Ballinagh 3-13
Lavey 2-8

Ballinagh eased into the last eight of the senior football championship tonight after dispatching of Lavey at the second attempt at Kingspan Breffni Park.

The champions were merciless for much of this replay, posting an unanswered 1-6 in the opening 15 minutes and netting twice more through Ronan Reilly, who lashed in the opener, and Kevin Smith either side of half-time.

Goals from Darren Jordan and Chris Conroy (1-5) were about all that kept Lavey's heads above water, as they went in at the break trailing by seven, but the second-half would get underway in disastrous circumstances from their perspective with Reilly scoring a fortuitous third goal for Ballinagh.

From there, Darragh McCarthy's team simply kept their foot on the throttle with old reliables Padraic O'Reilly, Patrick Carroll and Niall McDermott helping to see out the comfortable win which pits them against Mullahoran this weekend for a semi-final berth.

The winners were off to their dream start inside two minutes when Reilly made the most of a long ball into Lavey's square which wasn't dealt with and turned to bury the ball beyond Conor Martin in a flash.

Stunned by the goal, the New Inns men came up with barely anything for the next quarter of an hour as their opponents threatened to put the game out of their reach with points from the deadly McDermott (4), Smith (2) and an Eamon McEvoy '45'. 

It looked to be over as a contest when Smith ripped through the centre untouched and smashed the ball in low past Martin, but Lavey made the best possible response with their first real attack of the game which they reaped full profit from when Darren Jordan tucked the ball to the net.

Another sweetly struck '45' from McEvoy cushioned Ballinagh's lead to 10, but a quick 1-1 from Chris Conroy before half-time, when the score-line read 2-8 to 2-1, meant that Michael Tynan's side would have an outside chance provided they had a decent start to the second-half.

That was far from how it transpired though, as Reilly's tame effort somehow trickled through Martin's legs a minute into the restart for the holders' third major, and when McDermott sent over a trademark point a minute after Ballinagh simply weren't going to be caught.

Frees from Gerard Smith and Conroy were sorely required to take some tarnish off the score-line for the trailers, and the difference stayed at nine heading into the final quarter after David Finnegan's single and Stephen Jordan seeing his goal effort tipped over by Declan Beard.

Conroy (3) and Ray Cullivan would register scores for Lavey late on but their quarter-final hopes were long over by that stage as points from Carroll and Thomas Moore put a seal on the victory for Ballinagh, whom now look forward to a showdown with their neigbours on Sunday evening.

Ballinagh: Declan Beard; Fergus Bogue, Anthony Gaynor, Killian McBride; Thomas Moore (0-1), Patrick Carroll (0-1), Niall O'Reilly; Padraic O'Reilly, Eamon McEvoy (0-2, 2 '45s); David Finnegan (0-1), Kevin Smith (1-2), Conor Smith; Enda Brady, Niall McDermott (0-6, 3f), Ronan Reilly (2-0). Subs: Philip Bogue for A Gaynor (23mins), Colin Gumley for E Brady (40, b/c), Terry Smith for T Moore (58).

Lavey: Conor Martin; Dean Rutherford, Fergal Smith, Kevin Donohoe; Aaron Smith, Joey Jordan, Stephen Jordan (0-1); Ray Cullivan (0-1), Shane Conaty; Chris Conroy (1-5, 4f), Karl Duke, Darren Jordan (1-0); Darragh Conaty, Gerard Smith (0-1, 1f), Darren Monaghan. Subs: Paul Gilchreest for D Conaty (HT), Diarmuid Conaty for D Rutherford (34), Jake Buckley for S Conaty (50).

Ref: Kieran McCarville (Cootehill Celtic)

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