Ballinlough 2-13 Longwood 2-08

Ballinlough and Longwood met in Grangegodden on Bank Holiday Monday morning to contest the U-17 Div.5 Championship Final.

Longwood opened the scoring with a pointed free in the first minute but it was Ballinlough who started brighter with Darren O’Higgins finding the net early on after some great work from Alan Gibney.

A super point from play for Shane Lynch was followed up with points for Ryan Corcoran and Alan Gibney to leave Ballinlough leading by five with ten minutes played.

Another Longwood free kept them in it and indeed they could have closed the gap further when they sent a glorious goal chance wide of the posts.

They made no such mistake the next chance they got as some slack defending allowed Longwood to cut through and goal in the 15th minute.

Credit to Ballinlough though they responded well and points from Dan O’Brien and Ryan Corcoran pushed out their lead again. That being said the Lough really should have being home and dry with the amount of chances created but unfortunately the shooting was more than a little wayward at times.

Shane Lynch did get Ballinlough scoring again with a free in the 25th minute but it was Longwood who finished the half strongest adding a goal and a point to leave things all square when referee Joesph Curran blew the half time whistle, the scoreline reading Ballinlough 1-06 to Longwoods 2-03.

Longwood started the second half in similar fashion to the first with a point from play in the 31st minute before Shane Lynch levelled matters moments later.

Great work from John McCullen in the 41st minute set Alan Gibney up for his second point and a further pointed free from Shane Lynch put Ballinlough back in the driving seat.

The next score for Ballinlough came from a Longwood attack, but with Luke Harte coming out with the ball, he did exceptionally well to make great ground before sending a perfect pass into Darren O’Higgins who found the net from close range to boost Ballinlough’s lead in the 45th minute.

Frees were traded with Shane Lynch once again accurate for Ballinlough in the 50th minute before Ryan Corcoran sent over a superb point in the 54th minute to leave seven points between the sides but with a number of stoppages we knew there was going to plenty of time added on at the end.

A Longwood point from play in the 56th minute closed the gap and they added two more by the 61st minute to leave just four points between them.

A half goal chance for Longwood late on was cleared by Paddy White who did very well to hold onto the fast moving ball and stop it from hitting the net, and with Ballinlough working the ball to Dan O’Brien, he hit the insurance point to give Ballinlough a five point lead.

So after over eight minutes of added time referee Joesph Curran finally blew the full time whistle, Ballinlough the victors on a scoreline of 2-13 to Longwoods 2-08.

That win caps off a remarkable double for this group of players who have now won both U-15 and U-17 Championship titles in recent weeks.

The older members of the team have a chance now to make it a treble with the U-19 Championship but we’ll take it each game at a time for now!

Corey Monaghan was very solid in goals. In defence Charlie Lynch and Luke Harte led the line with great effect while Calum Reilly, Paddy White, Jaden Mollison, and Sean McDonnell put in a tremendous shift over the hour. Midfielders Shane Lynch and Alan Gibney dominated and accounted for eight points. In attack captain Darren O'Higgins showed the way. Under 15 stars Ryan Corcoran and Dan O'Brien kicked some great scores. John McCullen, Rory Smith, and Mark Tynan along with substitute Robert O'Brien had their best hour in the red jersey this year. James Brooks and James Duffy finished the year in style with and U15 and minor championship medal.

After the game Niall Gogarty presented the Division 5 Championship Cup to Darren O'Higgins.

Ballinlough: C.Monaghan, C.Reilly, J.Mollison, P.White, S.McDonnell, C.Lynch, L.Harte, S.Lynch (0-06(5f)), A.Gibney (0-02), J.McCullen, R.Smith, D.O’Higgins (2-00), M.Tynan, R.Corcoran (0-03), D.O’Brien (0-02)

Subs: R.O’Brien, J. Brooks, J. Duffy

Referee: Joesph Curran

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