Portroe can't make wasteful Ballylooby pay

Ballylooby/Castlegrace 0-9

Portroe 0-7

 

By Joe Scully in Holycross

 

Portroe missed out on a place in the County Junior 'A' Football final as they were edged out by Ballylooby/Castlegrace in a tight semi-final on Sunday afternoon.

This was a tight, tense game which was in the balance right up till the last kick of the game when Ballylooby’s Willie Dunne scored the insurance point from a free, deep in injury time.

In a game played in almost perfect conditions, in glorious sunshine, the South representatives (divisional final not completed) were good value for their win as they were on top for most of the game, especially in the first half where the majority of the play took place in the Portroe half.

While Ballylooby will be delighted to have qualified for the final as they go in search of their first county title, they will be left wondering how they didn’t win the game by a bigger margin, as they were very wasteful with their shooting throughout. Despite their first half dominance they only went in at the break leading by a solitary point, 0-6 to 0-5, with Portroe very clinical with the very little possession and attacking opportunities they had, hitting just one wide throughout the half.

The second half was a lot more evenly contested but the shooting was very poor from both sides, with only five scores in the half, with four of them coming in the first 15 minutes. However, Portroe who clung in will be left looking back on what might have been as they had chances in the last ten minutes to draw level, particularly from their county star Kevin O’Halloran but unusually for him his radar was off all through the game.

 

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