the lead again 31 minutes into half.

The Saints drew on celestial aid and moments before the whistle Peter Doyle turned two ways before setting Trevor Nolan up for their second goal. The game took a distinct Ballon turn when O'Leary finished a James Doyle Willie Byrne raid within 50 seconds, and four minutes later the ball was in the Saints net when O'Leary touched on a free towards the left post was finally netted by Kelly.

Now Andrews went on the hunt, but only after Pa Coady had saved a penalty dubious asit was when Kelly was adjudged to have been fouled, yet he over-holding to an excessive degree.

If that the ebb,now the flow E Morgan Drea fouled darting into the Ballon square and Peter Doyle slotting a fine kick inside the left post. Moments later Nolan pointed.

Steam rising and time calling, and O'Leary converts a 45 after Declan Kealy saved well from a Kelly free in which Zerafa attempted to score. With time al­most up and Martin Barry preparing to present the trophy to 'Andrew's, Ballon raided again and a move involving Kelly, Zerefa, Willie Byrne and Shane Byrne ended in James Doyle depositing the ball in the 'Andrew's net for a one point lead which David McCormack hauled back with a late dramatic free, and not long after Doyle hit the upright.

Shane Byrne

The drama went to the wire when Saints skipper John Doyle got possession of their only line ball in the second half, headed for the left of the square, boxed a pass across the area but Alan Corcoran was adjudged to have been in prohib­ited ground when he dispatched the ball to the net.

Post mortems aside both will welcome the opportunity to return to Dr. Cullen Park, and fans the delight of another absorbing finale, and to see John Gittens, James O'Brien and Brendan Barry defend the honour of the parish with Shane Byrne lively in the middle and Kelly and O'Leary attempt to pull off another scoring coup-their 2-7 another Ballon saviour.

So close and yet St. Andrew's could feel peeved, sure, but then they too had the rub of the green.

Alan Corcoran inspirational, Morgan Drea and Johnny Dowling in the first half, John Doyle in the middle and Dave Cormack, Trevor Nolan and Brian Murray in a stuttering attack a tad fortunate to survive another day. Time will tell. Ballon? They had their good fortune too, and a penalty dubiously awarded. They contributed to an entertaining final with Brendan Barry, James O'Brien at the back, Shane Byrne a pillar at midfield, especially in the second half, and Kelly and O'Leary forward, the pair obviously in a county loop; James Doyle joining the fray at halftime after arriving from the Air Corps pilot's funeral. St. Andrew's were awarded 23 or the 44 frees and hit three of the seven wides with yellow cards issues to Shane Byrne James O'Brien (Ballon) John Doyle and Brian Murray (St. Andrews}.

REPLAY:

The duel wasn't finished and both teams were glad to get another bite of the cherry on the following Saturday. Ballon had some changes on the team.

And We All Know What Happened Then, Don't We ?

Ballon Bridge Twenty Year Gap
BALLON 1-07       ST. ANDREW'S     0-07

BALLON FOOTBALLERS received on merit their ticket to play in the 2010 senior football championship after they held on for a three point win over St. Andrews in the intermediate football championship final replay at Dr.Cullen Park on Sat­urday.

Joy was abound when the final whistle sounded as Ballon bridged a twenty eight year gap with tears of joy falling from the faces of their supporters over­come with emotion.

Alan Kelly

St. Andrews, on the other hand were dejected after putting in two great hours of competitive football, only to go home empty handed, although they will be first to admit that they had a huge amount of possession on Saturday and didn't convert it into scores.

In one of the best games in this year's championship the sides had finished all square at 3-8 each the previous week, with the Saints protesting they scored a perfectly legitimate goal in injury time that wasn't allowed, that's water under the bridge now.

The Ballon men got a dream start in the third minute, as they moved the ball down the right wing stand side per Paddy Byrne, James Doyle, and Michael O'Leary sent it diagonally across in to the path of centre forward Alan Kelly as he rounded the defence to send low and hard to the St. Andrews net, for the games first score.

St. Andrews recovered and went on the attack, forcing the Ballon men to de­fend heavily. Peter Doyle sent over their first point from a free, and the town men playing a fast brand of football were on level terms by the nineteenth min­ute courtesy of two excellent points from Brian Murphy and Peter Doyle from play 0-3 to 1-0. Nine minutes before the break and a David Cormack free had the Bagenaistown men in the lead, 0-4 to 1-0.

With play swinging from side to side it was twenty minutes before Ballon regis­tered their second score from their first, with Alan Kelly pointing from the right wing after St. Andrews had fouled, to level the sides for a second time. This score seemed to spur the red and white men in to action as gaining the upper hand at midfield and moving forward they won another free which Kelly duly pointed with great accuracy and on the stroke of half time Paddy Byrne kicked their third point from play forty metres out, enabling his side to lead by two points, Ballon 1-3 St. Andrews 0-4.

It was still anyone's game as the second period commenced. Just as he finished the first half, Paddy Byrne kicked his second point inside of thirty seconds of the restart to increase Ballon's lead. St. Andrews moved fast as they set about ar­resting the Ballon attack, David Corrnack pointed to reduce the lead to two points.

The game had lifted five notches in tempo as the famed Ned Doogue Cup won­dered would it be going the Kilkenny Rd from Carlow or the Wexford Rd. The supporters were now in full vocals, some of them hitting high doh |, and joy was with the green and gold St. Andrews men eight minutes in to the last pe­riod as they saw star forward Craig Doyle brought down in the large parrel-logram as referee Oily Hynes awarded the penalty.

Brendan Barry

With a well struck penalty from Peter Doyle, Declan Kealy in the Ballon goal was equal to the shot, although he attempted to go the wrong way, he got to raise his leg and stopped the ball with the sole of his boot from going in to the net. Undaunted St. Andrews reeling from the save, quickly recovered and Craig Doyle narrowed the gap to the minimum with a point from play Ballon 1-4 St. Andrews 0-7, ten minutes in to the last half.

The next ten minutes the battle was on for supremacy, St. Andrews were enjoy­ing good possession John Doyle who covered every blade of grass on the field along with Charles Coote were turning good ball at midfield, keeping the for­wards well supplied however over playing the ball, and coming up against a stone wall Ballon defence restricted St. Andrews to one point in the final twenty minutes. John Gittens at full back Pauric George Patrick Abbey Willie Byrne until injured with Jimmy Maher deputising, James O'Brien at centre back John Ken­nedy and Brendan Barry when he came on cut out many dangerous raids. Each team were introducing fresh blood and Ballon with ten minutes remaining introduced their trump card Frank Fanning, only thirty seconds on the field and he broke the deadlock as he swung over a lovely point from play. Two minutes later and Alan Kelly sent over easily the games best score with the left foot. St. Andrews battled back and Craig Doyle narrowed the gap to two points and the same player was unlucky to see another effort go at the wrong side of the posts, with time ticking away. A huge cheer greeted Frank Fanning's second point and the last score of the game with two minutes remaining St. Andrews went all out with one last raid however time ran out and the Doogue cup was for the Wexford road.