Kerr snatches victory at the death for Galbally

Galbally 0-20  Ardboe 2-13

DANIEL Kerr held his nerve to convert a two point free deep into injury time to win this game for Galbally and send them top of the Division One table after they showed great character and spirit to come from behind to beat Ardboe at Pearse Park.

However the Rossas will be wondering how they returned home to the Loughshore empty handed after looking to be in complete control at one stage.

Two goals in as many minutes from Conor and Eoghan Devlin helped them establish a nine point advantage by the 20th minute and they still led by six at the break.

That advantage went back up to eight on the restart but then Galbally fought back with two pointers from Joseph Corrigan, Mark Donnelly, Daniel Kerr and Christopher Morris.

Ardboe still led by the minimum margin two minutes into injury time but they then shot themselves in the foot.

Kerr won a free deep in his own defence but before Galbally could take it the Ardboe line kicked another ball onto the field not once but twice.

On the second occasion referee Kieran Eannetta moved the ball forward fifty metres and from the resulting kick from just outside the arc Kerr won the day for the hosts to maintain their unbeaten record in the most dramatic of circumstances.

It was the Pearses who were into their stride quickly, and, after a superb two pointer with the outside of the boot from Darragh Donaghy had opened the scoring, Eoghan O’Neill and a two point Mark Donnelly free had them 0-5 to 0-2 in front by the 8th minute.

The rest of the half though belonged to Ardboe as they began to build on early points from Caolan Mallaghan and Shay McGuigan. Conor Devlin and Mattie Bell closed the gap before Devlin sent a rocket to the Galbally net in the 14th minute.

Two minutes later a flowing move began by Michael O’Neill resulted in another well taken goal this time from Eoghan Devlin.

Galbally were rocked and Ardboe continued to pile on the pressure on the home defence. McGuigan landed a two point free and efforts from play from Bell and Cormac Devlin saw them lead 2-8 to 0-5.

Galbally did recover before the interval with Kerr and Donnelly both knocking over frees with the latter having the final say from play to leave it 2-8 to 0-8 at the turnaround.

McGuigan stretched the visitors’ advantage on the restart with a well struck free from outside the arc, only for Galbally to respond through substitute Sean Hughes and Donaghy.

Twice the impressive McGuigan knocked over frees with Donnelly landing a two point score in between from a placed ball as well.

Galbally keeper Ronan McGeary then made a good save to deny Jack Martin a goal in what proved to be a tuning point.

Galbally began to play with more urgency with Morris, Kerr and Conor Donnelly to the fore.

The winners next three scores were all from outside the arc via Joseph Corrigan, Morris and Kerr with Ardboe’s sole response coming from Mallaghan on a counter attack to leave it 2-13 to 0-18 by the 53rd minute.

Galbally shot a few wides but just when it looked like they were going to come up short they got that late opportunity when another ball was thrown on the field and Kerr made no mistake to win the day much to the delight of the large home support.

Scorers

Galbally: Mark Donnelly (0-6,2 tpf,1f), Daniel Kerr (0-5,2 2pf,1f), Darragh Donaghy (0-3,1’45’), Joseph Corrigan (0-2,tp), Christopher Morris (0-2,tp), Eoghan O’Neill, Sean Hughes (0-1 each)

Ardboe: Shay McGuigan (0-7, 2 2pf, 3f), Conor Devlin (1-1), Eoghan Devlin (1-0), Caolan Mallaghan (0-2), Cormac Morgan (0-2), Cormac Devlin (0-1).

Teams

Galbally: Ronan McGeary, John Hetherington, Conor Donnelly, Aidan Carberry, Dara Hetherington, Christopher Morris, Liam Rafferty, Conor Quinn, Ronan Nugent, Sean Wylie, Eoghan O’Neill, Joseph Corrigan, Mark Donnelly, Daniel Kerr, Darragh Donaghy. Subs: Sean Hughes for Dara Hetherington, Enda McLaughlin for John Hetherington.

Ardboe: Gary Mallaghan, Stephen Teague, Manus Teague, Conor Devlin, Peter Devlin, Oisin Devlin, Michael O’Neill, Shay McGuigan, Eoghan Devlin, Cormac Morgan, Cormac Devlin, Conan Devlin, Mattie Bell, Jack Martin, Caolan Mallaghan. Subs: None used.

Referee: Kieran Eannetta, Omagh