Ballinagh 0-11
Drumalee 0-7

Ballinagh edged past Drumalee this evening at Kingspan Breffni Park to take one step closer to the senior football championship quarter-finals.

In a poor quality match, which saw both teams only combining for 0-5 from play, it was Niall McDermott's free-taking that gave Ballinagh the upper hand as the Cavan forward struck 0-6 which was enough to see Ciaran Reilly's men safely over the line.

As for Drumalee, who were somewhat over reliant on frees from Michael Brennan and Daragh Gaffney (the latter registered 0-5), they wasted too many chances to ever win this game despite having a late goal disallowed before a last ditch effort from Brennan in injury-time just dropped the wrong side of Daragh McCarthy's post.

Drumalee opened their account in brilliant fashion inside the opening minute when Gaffney sailed over a 50-metre free and the Cavan town side doubled their lead five minutes later when Craig Sheridan punched a hole in Ballinagh's defence and sent over.

A trademark Niall McDermott free got Ballinagh off the mark and by the quarter hour mark they were in the lead after points from Padraic O'Reilly and Thomas Moore (free).

In a first-half littered with turnovers, it was Ballinagh that seemed to make the most of their possession for long portions as David Finnegan took advantage of a break from centre-field to double his side's lead. Gaffney's second free cancelled that out but when McDermott stretched the advantage back to two it looked like Ballinagh were headed for a cushioned interval lead.

Gaffney's third free kept the whites in touch but Ballinagh finished out the half with a deserved 0-6 to 0-4 lead via a Moore '45'.

A sublime point from Cian Byrne looked to provide Drumalee with the tonic they needed to find their way back to the lead they held in the early stages, but with Ballinagh pushing forward and earning frees for McDermott to slot over it looked ominous for them. The Cavan ace struck three placed balls in the opening 15 minutes of the second-half to keep the Paddy Bates' side at bay.

It left Drumalee with a four-point deficit to overcome in the final quarter, which they never looked like doing, with neither team creating a clear cut goal chance up to this point. They would have a goal disallowed with five minutes to go after Sheridan was pulled back on route to goal and Gaffney pointed the resultant free.

In the end, however, Drumalee would have to resort to launching long ball into Gaffney and Brennan, who saw a fisted goal chance flash wide as Ballinagh collectively held their breath, before Terry Smith and McDermott (free) sealed the win.

Ballinagh: Daragh McCarthy; Killian McBride, Patrick Carroll, Michael Ward; Conor Smith, Niall O'Reilly, Philip Bogue; Padraic O'Reilly (0-1), David Finnegan (0-1); Declan Beard, Thomas Moore (0-2, 1f, 1 '45'), Terry Smith (0-1); Andrew Ward, Niall McDermott (0-6, 6f), Cathal Bogue. Subs: Colin Gumley for P Bogue (28mins, inj), Enda Brady for A ward (51), Paul Galligan for Beard (60).

Drumalee: James Heffernan; Brendan Smith, Gary Fercombe, Fionnan Lee; Philip McArdle, Enda McCormack, Kevin Gavigan; Craig Sheridan (0-1), Daragh Gaffney (0-5, 5f); Kevin Donohoe, Gary Malone, Leigh Dunne; Cian Byrne (0-1), Michael Brennan, Tomas O'Keeffe. Subs: Michael Higgins for O'Keeffe (43mins), Michael Goldrick for Dunne (57).

Ref: Chris McCaffrey Tweet

Most Read Stories