Ardglass FC Overpower Ballynagross FC
The Newcastle and District Amateur Football League,
Venue, Mountain Quarter,
Premier League Match, Saturday 24th August 2024,
Ballynagross 0 10 Ardglass.
Ardglass travelled the short journey to Mountain Quarter for this opening league game for both clubs and immediately took control right from the whistle and went 2-0 up within the opening 5 minutes writes Cyril McKinnmey.
Karl O’Neill on 2 minutes scored with a smart finish after a through-ball from Aidy Watson who then repeated the setup for Ryan McKinney after 5 minutes.
Ballynagross could not get a grip on the game despite grit and determination from captain Daniel Taggart and Luke Shields. The young Ballynagross side were no match for their visitors and went further behind on 24 minutes through a clever finish from O’Neill who then completed his hat trick.
O’Neill netted on 29 minutes after some great interplay and hold up play from Mick Magee up front. 4-0 became 5-0 on the stroke of half-time through Sean Carr following a mix-up in the Ballynagross back line.
It was more of the same in the second half and the Ardglass goals kept coming at regular intervals with Aidy Watson pulling the strings in the middle of the park.
On 49 minutes, substitute O’Shea was on hand to finish a rebound shot from the keeper to make it 6-0 before that man again O’Neill got his 4th goal on 63 minutes with another clinical finish to make it 7-0.
On 69 minutes Ardglass were awarded a penalty when Magee was up-ended to save at the expense of a corner.
However, the scoring was not finished and Ardglass scored three further goals in a 5 minute period through on 80 minutes from Mahon and on 82 and Cusack on 85 minutes to leave the final score 10-0 to the visitors.
In the final couple of minutes Ballynagross’s Cormac Moore was red carded (second yellow) for a rash tackle but it has to be said that Ballynagross played this game with good spirit despite being outclassed in every department.
Ardglass had good performances from a number of players including Watson, Magee and the veteran John Beattie.
Ballynagross FC: Jay Curran, Odhran Hynds, Ethan Brown, Johnny Collins, Corey Davis, Karl Kearney, Luke Cunningham, Darragh Higgins, Daniel Taggart, Darragh Gordon, Luke Shields: Subs: Patrick Burns for Odhran Hynds , Cormac Moore for Karl Kearney , Thomas Keown for Corey Davis.
Ardglass FC: Ryan Carson, Corey Mahon, Michael Clarke, Jordan Deegans, Sean Carr, Ryan McKinney, Aidan Watson, Shea Dorrian, Michael Magee, Karl O’Neill, John Beattie. Subs: Jamie Cusack for Shea Dorrian, Pabhraig O’Shea for Sean Carr, William Taggart for Karl O’Neill
