The junior A footballers had better luck than the hurlers in their warm-up game played in Ballinvrisking on Sunday morning last. Though winning is always pleasing, the result here , like the loss in the hurling game, is subservient to the main aim of the game which was to give as many players as possible game time. To this end, it was pleasing to see 26 players togged out. The game was again structured over three 25 minute periods.
For a summers morning there was a wind reminiscent to what one would expect to experience at different time of the year. White’s Cross played with that advantage in the first ‘third’. Despite this, the visitors held most of the position in the opening five minutes. They scored first and though Murt Kelleher equalised shortly after with a well taken point, our visitors could have extended their lead further. This did not happen and White’s Cross took the lead for the first time with a fine point from Dylan Burke. The same player added another point following an Edwin Buckley free to leave White’s Cross leading 0-4 to 0-01. The Gaeltacht side added the next two points. Cormac Dervan, who was playing his first game for the junior A footballers, was outstanding at wing back and he finished with a fine score after a fine team move. The final score of the opening salvo saw Conor Buckley deliver a long ball to Dylan Burke who was running into space. Burke collected, turned his man and passed the ball to Billy O’Hara who was bearing down on goal and finished excellently to the top corner for a fine goal. This was no more than O’Hara deserved as he could have ended up with a first half-hattrick having seen two other shots for goal rebound of the post.
As the second period commenced, it became obvious that the wind, though blowing strongly, would not have a major impact on the game. White’s Cross had much of the possession in this period also. Edwin Buckley scored a goal from a penalty after Fiachra O’Connell was pulled down as he was about to shoot. Edwin scored another close in free shortly after as the Ballingeary men struggled with the White’s Cross attack. Apart from an outstanding block by corner back Seán O Gorman, they did not pose many problems for the White’s Cross backs. They did manage to tip over a few points in this second ‘third’ to leave the score at the end 2-07 to 0-08.
The third period was played at a slower pace. Three further points from Edwin Buckley as well as points from Max Philpott, who had another very good game, and Richie Sherlock put some gloss on the win. The final score was White’s Cross 2-11 Ballingeary 0-10. We would like to thank Ballingeary for the game and for travelling in such numbers.The next outing for White’s Cross is a challenge game away to Glenville on Sunday morning.