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County Senior Hurling Championship 3rd Round

Ballyhea 1-13 Sarsfields 1-15 (05/08/01)
Played At | Castletownroche.

Ballyhea and Sarsfields might not have produced an epic game of hurling but one statistic did provide plenty to talk about afterwards.

For 58 minutes of what must be said was a tame enough encounter, the two sides could not be separated. And, what must constitute some sort of a record, was the fact that 13 times during that period they were level. The Cork County Board had made provision for extra-time last night and it looked a racing certainty that it would transpire until the East Cork side stole the show with two late points from John and Ronan Murphy to seal a place in the Quarter-Finals.

The basic difference last night was the fact that in front of the posts, Sars had more penetration and at one stage or another the majority of their forward sextet made a contribution. In stark contrast, Ballyhea were all too reliant on the Excellent Neil Ronan who almost ran their show on his own. His form was sublime and was good news for whoever eventually becomes the next Cork Boss. Apart from his contribution of 10 points, six of them from play, his overall play was superb, but he did lack any real support, particularly up front.

Aidan O' Connor was a towering presence for Ballyhea at Centre-back and both Eamon Morrissey and Noel Hanley were both effective and inspirational in defence.

Indeed, it was left to the Ronan family to get the scores, Neil's brother Darren chipped in with 1-1, while cousin Ian had two points.

Feature of the first 15 minutes were the four points scored by Neil Ronan from full forward where he gave his man a bit of a roasting and it was not surprising to see a change from the Sars selectors to try and keep the "Shackles" on Ronan.

Sars defence benefited from the switch, but Neil Ronan continued to pose problems at full forward everytime the ball came his way and, after he had his first point from a free in the 27th minute, Ballyhea struck for the game's opening goal two minutes later.

It came following a great cross by Conor O'Riordan into the Sars square where Darren Ronan plucked the sliotar out of the air before rattling the back of the Sars net.

However, the cheering had hardly died down when Sars were back for a like score. A long ball from Pat Ryan looked to be in the safe hands of Ballyhea keeper Ollie Morrissey, but he failed to gather and as a result Sarsfield had the second goal of the match, which had the sides level at the break at 1-6 a piece

Seconds before the short whistle, Ballyhea should have scored a second goal when Ian "Rocky" Ronan was allowed to race through the Sars defence unhindered, but the Sarsfields keeper was equal to the shot.

In the second half, Ballyhea had switched Neil Ronan out to centre-forward and he continued to play a crucial role for his side, cutting a line ball over the bar from 30 metres before tying the game for the 13th and last time after a 60 yard run with three minutes remaining.

Both teams would have settled for extra time at this point, but two late points from Sars helped them on their way to a Quarter Final place against Imokilly

Ballyhea Scorers | Neil Ronan 0-10 (0-4 frees); Darren Ronan 1-1; Ian Ronan 0-2.

Ballyhea Team | Ollie Morrissey, Stephen Dennehy, Ray Ronan, Noel Hanley, Sean Curtin, Aidan O'Connor, Eamon Morrissey, Aidan Crowley, Timmy Shanahan, Diarmaid O'Riordan, Ian Ronan, Jonathon O' Sullivan, Darren Ronan, Neil Ronan, Conor O'Riordan

Ballyhea Subs | Johnny O'Callaghan for Diarmaid O'Riordan, Johnny O'Sullivan for Timmy Shanahan