Ballagh’ win

Ballagh’ bring back the spoils of victory

SFC Section c
Ballagh    2-10
Kiltane     2-7

Liam Henry
Doohoma

UNHINDERED by the additional 20 miles added to their round trip from the most easterly end of Mayo to the western Atlantic coast, a Ballaghaderreen cavalcade rolled confidently into the barony on Saturday evening.
They wondered at the majestic scenery of Doohoma Head en route, before rolling up their sleeves and overcoming a dogged and determined Kiltane challenge. Mission accomplished with three points to spare, Ballagh’s hard-fought victory owed much to their superior physical strength and all-round better championship experience.
How times have changed for Kiltane. John Joe McLoughlin’s side have had to contend with the loss of established championship campaigners this season, most notably Edmond Barrett, Aver Togher, Tony Gaughan, Pakie Sweeney and James O’Donnell.
Midfield, where O’Donnell has been a colossus over the years, has been severely weakened. And while Jason Healy and John Scanlon tried manfully for the hour, they always played second fiddle to the Ballagh’ axis of Barry Kelly and James Kilcullen. Up front, only the accurate free-taking ability of Shane Lindsay kept the hosts in touch in a first half dominated by Ballagh’.
Mayo senior star Andy Moran proved the catalyst for most of the visitors’ positive assaults in fertile territory. The tactic of spraying long angled ball into the corners worked wonders, and Moran could have goaled inside the opening minute, only denied by an excellent saving block by corner back Pádraic Bradley.
He did record the opening point on five minutes and was centrally involved in the creation and execution of the visitors’ four other first half scores, laying on for Michael Solan, Andy Hanley and Barry Regan, while bisecting the posts for a second time himself. At the opposite end, Shane Lindsay and Mikie Sweeney were living off limited rations, yet Kiltane remained in touch thanks to four flags from the boot of Lindsay.
Controversy reigned within a minute of the restart when referee Mel Kenny waved on a swiftly-taken free by Ballaghaderreen’s Barry Regan. Regan located Andy Moran in front of goal and the ace attacker maintained a cool head to round David Munnelly and plant to the bottom of the net. While Regan’s action in taking the free quickly was entirely legal, Kiltane’s argument for disallowing the ‘major’ stemmed from the fact that Kenny had initially signalled a free in the opposite direction.
With tempers flaring, Kiltane responded the better in the aftermath of the contentious goal. Shane Lindsay landed a brace of difficult frees, and one from play sandwiched between Regan and Hanley efforts for the visitors left three between them, 1-7 to 0-7, at the three-quarter mark.
Within 60 seconds, Kiltane were on terms for the first time since the seventh minute. Lindsay was again central to the score. His long ball into the square was gathered by Mikie Sweeney, and the man with the keen eye for goal made no mistake from five yards.
Just a minute later, the visitors had another goal opportunity when Barry Regan was hauled down inside the square, but David Munnelly produced an excellent stop from Andy Moran’s penalty kick. Moran did fire the rebound over the bar to re-establish the Ballagh’ lead, and the crucial moment arrived four minutes later. Andy Hanley and Andy Moran combined brilliantly to send substitute Gavin Conway clear. At the second attempt, and following another fine Munnelly stop, Conway bundled the ball home.
An Andy Hanley single seemed to wrap it up in the 53rd minute but Kiltane had produced one final flurry. When Jason Healy clinically rifled to the bottom corner with two minutes remaining, it was game on once more. Unfortunately for Kiltane, they failed to find a final killer touch as Ballagh’ held out for a well-earned victory.

BALLAGHADERREEN
O Flanagan; S Drake, D Kilcullen, T Regan; N Tuohy, D McGarry, D Loftus; B Kelly, J Kilcullen; M Solan (0-2), A Hanley (0-3), P Kelly; A Moran (1-3), B Regan (0-2, 2f), J Dillon.
Subs used: K Cuniffe for T Regan (8 mins), Gavin Conway (1-0) for Dillon (47 mins), Gary Conway for Hanley (55 mins).

KILTANE
D Munnelly; D Cuffe, T Gallagher, P Bradley; R Corrigan, PJ Gaughan, M Doherty; J Healy (1-0), J Scanlon; O Munnelly, S Carey, J Reilly; M Sweeney (1-0), U Corrigan, S Lindsay (0-7, 5f).
Subs used: S Gaughan for O Munnelly (33 mins).

Referee: M Kenny (Westport)