Ballinlough 3-03 Meath Hill 1-11

Ballinlough and Meath Hill met on a cold but dry Friday evening for this Reserve Cup Division 4 Final, and it was the men in blue who got off to the brighter start with two early points from play before Ballinlough finally got motoring with a super Joshua Lynch point from play in the seventh minute.

Despite the shaky start Ballinlough were getting plenty of the ball but they were quite wasteful in the scoring area and failed to add to their solitary point for a long period. By contrast Meath Hill were having no such issues at the other end firing over four points from play between the 15th and 20th minute to leave them five points clear.

Balinlough were struggling to find any foothold in this game but they were gifted a lifeline when Conor Rennicks sent a long ball in and Peader Byrne was quickest to react flicking the ball to the back of the net to bring Ballinlough right back into the game. That score was followed up by a point from play from Podge Muldoon in the 24th minute to leave just a point between the sides.

After reducing the gap significantly all Ballinlough had to do was try get to half-time with out conceding too much more but disaster struck in the 30th minute when a misplaced pass in the Centre of the field gifted Meath Hill possession and they made great use of it working the ball quickly forward and powerfully finished to the back of the net. A point from play swiftly followed that score so when Referee Larry McEntee blew the half time whistle Ballinlough trailed by five on a score line of 1-02 to Meath Hills 1-07.

Upon the restart Meath Hill kicked on from where they left off with two pointed frees and a point from play to push their lead out to eight points by the 38th minute, and what followed then was a period of pretty much nothingness as Ballinlough struggled to keep hold of the ball while Meath Hill were happy enough to pass the leather around amongst themselves and eat away abit of time.

The next significant moment of the game came in the 50th minute when Ballinlough substitute Daire Shine secured possession and bore down on goal, only to be hauled down before he could get his shot off and Referee Larry McEntee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot for the penalty, which Shine duly dispatched to lower the deficit to five points again.

Meath Hill responded well enough to that goal concession and worked the ball forward winning themselves a free in the process which was sent over the bar to give them a six point cushion in the 56th minute and they were probably beginning to think they were home and hosed at that stage. But huge credit must be given to the Ballinlough lads who refused to lie down and kept battling to the final whistle.

A perfectly placed pass from Oisin McDermott into Kit Óg Lynch in the 58th minute and he turned his man and danced away towards the goals to finish with one of his trademark finishes to leave three between the teams.

A Daire Shine pointed free in the 61st minute meant there was just one score separating the sides and given the number of inexplicable minor injuries to the Meath Hill contingent we knew there was still plenty of time left to play.

With that knowledge Ballinlough pushed for a late winner, and on a couple of occasions they came close, none more so than the 65th minute when a high ball was dropped into the square amid a mountain of bodies, but after  a bit of a scramble Meath Hill were able to clear their lines safely.

With that action Referee Larry McEntee blew the full time whistle, Meath Hill holding on to win on a score line of 1-11 to Ballinlough’s 3-03.

Unfortunately this is not the way we wanted the season to end but Manager Kevin Devine can be very proud of his efforts over the year in getting over 20 lads togged out and playing for our Reserve team on a regular basis and this competition provided some vital games for lads who otherwise may have had little to no football for the year. Hopefully many of those lads will be back in action again next year and pushing towards a place on the first team.

Ballinlough: K.McGuinness, L.Finnegan, H.Briody, N.McDonnell, C.Rennicks, J.Lynch(0-01), S.Tunney, D.Galligan, J.Casserly, J.Reilly, P.Muldoon(0-01), B.Brady, N.Farrelly, P.Byrne(1-00), K.Óg Lynch(1-00)

Subs: E.Briody for B.Brady 23’, O.McDermott for J.Reilly 23’, D.Shine(1-01) for N.Farrelly H/T, D.Caffrey for N.McDonnell H/T, T.McCullen for D.Galligan 36’, B.Jordan for C.Rennicks 46’

Referee: Larry McEntee

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