Kilmainham 0-10 Ballivor 1-11

On Saturday, Ballivor’s 2024 league campaign got underway, and it was a far from routine 4-point win for the men in maroon.

This may be one of my shorter reports of the year as the game lacked the entertainment that the supporters who travelled to Kilmainham were probably expecting. 

The home team had one thing on their mind on a sunny spring evening and that was to keep the score down. Kilmainham dropped off every kick-out and often had fifteen players behind the ball and camped inside their own 45. Of course, they are well within their rights to deploy such tactics and to put the onus on Ballivor to come and break them down. This is where Ballivor fell short, whether it was down to a lack of imagination or ingenuity, the Kilmainham blanket came out on top for most of the game. 

Ballivor did kick some nice scores in the first half when they broke and moved the ball quickly although this did not occur regularly enough. Those scores came from Kevin Mckeon, Jamie Smyth, Ciarán Dowling and Adam Gannon. 

Half Time Score: Kilmainham 0-7 Ballivor 0-6

The second half didn’t start any better for Ballivor when they were forced to substitute captain Stefan Connolly due to injury. The game as a spectacle didn’t improve either. It was 17 minutes before the first score of the half was registered and it went the way of the home team who broke quickly down the pitch after Ballivor had possession of the ball for long periods but not creating anything with it. Kilmainham, over the next 5 minutes extended their lead to 4 points and with how the game had gone up to that point, many would have thought that would be enough to see it out.

Luckily, Ballivor weren’t going home lying down, and 24 minutes into the second half, finally registered their seventh point of the game. This one coming through Adam Gannon. Ballivor pressed high, seemingly re-invigorated by that Gannon point and put the Kilmainham defence under levels of pressure that they were unable to sustain. Points eight, nine and ten came in the next two minutes from Adam Gannon, Kevin McKeon and Shay Diggins. With only a minute left on the clock Ballivor could smell blood and again turned the ball over high in the Kilmainham half. The ball found its way to Gannon once again and where most would slot the ball over the bar and establish a lead for the first time in the game, Gannon saw a gap and went for it, leaving the entire Kilmainham defence in his wake before rattling the net. Shay Diggins fisted another point to put some breathing room between the sides and Ballivor kept hold of the ball until the final whistle.

While it’s true that “a win is a win”, Ballivor will be hoping to not have to resort to these smash & grab tactics when hosting Kilbride next Saturday, although it does show the huge amounts of heart, character and passion within the Ballivor ranks.

Thanks to referee Martin Dawson and to Kilmainham GFC for their exceptional hospitality.

Ballivor Team: Tosh Raleigh, Noah Doyle, Stefan Connolly, Harry Smyth, Jamie Smyth (0-1), Mark Healy, Gary Sherrock, Keith Keoghan, Paddy Conneely, Shay Diggins (0-2), Darragh Ryan, Ciarán Dowling (0-1), Mark Hand, Kevin Mckeon (0-3 2f), Adam Gannon (1-4)

Subs: Ciarán Browne, Joe McLaughlin, Martin Healy

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