By Mark Jones
DUBLIN — If last Sunday’s All-Ireland club football semifinal shouldn’t have been played due to the atrocious conditions at Pearse Park in Longford, try telling that to Ballinderry’s Conleth Gilligan.
The Derry club are still wondering if Gilligan might have been a duck in another life, given his superb individual performance. Apart from converting an early penalty, the center forward defied the pools of water dotted around the pitch to add three more points in the opening 20 minutes as Ballinderry prevailed, 1-9 to 0-7, over Rathnew of Wicklow.
No other player adapted as well, and even if Enda Muldoon, Adrian McGuckin and Kevin McGuckin made their contributions, Gilligan reigned supreme as Ballinderry qualified for the final for the first time in their history.
While Rathnew probably wished that the game had been postponed, the Leinster champions were philosophical in defeat. “It was a bit of a lottery, but it was the same for both sides,” said manager Harry Murphy. “They adapted better than we did and we’ve no complaints.”
Gerard Cassidy added 0-4 for the winners, including three from frees, while Tommy Gill was Rathnew’s main scorer with five points.
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