Bennett inspires Ballysaggart as they end a 140-year football famine
Neil Moore, Chairman Co.GAA Board presents the Junior C Football Cup to Ballysaggart’s Joint Captains Colin Roche and Ryan Bennett.
One of the longest famines in the history of the G.A.A. came to an end on Friday evening last when Ballysaggart were crowned County Junior C Football Champions, defeating Butlerstown at the Dungarvan Club Grounds.
Like many of the clubs in the Far West of the County, Ballysaggart are noted as a hurling club, and for many years of their history, there would have been periods of time when no football was kicked in the area.
They were crowned the first winners of the Waterford Championship back in 1885 when they beat Kinsalebeg, and now they have won a second football title to their roll of honour, winning here, against a side that would have been fancying their chances making the journey to the Old Boro.
The winners went into this final as an unbeaten team in the championship, while their opponents had been beaten once in the group stages, suffering a heavy loss to Tramore.
It was Butlerstown that made all the early running in this game. Drew Keating opened their account in two minutes after putting over a free, and just seconds later, Jim Power pointed. Keating added his second of the game on 10 minutes.
Butlerstown were dealt a blow when Johnny Keane was ordered off for ten minutes after he picked up a black card, and with a numerical advantage, Ballysaggart began to make it work in their favour.
Shane Bennett opened his sides account in 11 minutes, and by the end of the first quarter, the sides were all square after Barry Murphy and Shane Bennett, this time from a free.
Stephen Mangan gave his side the lead when he scored on 18 minutes, and they went in front shortly afterwards thanks to a Barry Murphy effort.
Despite their good start and restored to a full quota of players, Butlerstown were finding the going tough, and two goals in a minute, the first by Shane Bennett who Sam Ryan picked out on 23 minutes and a second from John Roche helped the side from the far west of the county to a 2-5 to 0-3 lead at the break.
Any hopes that Butlerstown had of staging a comeback were dashed five minutes into the second half when Shane Bennett notched his second major of the game. After Ronan Walsh added a minor score, Ballysaggart struck for a fourth goal this time from Stephen Managan, with Kieran Bennett providing the assist in the build-up, giving them a 4-6 goal 0-3 advantage after 42 minutes.
Dylan Hennessy pulled back a goal for Butlerstown with their first score in 25 minutes when he got on the end of a Drew Keating free that fell short.
Ballysaggart on the night, however, were full value for their win, and they added their fifth goal, Ronan Walsh, while the Bennett brothers in the closing minutes raised further white flags, with Shane hitting the only score of the evening that resulted in the raising of an orange flag. Dermot Riordan and Dan Cronin hit points for the side from the edge of the city, but they were to prove to be mere consultation scores for the recently crowned Eastern Champions.
Shane Bennett 2-5 (1x2p, 2f), Ronan Walsh, Stevie Mangan 1-1 each, John Roche 1-0, Barry Murphy 0-2, Kieran Bennett 0-1.
Dylan Hennessy 1-0, Drew Keating 0-3 (1f), Jim Power, Dermot Riordan 0-1 each.
Ballysaggart: Daryl Walsh; Matthew Kearney, Bobby Ryan, Colin Roche; Cailean O Gorman, Ryan Bennett, Barry Murphy; Kieran Bennett, Christy Murphy; Steven Mangan, Shane Bennett, John Roche; Michael Ryan, Sam Ryan, Ronan Walsh.
Chris O'Gorman for Christy Murphy, Ken Cashell for Michael Ryan, Jack Ryan for Matthew Kearney, Jack Cunningham for Ronan Walsh, Dara O Brien for Cailean O'Gorman.
Shane Kavanagh; Eoin Coughlan, Dermot Riordan, Johnny Keane; Daniel Kelly, Daniel Farrell, William Power; Jim Power, Paul Power; Conor Lanigan, Dan Cronin, John Francis; Drew Keating, Ray O'Regan, Issac Brazil.
Scott Power for Conor Lanigan, 34 for Ray O'Regan]
Tony Larkin (Ballyduff Lower).
