Morgan Fuels Down Senior Hurling Championship final replay: Ballycran 0-13 Portaferry 0-15
THE ancient Jeremiah McVeagh Cup made so many pit stops and took so many wrong turns over the past six years, it had forgotten the way to beautiful Portaferry.
As the last rays of September sunshine bid farewell to Ballygalget on Saturday evening, the Portaferry hurlers finally wrested the silverware from the stubborn grip of defending champions Ballycran.
After two pulsating games, Eoghan Sands and Caolan Taggart jointly held 'Jeremiah' aloft bringing the curtain down on an enthralling championship.
Both sets of players couldn’t have given more to their respective causes – but nobody could dispute that Portaferry were worthy champions.
After paying a respectful tribute to their vanquished opponents who were chasing three-a-row, Eoghan Sands handed the microphone back to county chairman Jack Devaney and the team ran to the far side of the field with the cup to where their supporters awaited a glimpse of the gleaming silver.
Moments like these were meant to be savoured.
Joint manager with Peter Mallon, Gary Smyth bounded across the field but you didn’t have to scratch the surface too much to uncover the emotions of the last couple of weeks.
He’d buried his father, Paddy Smyth, two days before last week’s drawn senior final.
Last week, Smyth kept his emotions in check afterwards. But Saturday was different. The silverware had been delivered with a first class performance.
With the celebrations in full flow, an emotional Smyth said: “I just want to get this weekend over me. I’ve to bring the cup to a couple of people. My mother [Pamela] is one…”
Biting hard on his bottom lip, he added: “I promised her we’d get it last week and we didn’t.”
Every bit of joy counts for something.
“I’m absolutely delighted. Those boys have taken some criticism for six years – six years we’ve got slated and it was probably justified because we didn’t produce.
“Sometimes I say we’re the worst supported club in Ulster but you just look at that today [pointing to the Portaferry supporters behind the wire] - we are the best supported club. We’re a family, not a team.”
In the build-up to Saturday’s replay, Smyth took a couple of subtle pot shots at his players in the press. He mentioned the missed opportunities of the first day.
Conor Mageean and Eoghan Sands hacked a couple of efforts wide of Ballycran’s posts and Caolan Taggart made an uncharacteristic error that allowed Ballycran to equalise in the final seconds of the first game.
“Let them read the papers,” said Smyth, laughing. “They rammed it down my throat and fair play to them.”
Eoghan Sands hit the opening score of Saturday's replay and was magnificent from start to finish at wing-forward for Portaferry.
Full-back Caolan Taggart broke and caught everything in his well-guarded vicinity and Conor Mageean exorcised those four wides in the first game with a splendid score in first-half injury time that put his side 0-9 to 0-5 in front.
Portaferry erected a wall across their half-back line that Ballycran found hard to penetrate for long periods, with Barry Trainor playing the shirt off his back across the two titanic encounters.
And when ‘Cran managed to breach Portaferry’s half-back line, corner-back Darragh Mallon defended like his life depended on every outcome.
But there was one inescapable truth about Saturday’s replay: Portaferry wouldn’t have been crowned champions without the Sands brothers – Eoghan and Daithi.
A chip off the old block of their father Noel, the pair bring the finishing quality that every championship-winning team needs, sharing seven points from open play.
Throughout, elder brother Eoghan showed insatiable appetite for winning dirty ball and also hit the stoppage-time point to edge Portaferry ahead 0-14 to 0-13 that brought an abrupt end to Ballycran’s gutsy comeback.
Antrim and Derry champions Dunloy and Slaughtneil have wonderful attacking talent but there’s no finer sight in Ulster hurling than watching Daithi Sands spinning away from his marker and firing over the bar.
He hit 2-6 from play across these two bouts with Ballycran – a pair of championship performances that were doused in class.
And it was fitting that it was Daithi Sands who escaped Cran’s defensive clutches right at the death to put two points between the sides to seal victory.
“I thought our half-back line and our half-forward line were excellent,” said Smyth. “Barry Trainor got man-of-the-match and rightly so and was probably our best player over the two games. And Eoghan Sands – what about that for a point at the end?
“And every free Daithi gets, he has to earn, which is testament to him because he’s a tremendous player. What a boy to have on your team.”
Ballycran were slow out of the blocks in this replay and found themselves trailing 0-4 to 0-1 after 13 minutes and 0-10 to 0-5 at the break.
Phelim Savage hit the best score of the first half that roused their supporters but the champions were too reliant on Colum McManus from placed balls. In the second half, though, Gary Savage’s men showed their championship mettle.
Through sheer force of will they hauled themselves back into contention in a game that seemed to be slipping from their grasp, especially when when Daithi Sands put Portaferry 0-12 to 0-6 in front on 43 minutes.
In that third blistering quarter, wing-back Brett Nicholson broke everything down his side, while Scott Nicholson and Liam and Phelim Savage began to pin their opponents back.
Between the 44th and 57th minutes, Ballycran hit five unanswered points and miraculously levelled the game, 0-13 to 0-13, after two minutes of stoppage-time.
At that point, it seemed Ronan Blair’s gilt-edged goal chance that flashed past the Ballycran post in the 54th minute was going to cost Portaferry dearly.
Had the Portaferry sub converted, it would've been game over at 1-12 to 0-8. But within seconds of Blair’s miss, Ballycran were just three behind and they kept chipping away at Portaferry’s lead.
Despite under serious physical pressure in the closing stages, Taggart, Mallon, Trainor and Tom Murray stood strong for Portaferry - and once the ball was ushered to the hands of Eoghan and Daithi Sands the brothers conjured a sweet score apiece to settle this engrossing championship.
Jeremiah McVeagh is on first-name terms with the people of Portaferry again.
Six years was a long time for them to be re-acquainted.
In Ballycran, the wheel keeps on turning. As it always does and always will…
Ballycran: S Keith; M Hughes, S Ennis, G Hughes; B Nicholson, M Ennis, P Hughes; S Nicholson (0-1), P Savage (0-2); L Savage (0-1), C Woods, B Arthurs; J Coyle, C McManus (0-8 frees), S Martin (0-1) Subs: C McAllister for J Coyle (36), A Dorrian for S Martin (44), C Dorrian for B Arthurs (64)
Yellow card: P Savage (40)
Portaferry: P McNally; D Mallon, C Taggart, T Murray; B Trainor, C O’Neill, C Smyth; M Conlan (0-1), E Sands (0-3); C Faye (0-1), C Mageean (0-1), N Milligan; P Doran (0-4, 0-3 frees), D Sands (0-4), C O’Prey Subs: R Blair (0-1 free) for P Doran (43), R Smyth for C O’Neill (52), A O’Prey for C Faye (54), F Rogers for C Smyth (55)
Yellow cards: E Sands (40), N Milligan (40), D Mallon (55)
Referee: C Murray
