Red card put paid to Ballgalget challenge after bright first half

Morgan Fuels Down Senior Hurling Championship Final:

Ballgalget 2-17 Portaferry 2-28

Portaferry claimed their fifth Morgan Fuels Senior Hurling Championship title in a row on Sunday in Pairc Esler when they beat Ballygalet who have tried and failed for the past three years to usurp the Ards kingpins

Portaferry were hot favourites coming into the final but in fairness to Ballygalget they certainly put it up to them until they lost a man in the second half and Portaferry pulled away.

“I suppose it’s five in-a-row, but it was my first year in and that brings pressure in itself, not trying to break the trend,” said Portaferry manager Connor O’Prey when asked how five-in-a-row felt after the game.

“Obviously at half-time you’re kind of thinking, Jesus, is it going to be me to break the trend here? But these boys are well-seasoned, as Matthew Conlon [captain] said during his acceptance speech. They’ve been here before.”

And that of course meant that there was no complacency despite their winning record against Ballygalget and indeed everyone else they’ve come up against this season.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries this year from the start of the year. But that has now stood to us today. Niall Fitsimmons has come off the bench, who was man of the match last year and points.

“Ronan Blair, who’s been man of the match before, comes off the bench, gets us a point.

“Eoghan Sands probably isn’t the Eoghan of a couple of years ago, firing all cylinders, but he puts a shift in for 40 minutes and his hard work pays off by getting a goal.”

It was hell-for-leather at both ends from throw-in with Portaferry scoring the opening goal via Ciaran Mulligan with just two minutes on the clock and the scoreline read 0-5 to 1-3 in the fifth minute.

Ballygalget were looking for goals too and came close with a clever move that saw Eoin Pucci play a close-range free short to Shea Pucci but the latter slipped as he was about to strike and the chance was lost.

Two minutes later the same player did find a maximum however, putting Ballygalget into a 1-5 to 1-4 lead and the sides were level twice more in the half helped by a second maximum for Ballygalget scored by Cathal Coulter. It remained close and Ballygalget led 2-11 to 1-13 at the break.

On 38 minutes Jordan Doran was sent off however and Portaferry stretched their lead when Sands netted and it was plain sailing from that point on with Portaferry winning by 11 points 2-28 to 2-17 when the final whistle blew.

“No one in our squad came into that game today thinking anything other than it’s going to be a battle for 60 minutes, and it was,” said the manager who was glad that this was a tough game despite the final scoreline.

“This game today will stand to us really, really well. If you’re calling the spade a spade, it’s been relatively easy for us during the round robin process.

“I think the closest the team got to this was 11 or 12 points, so this will really stand to us going into the Ulster Championship. We needed that.”

Ballygalget: E Clarke; M Toner, B Teggart,C Watson; Matt Fisher 0-1 (1f), J McManus, Caolan Coulter; T Prenter 0-03, , J Doran; Cathal Coulter 1-06 (04f), M Og Dorrian 0-01, Cormac Coulter; E Pucci 0-05 (04f), S Pucci 1-00, O McDermott 0-01

Subs: O Coulter for Cormac Coulter (h-t), D Pucci for E Pucci 40

Portaferry: P Smyth; D Mallon, B Trainor, C Taggart; C Smyth, M Conlon, D Mallon; T Murray, C Milligan 1-01; F Turpin 0-04, E Sands 1-02, , T McGrattan 0-13 (09f, 01′65); C Coleman 0-01 , N Milligan, D Sands 0-04

Subs: R Smyth for Mallon (27), S Conlon for Smyth (h-t), N Fitsimmons 0-02, for Milligan (40), R Blair 0-01 for E Sands (46), N Rogers for Coleman (60)

Referee: C Masterson