Ballina Town see off Claremorris to reach Westaro Cup final

Westaro Cup semi-final

Claremorris 1

Smyth 87 

Ballina Town 3

D Gorman 58 Cawley 81 Geraghty 88

In Concannon Park

Ballina Town booked their passage to the Westaro Cup Final with a hard-fought win over a stubborn Claremorris side on Sunday morning.

A solid strike from Danny Gorman just before the hour finally broke the deadlock in a game that for the most part, lacked quality and clear chances. 

Jamie Cawley added a second with nine minutes remaining, and Leon Geraghty tapped into an empty net with a minute left to seal the win.

Geraghty’s goal came from a clearance from Town ’keeper, Emmet Peyton, that probably would have made it unassisted. The youngster out-sprinted the defence and the advanced Claremorris ’keeper, Keith Saunders and claimed the goal

The first half was poor fare. Without the influential Raff Cretaro, Ballina struggled on the tight pitch to transfer their superiority to the scoreboard.

They had chances, the best of which fell to Tiernan Tighe just after the half-hour, but he inexplicably sent his effort wide. Danny Gorman had two shots from distance wide of the target and Jamie Cawley put two over. Claremorris had one shot – a low effort from Mark Maloney from way out. 

The second half was much the same. The warm morning took its toll on concentration and Gorman’s goal from thirty-five metres, failed to trigger a Claremorris response, though Ben Smyth did finish Oisín Brady’s cross with three minutes remaining, to pull one back.

Oisín Brady at left-back was best for the home side. Ballina Town midfielder, Danny Gorman was man of the match.

A full report, images and reaction will be carried in Tuesday’s Mayo News Sport.