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Sarsfields 1-5 B/Ballymitty 0-7:  

KEVIN GORE held his nerve to point three minutes from the end, handing Sarsfields a hard-earned one-point victory over a battling Bannow-Ballymitty in this All-County Football League Division 2 game played in bitterly cold Páirc Charman on Saturday last.

The win handed Sarsfields their second set of points on the trot, while it leaves Bannow-Ballymitty still seeking their first victory of the campaign. Given the pattern of this game, they possibly deserved a share of the points, but a clincial goal from Lee Walker during the first-half always kept the town side in sight of victory.

There was little between these teams for most of the 60 minutes and, as they entered the closing five minutes, they were level. It was at this juncture that Kevin Gore, who had shown a huge workrate throughout, popped over what was to be the winning point. Bannow-Ballymitty did battle back in the closing minutes in search of an equaliser, but they were unable to find a way through the solid home defence.

In a game of tight margins you just knew that it was going to take something special to separate the sides. The respective attacks were finding scoring difficult, but when Walker crashed home his 24th-minute goal, one felt that the score would have a crucial bearing on the eventual result.

Sarsfields looked the livelier team early on but were finding scoring difficult, with many of their point attempts either dropping short or trailing off narrowly wide, while at the opposite end Bannow-Ballymitty were also making little headway as many of their promising attacks came unstuck with the final pass going astray.

The result was that one had to wait until the 15th minute for the game’s opening score, with Kevin Gore lofting over a 30-metre point. One would accept it was difficult conditions for football given the bitterly cold wind, but Bannow-Ballymitty responded with a point three minutes later when Niall Harney eventually found the target.

The score seemed to lift the visitors who went on to kick two further points through Michael Barry and Gary Morton to lead by 0-3 to 0-1 after just 20 minutes. Sarsfields through a pointed Philip Cullen free left the minimum separating the sides.

While the outfield football was pretty decent, the respective attacks struggled when it came to scoring. Lee Walker eventually sprang to life six minutes before the break when he cut in from the left to power a low shot across the ‘keeper into the opposite corner of the net, leaving his side with a two-point interval lead (1-2 to 0-3).

Sarsfields made a number of changes in personnel for the second-half as they sought to impose themselves on the game, but Bannow-Ballymitty opened with three unanswered points as they began to take the game to their opponents with some direct outfield football.

Within 90 seconds of the re-start John Hannon pointed, while they were back level in the 39th minute through John Sinnott, who then put his side back in front (0-6 to 1-2) minutes later.

Sarsfields had to wait until the 41st minute for their opening second-half score, a Philip Cullen pointed free, but Bannow-Ballymitty missed a wonderful goal chance in the 46th minute. Having worked the ball through several players, Michael Barry found himself in possession, but he blasted over the bar when he should have goaled, a real let-off for the home side.

Sprung on by this, Sarsfields mounted a series of attacks, with a Philip Cullen pointed free bringing the sides level with six minutes remaining, before Kevin Gore popped over what was to prove the winning point, helping maintain his side’s one hundred per cent start to the league campaign.

Last Updated by
Kevin Carty