End of the road for Nobber as Ballymore hang on

After all the postponements and re-arrangements this Leinster Club IFC decider finally got underway at Ballymore on Sunday and for Nobber the pleasant, picturesque ground in the Kildare countryside turned out to be a place of broken dreams and shattered ambitions. Mingled with the disappointment of losing the game was a strong, over-riding feeling among the Nobber players, management and supporters that they were the victims of an injustice in front of about 1,500 paying customers. They felt that all too often were on the wrong side of incorrect refereeing decisions from Offaly match official Damien Brazil, that they didn't get an even break, particularly in that tight last quarter when it looked like the Meath side were poised to push on and win the game. Certainly there were a few decisions that went against them that could easily have gone the other way. They will also point to the dismissal of Alan Farrell with five minutes to go and say that here again was another example of how the home team were favoured. The midfielder had, up to that point, a fine game but he was on a yellow card when he thundered into Ballymore's John Doyle in a spectacular manner. There was no malicious intent by Farrell, but it left the match official with little choice except reach for his pocket and take further disciplinary action. The player walked. Brian Farrell was one of four Nobber players who were shown yellow and his booking certainly looked to be harsh as he became entangled with his marker in the rush for possession. Blame lay on both sides. The sending-off was just one of a series of talking points that emerged from this highly entertaining encounter. Nobber may not have a trophy from their Leinster campaign, but they gave hours of high quality entertainment to those who have followed them through the campaign. In their previous two games Nobber were able to dig deep and come up with a response when they needed it most. On this occasion they just couldn't bridge the gap. They trailed by 0-4 to 0-9 at the interval and as the second-half wore on they chipped away at that significant lead. Five points, four points, three, two. Then with 49 minutes played they whittled it down to just one. The Nobber supporters in the little stand, that provided seating for about 150 spectators, and scattered around the ground started to really get animated. They had seen their team do this before, come back from near impossible situations to rescue the situation. They looked like they were about to do it again. Then Ballymore moved up a gear. Doyle fired over a point from play and with time almost up their marquee player James Kavanagh split the posts from a long-range free to put three points between the teams. There was more drama to come. With the seconds ticking Nobber put together a necklace of passes with Padraig Weldon, Andrew O'Brien and Gavin Farrelly involved. The move ended up with Brendan Heffernan close to the Ballymore goals. For a split second the goal was on, but Heffernan was at an awkward angle and the ball flew over rather than under the bar. It was Nobber's last chance and seconds later it was all over. The Nobber players sat or collapsed on the ground while Kavanagh and his colleagues celebrated. Ballymore had taken the precaution of bringing Kavanagh back from Australia the previous day. The expense, and the gamble that he would not be hampered by jet-lag, paid off as Ballymore achieved their ambition. There were some memorable moments for Nobber to reflect on. Once again it was Brian Farrell who led the scoring. He had come into the game with a hamstring problem picked up with Meath the previous week. Despite the injury he produced another masterclass in point-scoring slotting over a serious of top-notch scores from various distances and angles. Ballymore put one of their best players, Keith Conway, on him yet he was still by some distance Nobber's main threat. And that points to a problem for Nobber. They depend a great deal on their county player for scores. The five points from play that he did conjure up were special, taken by a player with a rich talent. The only time Nobber led was in the opening minutes when Fiachra McEntee pointed from a free while Gordon Weldon and Heffernan were the others to split the posts later in proceedings. The fact that the Meath IFC champions were unable to force a decent save from Ballymore netminder Kevin McNally told a tale about the difficulties they had in getting any change from a strong home defence. Ballymore went closest to getting a goal when Tadhg Grace drove wide in a good position in the second-half. On another occasion Nobber were happy to scramble the ball clear. Significantly, Ballymore had a wider spread of scorers with seven of their players getting on the scoreboard with Willie O'Donoghue, who wore number two, but popping up in forward positions to get four points from play. Alan Farrell and Gavin Farrelly did well in midfield and ensured that Kavanagh didn't have it all his own way, but the visitors found it hard to get past the Ballymore half-back line. Weldon, Andrew O'Brien and Brian O'Reilly also had good spells for a Nobber team who never stopped working. Andrew Hayes, who is based in London, came on for the second-half and added some zip and zest to the attack. It just wasn't enough for Nobber on this occasion as their dream faded in the Kildare countryside. Ballymore - K McNally; P Browne (0-4), K Conway, K Fennell; J Balfe, J Doyle (0-1), D Fennell (0-1); T Grace, J Kavanagh (0-3, frees); W O'Donoghue, E Kavanagh, S Kavanagh (0-1); G Clarke, T Archbold (0-1), M McCarville (0-1). Subs - S Dwyer for Archbold, T O'Rourke for E Kavanagh. Nobber - C O'Reilly; P Weldon, B O'Reilly, A O'Brien; G Weldon (0-1), P McEntee, R Shiels; A Farrell, G Farrelly; C Clarke, J Owens, B Heffernan (0-1); F McEntee (0-1, free), B Farrell (0-7, two frees), D Lambe. Subs - A Hayes for Owens half-time; N Farrell for Clarke. Referee - Damien Brazil (Offaly).