Ballinlough 1-09 Dunderry 1-09

Ballinlough made the short trip to Drumbaragh to face off against Dunderry in Round 2 of the Junior Football Championship and with so much at stake it was somewhat understandable that both sides started slowly, Ballinlough with some very early signs of good hassling but Dunderry seeing more of the ball.

Both sides were guilty of poor shooting in the opening period, Ballinlough at least could blame kicking into the strong breeze as a nuisance but it took Dunderry all of sixteen minutes with the wind before the scoreboard operator was troubled.

From there they took control of proceedings hitting 1-03 without reply, the goal in particular a concerning concession for Ballinlough as a couple of Dunderry forwards drifted forward unmarked to allow them to raise the green flag in the 21st minute.

Ballinlough finally got scoring in the 29th minute of the first half and it was probably one of the scores of the game, as Alan Gibney came out confidently to clear his line before playing the ball to Mark McCullen. Mark for his part found Daire Shine who had to shrug off the persistent Dunderry defender and square the ball to Darren O’Higgins, who kept his shot low and hard to boost Ballinlough and bring them right back into this game.

That score was followed up by a Harry Ryan free in the 31st minute so when Referee Peter O’Halloran blew the half time whistle Ballinlough trailed, but not by much, on a score line of 1-01 to Dunderrys 1-04.

From the restart Dunderry edged themselves further in front with a pointed free in the 37th minute, whereas a couple of early scoring chances went abegging for Ballinlough from the placed ball. When the next free was awarded for Balinlough it was decided that Daire Shine would assume the duty now and he made no mistake firing over in the 41st minute.

That score was followed up by another Daire Shine free a few minutes later, and the birthday boy had Ballinlough right back in it with a well taken score from play in the 45th minute.

A Dunderry free edged their lead out and they could have put the game to bed with a goal chance in the 50th minute, the ball rattling off the underside of the bar and somehow staying out. From that chance Ballinlough flew up the field and had a goal chance of their own, but Conor Fleming’s effort was well stopped by the Dunderry netminder.

A customary 45’ for Oisin McDermott in the 51st minute was cancelled out by another Dunderry free moments later. More scores were traded as Daire Shine pointed either side of a Dunderry score from play to leave just one point in it again.

Substitute Kit Óg Lynch kicked the leveler for Ballinlough in the 61st minute and Daire Shine surely thought he had won it at the death when he fired over a free from distance to give Ballinlough the lead for the first time all evening.

Referee Peter O’Halloran had other ideas however as he allowed play to continue, and with the ball going out over the sideline and no linesman present it was abit of guess work on the Referees part as to which way he should point. After deciding it was a Dunderry ball and a little bit of pushing and showing from both sides he then proceeded to bring the ball forward to a far more advantageous position and the Dunderry attacker made no mistake hitting the ball between the posts in the 65th minute.

With that Referee Peter O’Halloran called for the ball and blew the full time whistle, the sides finishing all square on a scoreline of 1-09 apiece.

Next up for Ballinlough is a must win game against St.Brigids and we’ll have to wait and see what the lay of the land is then.

Ballinlough: A.Gibney, C.Fleming, R.Farrell, L.Finnegan, D.Caffrey, S.Geraghty, E.Briody, O.McDermott(0-01(one 45’)), M.McCullen, B.Smith, D.Shine(0-06(5f)), H.Ryan(0-01(1f)), D.O’Higgins(1-00), J.Connell, B.Brunton

Subs: K. Óg Lynch(0-01) for B.Brunton 43’, L. Maguire for E.Briody 50’

Referee: Peter O’Halloran

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