Ballinlough 1-11 St. Vincent’s 3-19

Ballinlough and St.Vincents made the trip to a sun kissed Dunderry for Round 1 of the Junior Football Championship, and similar to last year’s encounter unfortunately only one side showed up this evening as St.Vincents ran out resounding victors.

The men in maroon opened the scoring with two early points and it took Ballinlough all of ten minutes to get their first score, Darren O’Higgins fisting over the bar from close range to leave just a point in it. Another St.Vincents point extended their lead before Ballinlough had a decent goal chance, Harry Ryan’s line ball coming off the post and falling to a man in red but with a sea of maroon between him and goal, Daire Shines effort was swept up and carried away from danger in the 12th minute.

From that moment though St.Vincents took complete control of proceedings. To say Ballinlough lost the midfield battle would be a lie, as in truth it was no battle at all, St.Vincents repeatedly winning possession in the middle of the field to set up score after score from their free-flowing forwards, scoring an array of points from various angles and distances, Conor Harford, Adam Tuite, and Michael McIvor particularly impressing with their range of scoring, to give themselves an extremely healthy lead of nine points after a very productive ten minutes of play.

Ballinlough finally troubled the umpire again with a tidy point from Louis Finnegan in the 24th minute and the same Louis was to come to Ballinlough's rescue at the other end seconds later as he threw his body at the ball to pull off a goal line clearance and give Ballinlough some slight sliver of hope in this game.

Further points were traded before the half time whistle with Daire Shine accurate for Ballinlough, so when Referee Paul Mooney blew the half time whistle St. Vincent’s led handsomely on a scoreline of 0-11 to Ballinlough’s 0-03.

From the restart St.Vincents picked up right where they left off rattling off two early points before Seánie Geraghty pegged one back for Ballinlough. Another St. Vincent’s free pushed their lead back to ten points before Ballinlough struck the first goal of the game, a line ball worked well with Brandon Brunton and Darren O’Higgins linking up before O’Higgins squared it to Daire Shine to find the net from close range in the 36th minute.

That score was followed up by a Harry Ryan free to lower the deficit to what seemed a more manageable six points, but once again St. Vincent’s kicked into gear and found the posts twice more in as many minutes, the gap back to eight points now.

A booming point from Mark McCullen was a rare highlight of Ballinlough’s performance this afternoon, which was followed up with a point from play for Harry Ryan. But everytime Ballinlough seemed to make slight in-roads St.Vincents hit right back, quick movement from their half forward line setting themselves up for a great goal in the 42nd minute.

While Daire Shine did manage a point for Ballinlough in the 43rd minute, St.Vincent’s went on another scoring spree hitting 1-03 without reply to kill off any lingering Ballinlough hope.

Seanie Geraghty doubled his tally with a fine score in the 53rd minute, while Harry Ryan landed two late frees but the final score of the game went to St.Vincent’s who put the cherry on the icing of the cake with a third goal in the 58th minute.

So when Referee Paul Mooney blew the full time whistle St.Vincents took a much deserved win on a scoreline of 3-19 to Ballinlough’s 1-11.

Next up for Ballinlough is a trip to Drumbaragh to face Dunderry in round two, and there will be plenty of work done to correct today’s mistakes and hopefully get back to winning ways soon.

Ballinlough Team: A.Gibney, C.Fleming, R.Farrell, L.Finnegan(0-01), D.Caffrey, S.Geraghty(0-02), J.Lynch, O.McDermott, M.McCullen(0-01), B.Smith, D.Shine(1-02), H.Ryan(0-04(3f)), D.O’Higgins(0-01), J.Smith, B.Brunton

Subs: E.Briody for J.Smith H/T, L.Maguire for J.Lynch 54’

Referee: Paul Mooney

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