Newcastle and District Amateur Football League
Premier League.
Ballynagross 2 Killough 1
Ballynagross entertained Killough in their first game of the season which was also their first competitive senior fixture at Mountain Quarter.
Both teams started brightly and Killough went ahead on 10 minutes with a well taken goal by Michael Burns on the end of a right wing cutback from Rory Sharvin.
Ballynagross responded well as they drove forward and were rewarded on 14 minutes with a classy finish from their hard working Matthew Rooney after good approach work from Mark Magill. With the game evenly balanced at 1-1 the referee was busy as both sides were committed in the tackle and on 28 minutes the Ballynagross keeper Cathail Arnold had to be alert at full stretch to turn away a rasping shot from the edge of the box.
As Killough pressed forward a minute later Arnold spread himself to kick another goal bound shot from Graham. As halftime approached Ballynagrosstook the lead with a classy well-taken goal from Mark Magill from an acute angle.
At half-ftime Ballynagross sent on Declan Dowie for the injured Rory O’Donnell. Killough started the second half on the front foot but the Ballynagross defence stood solid while at the other end Dowie finished off a great move with a shot that rebounded of the bar on 55 minutes.
Killough replaced Conor Kelly with Jamie O’Connor who looked sharp and keen to get on the ball. Both defences made sure very little was getting through with the Killough veteran Colm Stranney showing his class alongside Kevin Groves and Gareth George while in midfield young Michael Burns got through a lot of work and kept Killough moving forward.
On 65 minutes Ballynagross sent on the ageless Ryan “Jap” Burns for Scott Grieves and immediately started to influence the game with some quality touches. As Magill and Rooney took control and pressed Ballynagross forward, Killough’s Ross Armstrong tried to catch them on the break but was cancelled out by another veteran Aaron Beattie and Daryl McGrady.
The game finished with Ballynagross on the front foot and were good value for their 2-1 victory – the ideal result in their first competitive game at their new Mountain Quarter home.
***
Ballynagross FC: Cathail Arnold ,Conor Marron, Eoin McCavera, Aaron Beattie, Daryl McGrady, Mark Magill, Donal McCavera, Matthew Rooney, Scott Grieves, Daniel Taggart, Rory McDonnell
Subs: Declan Dowie, Ryan Burns, Philip Cheetham
Killough FC: Martin Holland, Gareth George, Conor Black, Michael Burns, Colm Stranney, Kevin Groves, Liam Graham, Declan Looney, Ross Armstrong, Conor Kelly, Rory Sharvin
Subs: Jamie O’Connor, Chris Fryer, Declan Burns
