Munster Junior Club Football Quarter-Final
Croom 0-8
Ballyduff Lower 0-6
With Ballyduff Lower eliminated from this year’s Munster Junior ‘A’ Football Championship following defeat to Limerick side Croom at Bruff on Saturday afternoon last, all of Waterford’s football champions from Junior ‘A’ to Senior have bowed out of the competition in which they played at the first hurdle.
Former Limerick defender Mark O’Riordan opened the scoring for Croom with a well taken score after just three minutes when he was set up by Reidy.

The Ballyduff Lower team that lost to Croom in Limerick on Saturday.  Photo: Maurice Hennebry.

The Ballyduff Lower team that lost to Croom in Limerick on Saturday. Photo: Maurice Hennebry.


Ballyduff Lower created a good chance to net the game’s first goal on seven minutes when a loose ball fell to corner forward Jack Harrington but Croom goalkeeper Shane Burke came racing out of his goal to narrow the margin that the Ballyduff man had to shoot at and it proved a successful move as he did well to save from Harrington.Jack Lyons soon levelled for Ballyduff Lower but this was as good as it got for them as the Limerick men followed up with points from Jamie Greaves and then Mark O’Kelly, from a free to give his side a 0-3 to 0-1 lead.
Croom went further in front when Mark O’Kelly hit his second of the game, again from a free to go three in front, but Ballyduff Lower would pull a point back from an Emmett Power free leaving two between the sides at the break.Mark O’Kelly and Jack Lyons swapped scores at the start of the second half which kept Croom two points in front but they stretched that lead to three on 36 minutes when Ryan O’Shea split the Ballyduff posts in an excellent team move that also involved Mickey Cahill and Mark Reidy.
Eoin Cummins, top scorer for Ballyduff Lower in this game exerted a lot of pressure on the Croom defence and it paid off with three scores, one of which came from a free, with Ryan O’Shea hitting his second of the game to keep his side in front by the minimum with 54 minutes on the clock.Ballyduff Lower were still in with a shout of winning this game and advancing to a home tie with Tipperary Champions Mullinahone this coming Saturday, but they couldn’t get the scores when they mattered most. Croom substitute Eoin O’Farrell secured the win for his side and their passage through to this weekend’s semi-final as he kicked a late point.