Horkan blows title race open

Horkan blows the title race wide open


Westport United     3
D O’Malley 5 (pen), 51, D Horkan 74

Ballina Town          2
P Burke og 6, F Quinn 52

Neill O’Neill

IF you weren’t in The Sports Park on Saturday evening you missed a classic. The football might not have been the best either team can play but there was action, pace and determination in abundance, and it was quite evident that this was no ordinary league game.
In the end Westport won and are now level at the summit of the Super League with Ballina Town with four games remaining for each team. Goal difference is of no consequence in the Mayo League so the least either team can expect if they do not drop any points is a title-deciding play-off encounter. Judging on Saturday’s clash that is an exciting prospect. However, both teams will know that if they drop any points it could hand the title to their rivals and one thing is for sure – the Super League is set for its closest run-in for some years.
The atmosphere and many incidents of this match could never be captured in a single report. Inside five minutes Pat Duffy needlessly felled Colm Keane just inside the box, handing a penalty to Westport. Dessie O’ Malley stepped up and calmly slotted the resultant spot-kick past Niall Gallagher to give the locals the lead.
It was to be very short-lived as just one minute later a long ball by Ian O’Boyle caused confusion in the Westport area, and with Peter Burke aware of Michael Duffy’s presence, he headed the ball back to his goalkeeper Mozmir Klocka, who, unbeknownst to the defender, had left his line to collect possession. The resultant own goal was the first time Burke has hit the net this season and it threw this match wide open.
Action packed as the rest of the first half was there was little in the way of certain scoring chances. Mozmir Klocka had to be alert and was forced to make three excellent one-on-one saves to keep Westport in the game while David Horkan rattled the Ballina crossbar on 23 minutes with a sizzling 30 yard free-kick.
Michael Duffy then had a goal disallowed on 30 minutes after a challenge on Klocka by Ciaran Giblin which wrestled the ball from the keeper’s grasp. Colin Navin (playing in an unfamiliar role on the right wing as a replacement for Joe Lawless who had a run-in with a chop-saw midweek) nearly had his first goal this millennium just before half-time but his volley was saved by Gallagher in the Ballina goal. Dessie O’Malley reacted quickest to the rebound but somehow sent the ball into the neighbour’s garden from six yards.
Westport would have been the happier side to hear the half-time whistle as Ballina were building a strong momentum and had them under pressure for large swathes of the half.
The second period saw no decline in the intensity, pace or action of the match. Dessie O’Malley continued to be a threat for Westport and hit the side-netting before he turned Ian O’Boyle on 51 minutes, teed the ball up for himself, and volleyed past Gallagher from 25 yards. It was an excellent strike but the Ballina ‘keeper may well be disappointed that he couldn’t stop it.
As in the first half Westport’s lead lasted all of one minute. Eugene Gorman raced down the left and crossed the ball low into the United box. The defence did not deal with the ball effectively and it dropped at the feet of Fergus Quinn just outside the area. He instinctively hit it low and hard with an impeccable strike, sending the ball past the despairing dive of Klocka into the corner of the net.
The action resumed and the rapid pace of the game continued. On 69 minutes Ballina found themselves down to ten men when Tom O’Connor received a second yellow card for a foul on Colm Keane and was sent off.  The decision was harsh by the referee who some minutes later declined to show a second yellow to Ian O’Boyle for a clear retaliation to a high challenge on him by Colin Navin.
Westport’s numerical advantage transferred to the scoreboard five minutes later when Dave Horkan rose unchallenged to meet a Dessie O’Malley corner and powered a header to the back of the net. It was the winning goal but it was the nature of how the corner was won that will trouble Ballina as Nialll Gallagher appeared to catch the ball from a Martin Geraghty header but threw it out for a corner as his momentum began carrying him back into the net.
Ballina pushed for an equaliser until the last minute but could not breach the Westport rearguard. Impressive substitute Eoghan McHale was denied a certain goal after a good run on 84 minutes after the ball was bundled over the line by his team-mate Dessie O’Malley who was judged to have been offside.