Ballynagross Outclass Valley Rangers Colts

Ballynagross entertained Valley Rangers Colts at Mountain Quarter in a Bobby Dalzell Cup round one match which was effectively over within the first 30 minutes by which time the home team were 6-0 up writes Cyril McKinney. 

Right from the first whistle Ballynagross were on the attack and within the first minute the visiting keeper Ben Orr had to be alert to neatly catch the first header on target. The breakthrough was not long coming and on 11 minutes Donal McCavera finished smartly to the bottom corner, the first of his four goal spree. And just two minutes later Daniel Taggart rifled to the net before  Conor Marron made it 3-0 as he finished off a right wing move with a confident finish on 16 minutes.  

On 20 minutes Ballynagross were awarded a penalty when Philip Cheetham was upended. Up stepped veteran Aaron Beattie but he was denied by a fine save from Orr in the Valley Rangers goal.

The visitors rallied briefly but despite forcing two corners in quick succession were caught out when Ballynagross went 6-0 up in the space of 3 minutes with two from Donal McCavera and a great finish from Daniel Taggart.

It wasn’t until 32 minutes in that Valley Rangers had their first serious attack on goal confidently dealt with by Cathail Arnold.

On 35 minutes it was 7-0 as Conor Marron raced clear and finished in style. Indeed it could have been double figures by half time if the Valley Rangers keeper  Ben Orr had not been in great form and dealt with a few one-on-one situations.

Into the second half and Ballynagross maintained their superiority and pressed forward relentlessly with a great display of passing football. Time and time again they were springing the offside trap and on 53 minutes they were awarded another penalty when keeper Orr upended Taggart who was through on goal. Ballynagross keeper Arnold stepped up and converted the penalty in some style to make it 8-0.   

Conor Marron then completed his hat trick on 58 minutes calmly slotting home to make it 9-0.

Ballynagross then sent on Paul O’Reilly for Mark Magill who had a major influence throughout the game and Eoin McCavera replaced Taggart while Valley Rangers sent on Mark McBride for the hard working Stefan Parke.

The scoring was not over as Ballynagross continued to dominate in every department and went into double figures with Donal McCavera firing to the net to make it 10-0. Shortly after Niall Laverty replaced the industrious Scott Grieves  for Ballynagross and on 77 minutes Eoin McCavera got in on the scoring to make it 11-0 with another smart finish.

Ballynagross are  positioned third in  the Premier Division whilst Valley Ranger Colts are second in the Second Division and the game was to some extent a mismatch but on the day of a cup round anything can happen… but it didn’t happen this time for Valley.

Valley Rangers to their credit did continue to try and get forward and even in the final few minutes forced a couple of corners but it was all in vain as Ballynagross totally outclassed their visitors in a one sided contest.

Scorers:  Ballynagraoss –  Donal McCavera 4x, Conor Marron 3x, Daniel Taggert 2x, Cathail Arnold, Eoin McCavera.

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