The senior footballers were well in this Round 3, Intermediate Championship tie and it took a late Naomh Uile goal to break our resistance as we eventually went down by 7 points.
Both teams kicked early points from frees with Gerard Slane on the mark, to see Naomh Uile edge in front 0-2 to 0-1. At this stage, we were playing some nice football and causing Naomh Uile plenty of problems and were rewarded with a goal from the penalty spot from Michael Connolly. We stretched our advantage with points from Aaron Slane, who gave a short free, took the return and split the posts and the point of the half from Marcas Toner to deservedly lead 1-3 to 0-2. However, Naomh Uile played their way back into the game and finished the half on the front foot, kicking five unanswered points to hold a single point advantage at the half time whistle 0-7 to 1-3 .
Naomh Uile kicked the first point of the second half but a Gerard Slane pointed free kept the minimum between the sides. Ballymena then took control and opened up a 4-point advantage with three well-worked points, before another Gerard Slane point kept us in touch. We then had a great opportunity for a goal but the Naomh Uile defence snuffed out the danger. The killer blow came late in the game when the ball was played across the square and the oncoming Naomh Uile forward palmed to the net to break. Chris Rafferty kicked a consolation point and Naomh Uile concluded the game with a further to points to maintain their unbeaten record in the group.
Scorers: Gerard Slane 0-3, Michael Connolly 1-0, Aaron Slane 0-1, Marcas Toner 0-1 and Chris Rafferty 0-1
