinness 0-04, D Guinness (0-02), J McGeough (0-02, 0-1 free).
Ballyholland scorers: S Loughran (0-07, all frees), J Murphy (0-01) M Walsh (0-01)
