Carew Park delivered a harsh lesson in taking one’s chances to Ballynanty Rovers tonight, to advance to the final of the Tuohy Cup.
Carew manager, Albert Slattery, again opted for the narrow 4-1-2-1-2 formation that enjoyed such a successful debut at Crossagalla last month. On paper, this matched up very favourably against Ballynanty’s 4-4-2, in terms of controlling the middle of the field.
However, in practice, Rovers were the much better side in the first half, and were incredibly unlucky to find themselves one goal down at the break – even allowing for the fact that Carew also missed a penalty.
Although Carew had a 4 v 2 in the centre of midfield, they were finding it very difficult to work the ball forward – thanks to a combination of their narrowness and Ballynanty’s brave pressing.
When playing with a midfield diamond, the width can come from a variety of sources – the strikers, the full-backs, the shuttlers, or even the number ten. Ordinarily however, that width is mainly provided by the full-backs. But here, Richie Mullins and Jamie Enright couldn’t afford to be too adventurous, for fear of leaving their centre-backs in a two-on-two situation with Balla’s strikers.
As such, the onus was on the strikers and the shuttlers at the sides of the diamond to stretch the opposition – something neither pair did with any regularity.
Ballynanty, on the other hand, looked like a much more functional attacking force – a force that was looking to take full advantage of the diamond formation’s traditional weakness on the flanks. Derek Daly, fielded on the right, was afforded far too much space to cause havoc with his accurate left-footed inswingers. Lloyd Whyte and Robert Brock both skied efforts over from advantageous positions in the Carew box, off the back of Daly’s service.
Left-back, Darragh Hughes, also took advantage of the absence of any Carew wingers on the twenty-minute mark. Although Jonathan Grant raced back to press him, Hughes was able to deliver yet another accurate cross into the Carew area, which Whyte again struck over.
And yet, despite Balla’s dominance, it was Carew who drew first blood. Tonight’s opener arrived via the simplest of routes – the first one. Mark McGrath outpaced covering defender, Ronan Ryan, off a flick-on from Jamie Stewart’s kick-out, before coolly slotting a low left-footed finish past Stephen McNamara.
This goal did nothing to change the momentum of the game, however, and Ballynanty remained in the ascendancy. Ten minutes from the break, Derek Daly’s corner was headed just over at the back post by Ronan Ryan.
Ryan went from near-hero to near villain moments later, clipping McGrath’s heels in the box after the Carew striker’s sharpness and work-rate allowed him to reach a speculative ball over the top first. Gary Griffin hit the post from the resulting penalty-kick.
Ballynanty’s advances into Carew territory continued and were helped greatly by the powerful presence of Kevin Barry, who bullied the Carew back-line at times this evening. Five minutes from the break, Barry’s stunning right-footed drive from range rattled the foot of the post.
Barry was involved again directly from the restart in the second period, robbing Gary Griffin in the Carew final-third – as indeed he had done in the opening five minutes of the first-half. The result was the same – off-target off his left-foot.
Carew’s own in-form frontman was not as profligate. Number ten, Jonathan Grant, finally got turned in between the Balla lines, before playing in Jamie O’Sullivan down the inside-left. “Sully” then produced a perfect cutback from the byline, for McGrath to seal his second of the game.
Minutes later, the narrative of this game was driven home even further, when Darragh Hughes beat Jamie Enright and found himself one-on-one with Jamie Stewart – only to fire it straight at him.
And Ballynanty’s wastefulness in front of goal continued to haunt them as the game progressed. Kevin Barry got in behind again on the hour-mark, off a simple long ball, only to again sky his effort over the Carew crossbar. It was a shame for the Balla frontman – his performance deserved a goal. And seconds later, he nearly had it – tormenting Griffin again by rolling him in the box, only to see the Carew defender exact a measure of revenge with a brilliant saving tackle.
As the game entered its final quarter, Ballynanty inevitably pushed on to chase the two-goal deficit. And Carew inevitably punished them on the break. McGrath scampered in behind again with twenty-five to go, before squaring it to Brian Ahern. McNamara came off his line to smother Ahern’s resulting effort brilliantly, only to see Tommy Culhane arrive to power a fantastic first-time shot into the net off his left instep. Culhane also scored the only goal of the league game between the two sides three weeks ago.
Ballynanty at least prevented Carew from securing a clean sheet late on, when Liam Brock lobbed Jamie Stewart after Kevin Nolan had blocked down the goalkeeper’s attempted clearance. But that was scant consolation for the northsiders. On the balance of play, this was one they let slip. Had they translated their dominance into scoring the first goal of tonight’s game, I have a feeling that the result might have been very different.
Scorers
McGrath 29′, 51′, Culhane 66′; L. Brock 89′
Man of the Match
Mark McGrath
Limerick District League 