BALINDERRY'S dreams of winning a second all-Ireland title were crushed on saturday when a slick St Vincent's team effectively won the game at the start of the first half.
Playing with the aid of a strong breeze, the Derry champions needed to build a decent cushion before the break. Instead, the shamrock were rocked on their heels as two quickfire goals by Tómas Quinn and Cathal Dorney meant they were playing catch-up for the remainder of the game. If Ballinderry's players ever watch a DVD of this match, they will have to look away during the opening 11 minutes. It was a horror show. Not only did St Vincent's bag two goals, they should have added a third. A fine save by Mickey Conlan stopped dorney from close range. During this opening period, Tómas Quinn ran the show. Apart from scoring a brilliant goal, he set up Dorney's three-pointer with an utterly sublime pass.
But it would be unfair to apportion any blame on Quinn's marker, Gareth McKinless. The cause of Ballinderry's problems lay further out the field.
Poor pressure and slack marking by the Ballinderry forwards allowed the St Vincent's defence to launch runs from deep.
On several occasions Michael Concarr, the right corner-back, ran the length of the field. It was Concarr who laid off the pass for Quinn's opening goal.
The goal chance which Dorney missed came after Hugh Gill, the left corner-back, lobbed a great ball over Kevin McGuckin's head.
Ballinderry's other fault-line was at midfield. James Conway was the best ball-winner on show. Although Conway was excellent, if he didn't win the ball, Ballinderry didn't win the breaks. This trend was particularly prevalent during the opening 20 minutes when St Vincent's won 60 per cent of the kick-outs.
The Dublin team's second goal came after they won a break at midfield. a quick free-kick by Concarr released the unmarked Tiernan diamond who picked out Quinn.
Quinn then provided one of the highlights of a captivating game when he put Dorney though on goal with an inch-perfect pass.
Behind by six points, Ballinderry eventually awoke from their slumber and started to play some superb football.
The following statistic will make particularly grim reading for Ballinderry fans. Extract the first 11 minutes from this contest, and Ballinderry would have won this game by 1-11 to 0-12. Shamrocks manager, Martin McKinless summed the game up precisely when he said: "if the two goals were taken out of it we would have been beaten them." Although Ballinderry had more scorers, and more scores from play, there was also some merit in McKinless's observation that, "up front they were more clinical than us".
From their three goal-scoring chances, St Vincent's bagged two of them. Ballinderry took only one of their three chances.
When Enda Muldoon found Michael Mciver with one of his trademark passes, the forward didn't realise that he had time to catch the ball and turn. Mciver's attempt to fist the ball into the net went wide. Ballinderry were unlucky when a long ball by Mciver set up a half chance for the impressive Collie Devlin whose piledriver skimmed over the top of the crossbar. During the remaining 21 minutes of the first half, the Ulster champions outscored their opponents by 0-7 to 0-2. A series of fantastic points by Ryan Bell, James Conway, Collie Devlin and Raymond Wilson meant only a point separated the sides at half-time.
Crucially, however, St Vincent's had the aid of the breeze in the second half. And the Dublin men hit Ballinderry with a real hammer blow when they made a great start to the third quarter. Diarmuid Connolly, who was anonymous in the first half, landed two fine points. Another feature of the game was that St Vincent's didn't have to rely on breaks in order to win ball at midfield.
On several occasions, a short kick-out by Michael savage provided the catalyst for their attacks. When
Michael Concar drew a scoreable free-kick which was converted by Quinn, the move started after the corner-back won a short kick-out.
Commenting on the success of his team's kick-out strategy, St Vincent's manager Tommy Conroy said: "Kick-outs are a huge part of gaelic football.
"Ballinderry have two very big men. We possibly worked our kick-outs just a little bit better.
"Michael savage is very good at putting it down and getting it out quick."
Trailing by 2-10 to 0-10, the game seemed lost for Ballinderry, but they staged a fantastic comeback. A Devlin free-kick and stunning individual goal by Daniel McKinless reduced the deficit to just three points.
Cheered on by their fanatical supporters, it seemed like the shamrocks could pull it out of the fire. But St Vincent's were equal to the task. The composure of the Dublin team mirrored the calm temperament of their manager. Even after Ballinderry had cut the gap to three points, Conroy revealed that he was never tempted to bring on Ger Brennan. A groin problem meant the Dublin centre halfback wasn't fit to start, but he was available to come on.
"I thought our guys in the defence were doing very well," said Conroy. "It wasn't something we thought about it. Possibly if Brendan Egan had got a yellow card, or someone had got a black card, we would have.
"But we have other guys there that we could have used. i don't Ger was our first option to put on." A late point by Connolly sealed a four-point victory for St Vincent's who will now play Castlebar Mitchel's in the all-ireland final.
MATCH STATS
Ballinderry: M Conlan; K McGuckin,
G McKinless, R Scott; D Lawn, C Nevin,
R Wilson; E Muldoon, J Conway (0-1); C Devlin (0-5, 0-1 free), M McIver, D McGuckin;
D McKinless (1-0), R Bell (0-2), C Gilligan (0-2, 0-1 free).
Subs: A Devlin (0-2) for R Scott (15);
M Harney for M McIver (42); D Conway for
D Lawn (45);
Yellow cards: J Conway (35); G McKinless (48)
St Vincent's: M Savage; M Concarr, K Bonnie, H Gill; C Diamond, B Egan, J Curley; D Murphy, E Fennell; G Burke (0-1), D Connolly (0-3),
S Carthy (0-1); T Diamond, C Dorney (1-1),
T Quinn (1-8, 0-1 45, 0-5 frees), Subs: N Mullins for S Carthy (55); R Trainor for T Diamond (57); A Baxter for C Dorney (60).
Yellow cards: B Egan (39); D Connolly (48); C Dorney (56)
Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligo)
Attendance: 4,333
n SHINE BRIGHT LIKE A DIAMOND: St Vincent's' Cameron Diamond comes under pressure from Ballinderry Shamrocks' Raymond Wilkinson during Saturday's All-Ireland Club SFC semi-final at Newry. The Marino men progressed to the final with a four-point win, thanks in no small to the prolific contribution of Dublin ace Tomas Quinn (inset)
Pictures: Seamus Loughran