Fractions Of A Second Or Inches Make Such A Difference To The Outcome.

Monday 31.10.2011

Club

The line between failure and success can at times be a fine one. The bounce of a ball or a despairing hand just failing to connect can often be the difference between winning and losing.

On Sunday Dromore lost out narrowly to Ballinderry in what was a very entertaining and compelling game of club football. The game had great intensity throughout with some big hits and no shortage of commitment from both teams. It did finish fourteen players aside following two late sendings off but in no way could it be described as a dirty game.

Ballinderry won and were marginally the better side on the day as their more direct style of play suited the pitch and the conditions. However Dromore were not that far away and will point to one or two little things that went against them over the hour which ultimately decided the outcome of the game. Both teams scored twelve scores each but Ballinderry’s goal in the opening thirty five seconds had a major bearing on the outcome of the game and proved to be the decisive score of the day. In games like these goal chances will be few and far between and so they were on Sunday. Balliinderry landed theirs before Dromore had even settled to the task and the Tyrone champions found themselves three points down before any of their players had as much as caught the ball. It was a fortunate break that the Derry champions did not have to work all that hard to get but it had a huge bearing on the result.

Contrast that to Dromore’s one goal chance created as a result of piece of fine individual skill from Niall Sludden to release Ronan Mc Nabb twenty five metres from goal. The former all Ireland winning minor captain was odds on to hit the net but inexplicably delayed by a fraction of a second which saw the chance lost. A goal at that stage would have been a massive score for Dromore but unfortunately it just did not happen. The ball did end up in the net but the referee had awarded a free kick to Ballinderry at a time when they were under extreme pressure.

Even at that stage you got the feeling that it was not going to be Dromore’s day and as if to reinforce that they hit the post with a free kick from Paddy Montague early in the second half when they badly needed a score to claw their way back into the game. Paddy had been unerringly accurate with his shooting in the first half but his effort that time was only inches away. Unfortunately on such things are games, cups and titles won or lost and sadly for Dromore the luck just was not with them on Sunday and they exited the Ulster Club Series.

As we said earlier success and failure, victory and defeat, both so close with inches or the fractions of a second separating them but a world apart in terms of the emotions they generate. It is of little consolation to Dromore today but they did come agonisingly close to making it through to a semi final meeting with Crossmaglen.