The Mayo News

Goals decide semi-final battle as champions book final place


Semi-final
Ballintubber 4-4
Ballinrobe 0-7

Mike Finnerty
Cong

IT finished eight scores to seven after this tough and gritty Mayo U-21 ‘A’ semi-final at St Feichin’s Park last Sunday morning. However, the fact that the reigning champions, Ballintubber, managed to score four goals meant that Ballinrobe were playing catch-up from an early stage.
Despite their best efforts in the second half, the pretenders to Ballintubber’s throne were unable to peg back a nine-point half-time deficit. Three first half goals (two of them unquestionably of the ‘soft’ variety) proved very costly for the losers but set Sean Hallinan’s team on their way to a deserved, if somewhat flattering, victory.
Ballinrobe’s second half revival (after a woeful first half display) deserved better than a nine point defeat, but no amount of hard work and honest effort could make up for the mistakes that dogged them in the opening period. They also missed too many chances down the home stretch that would have left Ballintubber under the cosh in the closing stages.
Instead, the winners rode out the storm, used their superior football ability in key areas to keep Ballinrobe at bay, and hit a late goal to give them some breathing space.
There was no mistaking Ballintubber’s pedigree in the first half. Even without the injured Jason Gibbons, they played some lovely football in the difficult conditions and looked a notch above their opponents.
They also set themselves up perfectly against the wind, tucking their wing-forwards into their defence, and left space up front for the likes of Ray Geraghty and Cillian O’Connor to exploit.
However, for all their well-drilled moves and support play, Ballintubber relied on a large portion of old-fashioned luck to engineer a half-time lead of 3-3 to 0-3.
Ballinrobe had started positively with the breeze behind them and a superb long-range point from Ray McGreal eased them in front in the second minute. But instead of galvanising them, this score was their last for 24 minutes. In the meantime, Ballintubber rattled off 3-3.
Ray Geraghty curled over a spectacular equaliser to get them motoring before the first goal arrived on five minutes. Cillian O’Connor’s cross into the goalmouth wasn’t dealt with by the Ballinrobe defence and Daniel Loftus gathered possession before firing the ball into the roof of Martin Farragher’s net.
For the next twenty minutes, Ballintubber ran the show. In defence, Michael Nestor and Liam Tunney won every ball that came their way with no shortage of help from Myles Kelly, Gary Loftus and Ruairí O’Connor in the half-back line.
Ballinrobe played right into their opponents’ hands by persisting with the long ball to their outnumbered inside line, and only some poor Ballintubber shooting kept the score tight.
The incessant pressure paid off though in the 17th minute when Cillian O’Connor (who was well marked by young Eugene O’Malley) shot for a point but saw his shot dip into the unguarded top corner of Martin Farragher’s net for a fortuitous goal.
Minutes later, a misplaced pass by a Ballinrobe defender was gobbled up by Alan Heraty and the full-forward clipped a sweet point to ease the champions into a 2-3 to 0-1 lead.
The same player was celebrating again on 23 minutes when he flicked Dean Gavin’s ‘garryowen’ to the Ballinrobe net to open up an eleven-point gap. At that stage, the game looked all over.
The shell-shocked South Mayo side finally hit back with two well-taken points from Sean Burke (one free) to narrow the margin just before half-time.
However, Ballintubber almost struck another goal with the last kick of the half but Ray Geraghty’s shot rattled the crossbar.
The second half looked set to be one of damage limitation for Norman O’Brien’s beleaguered side. Instead, they came roaring back into contention, holding Ballintubber scoreless for 24 minutes and laying siege to their opponents’ goal.
Two frees from Ray McGreal and another from Sean Burke meant the margin was back to six points by the end of the third quarter. A string of wides wasn’t helping the rescue mission but David McDonnell, James O’Malley, Conor Owens, Conor Keane, Phelim Reilly and Sean Burke were now taking the game to the leaders.
Substitute Chris Burke also made a big impression and things could have got very interesting had his 49th minute palmed effort not come back off Ger Murphy’s crossbar.
This let-off finally sparked a response from Ballintubber and a 54th minute point from sub’ John McGuinness was a crucial score in hindsight.
So too was Tom McGing’s goal two minutes into injury-time which came after a sweeping, counter-attacking move. That score finally broke Ballinrobe’s resolve and confirmed the holder’s progress to another county final.

BALLINTUBBER
G Murphy; S Larkin, M Nestor, L Tunney; M Kelly, G Loftus, R O’Connor; D Geraghty, D Gavin; R Gavin, R Geraghty (0-2, 1f), D Loftus (1-0); J McGing, A Heraty (1-1), C O’Connor (1-0).
Subs used: D Summerville for R Gavin (inj); J McGuinness (0-1) for Heraty; T McGing (1-0) for D Loftus; K Coleman for Kelly.

BALLINROBE
M Farragher; E O’Malley, D McDonnell, J O’Malley; C Owens, C Keane, P Reilly; R McGreal (0-3, 2fs), D Vaughan; F Horan, M Burke, M Healy; S Burke (0-4, 2fs), B Butler, K Keane.
Subs used: S Owens for M Burke; C Burke for Healy.

Referee: V Neary (Bonniconlon)

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