Ballinlough 4-13 St Brigids 1-08

Ballinlough and St.Brigids headed for a pristine Milbrook on Saturday evening with Ballinlough knowing nothing short of a massive victory would give them any chance of going through to the knock out stages of the competition.

While St.Brigids opened the scoring with a point after three minutes, it was no surprise to see Ballinlough hit the ground running, their first goal of the evening coming in the fourth minute, Louis Finnegan excellently claiming the kick-out, before a fine Mark McCullen ball in found Darren O’Higgins, and he squared to Seánie Geraghty to finish to the net from close range.

That score was followed up by a Harry Ryan point from play, before the Brigids hit back with a point of their own in the 13th minute.

Daire Shine opened his account with a well taken left footed point from play but St.Brigids hit back with two points of their own by the 18th minute.

Ballinlough’s next score could be sourced all the way back to Goal-Keeper Alan Gibney who came off his line commandingly and surged forward with the ball to set up Daire Shine for his next point.

Following a period of no scoring from either side, which gave us the opportunity to check in on the St.Vincents/Dunderry match,  Daire Shine took the last score of the half with a pointed free in the 26th minute.

So when Referee Raymond Tynan blew the half time whistle Ballinlough lead by four on a scoreline of 1-05 to St.Brigids 0-04.

With news filtering through that St.Vincents were leading by the same margin we knew the job was only half done and more work was required in the second half, and Daire Shine picked up right where he left off adding two further point to his tally to boost Ballinlough’s lead.

A sucker punch goal against the run of play for St.Brigids in the 35th minute had the potential to derail Ballinlough, but they responded fantastically with Harry Ryan fielding majestically in midfield before sending the ball into Darren O’Higgins who bore down on goal and made no mistake firing to the net in the 36th minute.

That score was followed up by a Daire Shine free, and the in-form sharp shooter extended Ballinlough’s lead with a fine taken goal in the 40th minute, Darren O’Higgins once again providing the assist.

He might not have done much of the scoring Darren O’Higgins was still proving himself to be something of a handful, as he collected possession way out the field and ran almost a distance of 70 odd metres with the ball before laying off to Daire Shine who fired over in the 46th minute.

While the Ballinlough defense had being performing admirably up to this point, they did lapse and allowed St.Brigids to rattle off three points from play in as many minutes to lower the deficit in the 51st minute.

Thankfully the lads at the other end of the field were in flying form, in particular Daire Shine, who pointed in the 53rd minute before taking his second goal of the evening a moment later, this time Eoin Briody doing most of the hard running to set him up.

A point for Kit Óg Lynch in the 54th minute pushed Ballinlough’s lead out further before Shine shone once again with a pointed free kick two minutes later.

St.Brigids had nothing in reply to the Ballinlough onslaught only a paltry point in the 59th minute, and the last score of the game went to the one and only Daire Shine who kicked an Advanced Mark in the 60th minute to give Ballinlough a fourteen point lead.

So when Referee Raymond Tynan blew the full time whistle Ballinlough took the win on a scoreline of 4-13 to St.Brigids 1-08.

With news filtering through that St.Vincents were eight points up against Dunderry we knew we had done enough to overturn what some believed to be an unassailable score difference deficit and get ourselves through to the Quarter Final stage of the competition, Some work done… lots still to do but we’re still in it !!

Ballinlough: A.Gibney, C.Fleming, R.Farrell, D.Caffrey, J.Connell, O.McDermott, L.Finnegan, M.McCullen, E.Briody, J.Smith, D.O’Higgins(1-00), H.Ryan(0-01), K.Óg Lynch(0-01), D.Shine(2-11(4f, 1 Ad.Mk)), S.Geraghty(1-00)

Subs: B.Brunton for J.Smith H/T, L.Maguire for R.Farrell 43’

Referee: Raymond Tynan

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