Ballinlough 0-13 St.Vincent’s 1-13

Ballinlough and St.Vincent’s made the trip to a pristine Cortown for Round 4 of the JFC and it was the men in maroon who got off to a dream start, St.Vincent’s finding the back of the net in the opening seconds after winning possession from the throw-in.

That early goal seemed to completely un-nerve Ballinlough and they were left to play second fiddle to a superior opposition as St.Vincent’s tagged on four more points in the next 14 minutes, and to compound the misery Ballinlough were to lose Eoin Briody to a black card in the 10th minute, further adding to their woes.

Ballinlough finally got off the mark with a Harry Ryan free in the 15th minute but the Vincent’s were flying and added a pointed free of their own in the 18th minute to maintain their seven point lead.

The men in white(Ballinlough) were guilty of some lunacy passing of the ball in the middle third allowing St.Vincent’s to regain possession and push on but thankfully from a Ballinlough point of view they were guilty themselves of some terrible shooting which allowed Ballinlough to remain in the game.

Ballinlough were heavily reliant on frees for scores and they got two more as Harry Ryan and then Tom Shine from a very tight angle reduced the deficit before Harry Ryan pointed from play in the 28th minute, probably the best move of the Ballinlough attack so far.

While Ballinlough did well to reduce the gap back to four points Referee Peter O’Halloran decided to play an additional four minutes before the short whistle which allowed St.Vincent’s to add two more points to their tally, so when the half time whistle finally sounded Ballinlough trailed on a score line of 0-04 to St.Vincent’s 1-07.

Ballinlough started the second half brightly with Daire Shine firing over from play to leave five points between the sides, but St.Vincent’s were quick out of the blocks themselves with two points by the 39th minute, the second one could easily have gone under the bar only for the reflexes of Oisin McDermott in the Ballinlough net.

A third point for St.Vincent’s gave them an eight point lead before Ballinlough hit back with a Tom Shine free and a Tommy McCullen point from play to leave six points between the sides. Further points were traded with St.Vincent’s accurate from a free while Harry Ryan landed a super point for Ballinlough in the 49th minute.

While it seemed Ballinlough were working their way back into the game St.Vincent’s just wouldn’t stop scoring with two points from play by the 54th minute to leave eight between them once more.

Despite the lateness on the clock Ballinlough must be credited for rallying in the closing stages as Harry Ryan hit three frees on the trot, each one more difficult than the one before to leave five between them.

A point for substitute Ronan McGuinness and another free for Ryan left just one score between the sides and with time almost up, Ballinlough had one last chance to drop the ball into the square and pray for a touch that would send the ball goalwards but alas the St.Vincent’s defence came away with the ball and with that Referee Peter O’Halloran blew the full time whistle St.Vincent’s taking the win on a score line of 1-13 to Ballinlough’s 0-13.

Ballinlough Team: O.McDermott, J.Connell, L.Maguire, R.Farrell, D.Caffrey, S.Geraghty, B.Smith, T.McCullen(0-01), E.Briody, T.Shine(0-2(2f)), D.Shine(0-1), S.Tunney, H.Ryan(0-08(6f)), M.McCullen, J.Casserly

Subs:: K.Óg Lynch for J.Casserly 48’, R. McGuinness(0-01) for S.Tunney 50’, M.Farrell for M.McCullen 55’, L.Finnegan for B.Smith 57’

Referee: Peter O’Halloran

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