Stephen Coulter and Andrew Maybin started to show a bit of penetrating form upfront for Annalong. After pressing Ballycam, a Fergal Sims corner to the head of Maybin almost led to a goal when he headed down but the shot was blocked.
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But the game see-sawed and soon Ballycam Celtic were on the attack and a short header from Aaron McCarthy in the 11th minute to Gavin Burns which was headed cleanly into the Annalong goal to open the scoring.
Annalong came back strongly and started to kick up some long balls to the Ballycam goal area. This strategy paid off with an excllent equaliser from Maybin six minute later when he broke through the wall of Ballycam defenders and nobbled the ball into the back of the net.
Annalong looked as though they did not want to concede a careless, early goal in the opening minutes and having succeeded, were soon pressing Ballycam. Maybin was certainly on fire for spells in this match and could have been the not so secret weapon for Annalong. On once ocassion he ran in from the right and sent a tremendous volley just over the bar.
The Ballycam defenders were closely marking the Annalong forwards. Their midfield play also looked that bit more co-ordinated and they were feeding balls to  their front line. This may have been the main, defining difference between the teams as they battled it out at Bear Park.
As the first half progressed, it was Annalong who looked the side who wanted to score the most and they were creating more opportunities. But it was the tight marking of Ballycam from Fitzsimons, Trainor, Murray and Curran in the backline that proved to be a stumbling block for Annalong.
It looked as though neither team could deliver that killer goal as half-time approached then in the 43nd minute, Stephen Coulter volleyed a powerful shot past Ballycam keeper Andrew Sands.
Then in a major turn of the screw, Ballycam bounced back with an equaliser from a free kick by Darren Berry.
The second half began with Ballycam pressing for the opening goal which came from Darren Berry who received a cross from the right which he slotted in to make the score 2-3.
Ballycam had their tails up and a strong run by midfielder Aaron McCarthy was just blocked. Annalong’s Coulter and Maybin were having a good game with some excellent moves between them.
Then more excitement as Ballycam’s Bewley launched a great volley which Annalong keeper Gavin Joyce just managed to get under control. Ballycam looked a different team than in the first half, hungrier, focused.
But Annalong were far from a spent force and Mark Magee had a tremendous run through the Ballycam defenders but failed to score. Annalong were creating opportunities but could not put the ball in the net.
The game however became a physical contest and a first yellow card was meeted out to Ballycam’s Gavin Burns for felling Annalong’s Richard Hill.
There were a number of stoppages due to injuries from hard tackles. A golden opportunity to stay in the game was lost when Annalong’s Jonathan Cranston launched a low hard shot at the corner of the Ballycam goal from 20 yards but a diving save from keeper Andrew Sands stopped the shot and earned the applause from the spectators.
Ballycam were holding out as the game came close to the final whistle. Annalong stepped up the pressure in a final last gasp but the final blast of the whistle put paid to their hopes of a Harry Clarke final.
It was nevertheless a close match. Both teams have chances, corner opportunities, and purple periods when they were in control, but that killer goal was hard to find for Annalong.
Ballycam Celtic: Andrew Sands, Bryan Fitzsimons, Gavin Trainor, Mark Murray, Bobby Curran, Mark , Aaron McCarthy, Keelan Bewley, Gavin Burns, Fergal Sims, Darren Berry. Subs: Gerry Curran, Alan Trainor, Donal McCarthy.
Annalong Swifts: Gavin Joyce, Stefan Murphy, Karl Hanna, Sean Clark, Richard Hill, Darrren Hyland, Jonathan Cranston, Richard Gordon, Stephen Burden, Leslie Maybin, Stephen Coulter. Subs: Andrew Maybin, Matthew McConnell, Richard Gibson.]]>
