Ballinlough 2-16 Na Fianna 1-14

Ballinlough welcomed Na Fianna to the Park on a sweltering Sunday morning for this Round 6 clash in the Div.7 League.

Ronan McGuinness opened proceedings with a free in the second minute before Na Fianna converted a free of their own a moment later. Further points were traded with another Na Fianna free and Mark McCullen accurate from play for Ballinlough, before McCullen gave Ballinlough the lead with a well worked score, Josh Lynch and Louis Finnegan combining well to allow McCullen fire over in the eighth minute.

Another free for the evergreen Ronzer McGuinness was followed up by a point from another fella who is edging closer to veteran status, Benji Smith with the point to leave Ballinlough leading by three at the ten minute mark.

Na Fianna hit back with a point from play but the next pivotal score came from the home side, Jack Smith starting the attack in the midfield area, and then continuing on an excellent run to be on the receiving end of Darren’s O’Higgins pass across the face of goal, with Smith smashing the ball to the net in the 13th minute.

Na Fianna were ticking along with another point from play but Ballinlough upped the ante with Brandon Brunton, Darren O’Higgins and a rare left footed score for Mark McCullen boosted the Loughs lead to seven points by the 24th minute.

Good defensive pressure from Ballinlough kept the Na Fianna attack at bay, but they did rattle off two late points to lower the deficit. So when Referee Raymond Tynan blew the half time whistle Ballinlough led on a score line of 1-08 to Na Fianna’s 0-06.

The visitors opened the scoring in the second half with a point from play but that was cancelled out by Benji Smiths second point of the game in the 33rd minute. A Brandon Brunton free pushed the lead out further and it was to become a nine point game when Ballinlough struck for goal in the 35th minute, Benji Smith and Louis Finnegan doing the donkey work before Darren O’Higgins finished the move with a sublime goal.

While that score would have broken the spirit of many teams, great credit must be given to Na Fianna for the way in which they responded, hitting the next six points from play to lower the gap to just three points by the 48th minute.

The sideline management of Ballinlough had spent the last few minutes urging their players that they just needed to get a score to settle themselves down, and when player/coach Peader Byrne was introduced in the 48th minute he did just that, sending the ball over the bar with his first touch of the ball to calm the home sides nerves.

With Na Fianna threatening for a goal opportunity, an interception from Robbie Farrell in the Ballinlough defence was to prove vital in the 52nd minute, as the ball was worked forward with Darren O’Higgins unselfishly laying the ball off to Ciaran Ryan and he fisted over the bar from close range to restore Ballinlough’s lead to five points.

From the Na Fianna kick-out Ben Jordan reacted superbly to read the flight of the ball and he laid off for Mark McCullen to land his fourth point of the day in the 53rd minute. While Ballinlough should have being home and dry at this stage, a lapse in concentration allowed Na Fianna to work a short close range free and the ball was fired to the top corner of the net for an excellent goal in the 54th minute, the deficit back to a nervy three points again!

But like ten years ago Peader Byrne was to prove talismanic once again as he sent over Ballinlough’s next score, a free in the 55th minute. With another free awarded to Ballinlough two moments later Brandon Brunton showed his quality sending the ball over the black spot to restore Ballinloughs five point lead.

A Na Fianna point in the 58th minute gave them some hope but the game was put to bed with a Brandon Brunton point from play in the 61st minute and with that Referee Raymond Tynan blew the full time whistle, Ballinlough the victors on a score line of 2-16 to Na Fianna’s 1-14.

Ballinlough: C.Monaghan, R.Farrell, P.Muldoon, E.McCabe, B.Jordan, L.Maguire, J.Lynch, D.Galligan, M.McCullen (0-04), J.Smith (1-00), B.Smith (0-02), L.Finnegan, B.Brunton (0-04(2f)), R.McGuinness (0-02(2f)), D.O’Higgins (1-01)

Subs: C.Ryan (0-01) for J.Smith 38’, P.Byrne (0-02) for R.McGuinness 48’, M.Tynan for L.Finnegan 55’

Referee: Raymond Tynan

Tweet

Most Read Stories