Unbelievable turnaround for Ballybay in O’Doherty

Danske Bank O’Doherty Cup semi-final
Ballybay CC 5-21 Lumen Christi Derry 4-16 AET
Derry’s Lumen Christi College will wonder how they lost this Danske Bank O’Doherty Cup semi-final in Garvaghey, having built up a 3-7 to 1-2 lead at the interval.
During that opening half they were the dominant team across the pitch with full-forward Niall Moore almost un-markable. The Banagher player amassed 2-5 from play during that half with David McGurk helping himself to 1-1 and, while there was a light breeze favouring the Monaghan College during the second half, it looked inconceivable that they would be able to reel in the Derry side.
But they did just that with the move of Joel Wilson to full-forward crucial to kick-starting the comeback. Wilson bagged 2-3 in the third quarter and when Forde cancelled out Niall Moore’s third goal with a fourth goal for Ballybay they were ahead by two points with time running out.
However Ben McCarron closed the gap to a point with a free and from the kick-out that man Moore gained possession and fired over to bring the teams to extra time on a 4-15 each score-line.
Shane Slevin’s goal early in the extra-time seemed to have a dual impact of putting his team ahead and also sapping the life out of the Derry challenge.
Niall Moore brought his personal tally to 3-8, all from open play, but Ballybay turned over with a five points’ lead, held their opponents scoreless for the second period of extra time and eventually pulled eight points clear, a remarkable turnaround give than they trailed by 11 after 29 minutes of the opening half.
The second semi-final between Coláiste Ailigh Letterkenny and St Catherine’s Killybegs goes ahead this (FRIDAY) afternoon with the final pencilled in for next Tuesday.
Ballybay CC: S Black, E McPhillips, S Duffy, D McCabe, D Johnston, L McKeown, S Slevin 1-0, S Forde 2-2, P Hughes 0-1, A Mulligan 0-5, 0-4 frees, J Wilson 2-3, P Quinn 0-1, C Monaghan 0-1, O O’Neill 0-3, D Dempsey 0-5, 0-3 frees.
Subs: D McAlarney for D McCabe, D Nixon 0-1 for C Monaghan, J Sniauaksta for D Johnson
Lumen Christi : P McCarry, O O’Donnell, P O’Flahery, T White, C Boyle, D Baker, T Bradley, C Neilis, J Mullan, O McMenamin 0-2, B McCarron 0-3, 0-1 free, O McGrath 0-1, D McGurk 1-2, 0-1 free, N Moore 3-8, C Hughes.
Subs : R Roarty for O O’Donnell, T Kerr for C Hughes, L McElhinney for O O’Donnell