CBL GOTW: Ballyphehane fire in four to secure emphatic win

ISF Ballyphehane Celtic 4 – 1 O’Brien Scaffolding

Man of the Match: Craig Williams

It was a thrilling Friday night affair in Crosshaven, as ISF Ballyphehane Celtic took on O’Brien Scaffolding. It was Ballyphehane who came away from the CBL Grandon’s First Division clash with all three points, writes Donncha Noonan.

The first chance of the game came in the sixteenth minute, and it went Ballyphehane’s way. A miscommunication at the back allowed Ryan Constant to nick the ball and burst through towards goal. He came inside onto his left foot and tried to guide it into the far left corner, but David Guiney did well to deal with the shot.

Ballyphehane’s good start paid off as they took the lead ten minutes later. A hooked ball down the right hand side found the run of Conor Callaghan, who whipped a ball across the box. Ryan Constant raced keeper David Guiney to it, and it was the striker who poked it around Guiney, before shaping himself and curling an effort into the top right corner.

Ballyphehane kept pressing to try to find a second, and almost got one in the thirty-third minute. Constant received the ball with his back to goal twenty five yards, and turned to his right. He then cut back inside and curled an effort from twenty yards out towards the far right corner, but it whistled narrowly past the post.

That was all for the first half where Ballyphehane had control but only led by a goal to nil.

Ballyphehane started the second half the same way they did the first and doubled their lead one minute in. Aaron West delivered an inswinging corner towards the back post. His ball found the oncoming Craig Williams who lept to sidefoot the ball into the roof of the net to add to his side’s advantage.

They weren’t quite done there as they made it three in the fifty-fourth minute. Goalie Jamie O’Sullivan lofted a lovely ball down the right hand side for Robert Tier to chase, who delivered a first time ball into the box. It was a hard one for David Guiney to deal with, he got a touch on the cross but it wasn’t enough to take it out of the path of Sean Nagle, who was on hand to direct the ball home.

OBS weren’t down and out quite yet though, as they got one back eight minutes later. Sean Blake battled in midfield to win the ball before laying it off to Bohdan Krykunov. He spotted Jamie O’Sullivan off his line and audaciously fired an effort over the keeper from thirty-five yards out to bring his side back into the game.

Despite this, Ballyphehane were able to put the match to bed with thirteen minutes to go. Aaron West sent a ball down the line which went towards defender Ross Drummond. His poor touch allowed Christopher Bowen to nick it away and bear down on goal, before slotting the ball into the bottom right corner to secure his side’s victory.

That was how the game ended after a dominant display from Ballyphehane secured them all three points in their opening game of their CBL First Division campaign.

ISF Ballyphehane: J. O’Sullivan, M. Barry, A. West, C. Williams, R. Tier, M. Ayala, C. Callaghan, M. Flodin, R. Constant, T. Shanahan, T. O’Reilly, W. Oradi, O. O’Sullivan, G. Smith, C. Greene, S. Nagle, C. Bowen, R. Murphy.

O’Brien Scaffolding: D. Guiney, A. Moynihan, E. Lordan, S. O’Mullane, R. Drummond, L. Maher, A. Khametov, B. Krykunov, N. O’Brien, S. Blake, A. O’Reilly, M. Maher, S. Murray, A. McGarry, A. McGrath, S. Foley, T. Cassidy, K. Sadik.