Ballinlough 2-12 Carnaross 1-11

Ballinlough made the short trip to a pristine Carnaross for the re-fixed Round 6 game of the Divison 4 League, and the hosts must be commended for the fine new pitch they now have at their disposal.

Despite the dead heat of the evening Ballinlough started this game at a blistering pace with points in the opening minutes for Niall McDonnell, Collie Mallen and a Mark McCullen effort from distance to give themselves a three point lead by the fifth minute.

There was no taking the foot off the gas early on as further points were added from Jack Smith and Darragh Caffrey by the 12th minute. The home side to their credit were creating plenty of chances but they had left their shooting boots at home in this opening half as a multitude of scoring opportunities went astray in the opening quarter.

There were no such issues at the other end of the field and Ballinlough pushed their lead out further with a goal in the 14th minute, Mark McCullen latching onto a midfield ball before laying it off to Benji Smith, who in turn found Darren O’Higgins and he kept his shot low and under the keeper to give Ballinlough a 1-05 to 0-00 lead.

Another free for Collie Mallen a moment later extended the lead again before Carnaross finally got on the scoreboard with a pointed 45’ in the 16th minute. That score was followed up by a goal against the run of play and while Carnaross should have capitalised on the momentum they had with the next high ball in, it was Ballinlough who took the next crucial score, Robbie Farrell taking command in defence and sending the ball on its way up the other end of the field where Niall McDonnell and Darren O’Higgins combined before Collie Mallen took possession and rolled the ball under the keeper for Ballinloughs second goal of the evening in the 24th minute.

Points were traded with Benji Smith chipping over a tidy point before Carnaross finished the half strongly with another point from play and then a possible goal chance when Keeper Alan Gibney got dispossessed but with the goal at his mercy the Carnaross attacker somehow came away with nothing !

The last score of the half fittingly came from Ballinlough Captain Darragh Caffrey who covered every blade of the super green grass in Carnaross this evening, so when Referee Paddy Clarke blew the half time whistle Ballinlough led on a scoreline of 2-08 to Carnaross’s 1-03.

The home side opened the scoring in the second half with a point from play but they were equally matched by a free from Collie Mallen and then an excellent score for Benji Smith with Jack Connell doing Trojan work to secure the Carnaross kick-out to leave nine between the sides by the 38th minute.

A Carnaross goal chance was twarthed by Robbie Farrell so they had to settle for a point in the 39th minute before adding two points in the next five minutes to reduce the gap down to six points by the 44th minute.

A calm response from Ballinlough saw Darren O’Higgins fire over the bar in the 46th minute, and the home side will have felt their luck was out as another goal chance in the 48th minute was expertly denied by Alan Gibney, before he made himself big for the rebound and forced the Carnaross man to go wider than intended with the ball striking the butt of the post before it was eventually worked over the bar.

Further points were traded with Carnaross pointing in the 50th minute and Darragh Caffrey bounding forward again to stick his third of the evening in the 54th minute.

Once again Alan Gibney was to the fore as he stopped a weak Carnaross goal chance but with the ball spilling, the experience of Robbie Farrell was needed to dig in and clean up before the ball was worked away from the goal mouth much to the relief of the Ballinlough Faithful in attendance.

Two late points for the home side lowered the deficit to four points but in truth Ballinlough never felt like this one was going to slip away and held on for a hard fought and much deserved victory on a scoreline of 2-12 to Carnaross’s 1-11.

No rest for Ken Rothwell’s men as we head to Longwood on Friday evening for Round 7 of the League where we will be hoping to boost ourselves further up the table.

Ballinlough: A.Gibney, C.Fleming, R.Farrell, C.Rennicks, J.Connell, D.Caffrey (0-03), L.Finnegan, J.Lynch, M.McCullen (0-01), N.McDonnell (0-01), B.Smith (0-02), J.Smith (0-01), D.O’Higgins (1-01), C.Mallen (1-03(3f)), B.Brunton

Subs: L.Maguire for J.Smith 56’ B.Jordan for L.Finnegan 60’

Referee: Patrick Clarke

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