Ballinlough 0-11 Castletown 1-15

Ballinlough and Castletown both made the trip to Carlanstown for this Round 9 game in the Division 4 League and with the sun beating down from well before throw in, conditions were intense for both sets of players throughout the contest.

Ballinlough opened the scoring with a free from Collie Mallen before Castletown hit back with a point from play in the fourth minute. A second Mallen free was swiftly followed up by a tidy point from Harry Ryan, after great work by Tom Shine and Darragh Caffrey.

Castletown were beginning to find their rhythm though and hit the next three scores with the evergreen Deccie Cribben and county man Rian McConnell both finding the posts either side of a Castletown free in the 12th minute.

Ballinlough’s next score came from the boot of Tom Shine but the work was done by Jack Connell who rose high to break down a Castletown kick-out in the middle of the field with the ball worked well to Shine and he fired over from distance to get Ballinlough motoring again.

A Harry Ryan free in the 21st minute gave Ballinlough the lead back but it was Castletown who finished the half stronger with a converted free and an Advanced Mark in the 29th minute to give them a one point lead at the break.

So when Referee Brendan O’Brien blew the half time whistle Ballinlough trailed on a scoreline of 0-05 to Castletowns 0-06.

The “home” side started the second half at a blistering pace hitting two points from play and a free by the 35th minute to extend their lead to four points, before another Harry Ryan free got Ballinlough scoring again.

That score was followed up by a well worked point for Tom Shine, before Oisin McDermott landed a monster free off the ground in the 40th minute to reduce the deficit back to one point.

Another Castletown free in the 43rd minute stretched their lead but Ballinlough had a chance to propel themselves in front when Darren O’Higgins raced through on goal only to be expertly denied by the keeper, some joy for Ballinlough coming though with Oisin McDermott nailing the resulting 45’ in the 45th minute.

With every score Ballinlough got Castletown were able to match them down at the other end and pointed in the 46th minute before taking the killer score when they found the net in the 47th minute, a slight suspicion of too many steps taken before the shot but sure who counts them anymore !!

Ballinlough had a chance to hit back immediately when the ball fell kindly to Daire Shine but at a tricky angle he could only smash the ball against the side netting much to the relief of the Castletown rearguard.

A Tom Shine free in the 53rd minute reduced the deficit back to four points but Castletown began to show their class as the clock ticked on adding four unanswered points, two from play, an advanced mark and a free in the 57th minute to give themselves a much healthier lead.

The last score of the game came from a Tom Shine free in the 60th minute and while the final result didn’t look great from a Ballinlough point of view it didn’t accurately reflect the close nature of the game for large parts of the contest and the Management team of Ballinlough will still be happy enough with the positive progress our lads are making.

Next up is an early morning start for our Division 7 team as we welcome Gaeil Colmcille to the Park for Round 8 of that League.

Ballinlough: A.Gibney, C.Rennicks, R.Farrell, L.Finnegan, J.Connell, D.Caffrey, H.Ryan (0-03(2f)), O.McDermott (0-02(1f, one 45’)), M.McCullen, T.Shine (0-04(2f)), B.Smith, D.Shine, D.O’Higgins, J.Smith, C.Mallen (0-02(2f))

Subs: S.Geraghty for J.Smith H/T, L.Maguire for C.Rennicks 51’, B.Brunton for B.Smith 55’

Referee: Brendan O’Brien

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