Castletown 2-09 Ballinlough 4-13

Ballinlough made the journey to a sunny Castletown knowing we needed at least a draw to secure promotion, but as I said earlier in the week, nothing less than a win would keep Stephen Baxter happy, but bearing in mind Castletown were undefeated for the entire duration of the A’League, the result of this game was far from a forgone conclusion.

Ballinlough opened up proceedings, racing into a 3 point lead with Castletown conceding some early frees, Lorcan Maguire and Jonnie Reilly taking it in turns to slot them over the bar to leave us 0-03 to no score to the good after ten minutes. 

Mattie Farrell picked up the first yellow card of the game on the 13th minute, but he was alone in that regard in the Ballinlough ranks until late on in the game, whereas Referee Seamie O’Connor was left with little choice but to issue 5 further yellow cards throughout the game to Castletown men, with the majority for dissent and high tackles. 

Castletown got their first point of the game on the 15th minute mark with a score from a free but three minutes later Ballinlough extended their lead when Niall McDonnell won a Castletown kick-out and laid the ball off to Tommy McCullen who made no mistake rifling the ball to the back of the Castletown net. His brother Mark added another point, our first from play a moment later before Lorcan Maguire added another free on the 20th minute.

Two minutes later Castletown got a crucial score to bring themselves back into the game when a high ball was launched into the Ballinlough square and the Castletown forward got his hand slighter higher than Keith McGuinness’ to punch the ball to the net leaving the score line 1-05 to 1-01. Simon Deevy had a glorious chance to put Ballinlough back in the driving seat when he was through on goal but his effort just raised above the bar rather than below, much to the consternation of the sharp-shooter.

A misplaced pass in the Ballinlough defence led to Castletowns next score, opting for a simple tap over in front of the posts when the space was there for a goal chance. Tommy McCullen scored a fine effort from a 45 off the ground in the 29th minute for Ballinlough before Castletown added the last score of the half in the 33rd minute to leave the sides, Ballinlough 1-07 Castletown 1-03 at the half time break.

Ballinlough were first back on the pitch upon the resumption but it was Castletown who were first on the scoreboard when a defensive error gifted the home side a goal opportunity in the 31st minute and they made no mistake finishing to the corner of the net. Ballinlough responding perfectly with Lorcan Maguire adding another free to his tally in the 33rd minute and like before, the second of Ballinlough’s goals came from a Castletown kick-out. The goalie played the ball short and while trying to work it out from defence Mark McCullen intercepted the ball and laid it on to Simon Deevy. Simon, who had men inside him, decided he had a point to prove after his earlier miss, and held the ball to himself before burying it into the back of the net to put 5 between the sides. 

Jonnie Reilly and his Castletown counterpart traded frees before the home side scored two more points, one from play and one from a free in the 43rd minute. Lorcan Maguire was accurate again from a placed ball, the angle made somewhat easier thanks to the intervention of Seamie O’Connor who brought the ball up, for one of those aforementioned yellow cards!

Castletown kicked a fine effort from play in the 47th minute before Mark McCullen kicked a massive long range effort to keep the Lough 4 points clear.

The next score in the 49th minute was the turning point in the game and no matter what way I report it I’m going to upset someone !! Ballinlough were awarded a free from about 40 metres out and Lorcan Maguire, as always stepped up to the plate. Now what happened next is where the confusion starts. Lorcan played what looked to be a perfectly angled weighted pass into the Ballinlough forward line of one man Mr.Deevy. However with the aid of the breeze the ball was over cooked ever so slightly and instead of landing in Simons hands, it allegedly brushed his fingertips and to the surprise of everyone present landed in the back of the net!!! If there was no touch it would go down as the best goal Lorcan Maguire will ever score, but in my honest opinion, and also because I’m slightly scared of him, I’m going to credit this goal to the fingertips of Simon Deevey!!! 

Castletown got the next score from a free before Lorcan Maguire scored a superb free, no question of who was getting credit for that one! 

As he often does when Ballinlough have their noses firmly in front, Benji Smith added his customary point to proceedings before Castletown scored their final point of the game in the 57th minute. 

The game was over as a contest at this stage but when Mark McCullen got the ball around the 20 metre line he put the head down and powered through. Stephen Baxter was roaring for him to take the point and in a blatant act of defiance Mark smashed the ball to the Castletown net to leave the visitors with a commanding lead of 4-13 to 2-09. 

Referee Seamie O’Connor played two additional minutes and when he finally brought the whistle to his lips for the last time, there were scenes of jubilation from the Ballinlough bench as promotion to Division 2 was secured in the most emphatic of victories, against a team that had sailed through the League unbeaten up to this point. 

I joked earlier in the year we were the first team to beat Castletown on a technicality, when they couldn’t field against us in B’League, so if there was any doubt about that one, there can be no mistaking we were certainly the first to beat them in A’League today and we now have a place in the League Final against the same opposition to look forward to!! 

Massive congratulations to Stephen Baxter and his men who’s hard work and commitment over the last few months has culminated in this victory today. We were missing a number of regulars today, but the panel of players Baxter has now with everyone giving 100%, allowed us to absorb those losses and still put up a massive score against top opposition and guarantee us football in the second Tier next year!!

Ballinlough scorers: S.Deevey 2-01, L.Maguire 0-06 (6f), M.McCullen 1-02,, T.McCullen 1-01, Jonnie Reilly 0-2, B.Smith 0-01

Ballinlough: K.McGuinness, P.Muldoon, E.Smith, M.Farrell, D.Caffrey,M.Geraghty, Jonnie Reilly, L.Maguire, T.McCullen,B.Smith, M.McCullen,N.McDonnell, R.McGuinness, S.Deevey, Junior Reilly. Subs: P.Briody for Junior Reilly 53mins, R.Ryan for N.McDonnell 58mins

Castletown Report

Castletown 2-09  Ballinlough 4-13

Castletowns unbeaten run came to an end in this final round played in Castletown on Sunday morning. The home side without many regulars due to county, exam and family commitments were on the back foot from the start and were 3 point down with 11 minutes gone.

Castletowns first point came from a free on 15 minutes but didnt score again until the 23rd minute a goal from Damien ginnitty but by that stage Ballinlough had 1-05 on the board. Points from Barry Smith and Paul Cribbin left the home side trailing 1-03 to 1-07 when referee Seamus O Connor blew the halftime whistle. 

Castletowns Tommy Smith opened the second half scoring a goal to leave 1 point between the sides but this was quickly cancelled out as Ballinlough scored 1-02 before at the three quarter stage points from Mark Kelly and Declan Cribbin left 4 point between the sides. Declan Cribbin scored Castletowns 7th point but the killer blow came on 20 minutes when Ballinlough scored their third goal. Mark Kelly and Paul Cribbin scored Castletowns last two points but the eventual winners hit 1-02 again to close out the game to win by 10 points on a score of 4-13 to 2-09. 

These two teams will now meet in the Division 3 final sometime in the next few weeks.

Castletown: Jason Ross, Noel Smyth, Robbie Hoey, Gerard Farrelly, William Bellew, Evan Hoey, Stephen Duffy, Shane Hoey, Declan Cribbin (0-2), Damien Ginnitty (1-0), Wayne Donegan, Paul Cribbin (0-2), Mark Kelly (0-3, (3f)), Barry Smith (0-2, (1f)), Tommy Smith (1-0)

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