TF Royal Hotel and Theatre --SFC Section C, Round 3
Breaffy 1-8 Ballaghaderreen 1-8
THEIR task was simple - secure quarter-final qualification. Their odds of achieving same were suitably short. A victory or draw against the already qualified Ballaghaderreen would be sufficient for Breaffy to join the visitors in the last eight of the county senior championship. Even in defeat, providing a Shrule/Glencorrib success over Kiltane was not by a landslide margin, then Breaffy, fifteen points better off on scoring difference, were likely to be okay.
However, when word filtered through of Shrule’s impending demolition of the Erris men, the three points deficit Breaffy shouldered with just three minutes of normal time remaining seemed sure to hold catostrophic consequences. Breaffy’s odds of qualification now looked as long as they had done short before throw in.
Last season the Blues had progression to the knock-outs snatched from their grasp in the dying moments of their final group match, ironically enough, by Kiltane, and this time a similar fate looked certain. So just how close did Breaffy come to bowing out of the race? The final kick of the ball, that’s how close - Colum Lyons swinging over the equaliser four minutes into second half injury time. That solitary score came so late there was time not even for the kick-out, it rendered Shrule’s enormous winning margin worthless, and it changed the entire course of Breaffy’s season in the process; confirming their place among the big boys proved a source of immense relief to a team that seemed destined to have their Moclair Cup ambitions scuppered by 13-man Ballaghaderreen.
Straight red cards for the Kilcullen brothers, both for striking, to James on 40 minutes and David on 58 minutes, provided Breaffy with a numerical advantage of playing staff at a crucial juncture, and it was no surprise that during the final quarter they outscored Ballaghaderreen by five points to one.
Ballagh’ had led from the 5th minute up until Lyons’ leveller and as the aformentioned dismissals suggest, that their quarter-final berth was guaranteed took nothing away from their competitiveness.
After an early exchange of frees between Barry Regan and Breaffy’s Alan Durcan, the guests, inspired by Noel Tuohy and Dessie Keegan from the rear, moved 0-5 to 0-1 in front after 21 minutes thanks to three more Regan points, two of them frees, and an Andy Hanley single, when polishing off his weaving dodge up the left wing.
Were it not for seven Ballagh’ wides, the margin could have been greater, but equally, the gap might just as easily have been negligible had Colum Lyons, hitting a post, and Aidan O’Shea, shooting at the goalkeeper, not spurned goal chances on 16 and 17 minutes. In contrast, Ballagh’ gobbled up their first sniff of a major with Barry Kelly’s intercept of a Gerry Jennings sideline ball allowing him toe poke past Robert Hennelly, via a one-two with Barry Regan.
A second Breaffy point, scored on the stroke of half-time by Colum Lyons, was scant consolation considering the East Mayo side’s goal and five interval tally, however, the Breaffy team of the second half was to prove the alter ego of that which appeared for the first 30 minutes. The wandering Aidan O’Shea, his brother Seamus, Marty McNicholas and tenacious defender Kevin Scahill were the chief architects of a remarkable transformation.
Colum Lyons got the ball rolling, quite literally, just three minutes after the restart when blasting to the net, the creation being Aidan O’Shea’s block down of Stephen Drake’s attempted clearance. However, the three point margin that now prevailed remained so at the 50 minute mark when three Barry Regan points for Ballagh’, two of them frees, nullified two Marty McNicholas points, from placed ball and play, and an Alan Durcan free. By now though, the leaders were a man down because of James Kilcullen’s swing at Aidan O’Shea, who had forced the midfielder into an over-carry. When Ballaghaderreen then lost the already booked, black-carded and younger Kilcullen, David, for a swipe at Colum Lyons, Alan Durcan had converted a ‘45’ to reduce the Breaffy margin to two - McNicholas forcing a save out of Ollie Flanagan and Aidan O’Shea hitting the post also. Four minutes of injury time proved just enough for the determined hosts to cancel their arrears thanks to a Durcan free and Lyons’ last gasp point, that the result of a long, hopeful punt into the square which the full-forward latched on to among the bodies. You see, there’s times you’ve just got to gamble.
SCORERS - Breaffy: Colum Lyons 1-2, Alan Durcan 0-4 (3f, 1 ‘45), Marty McNicholas 0-2 (1f). Ballaghaderreen: Barry Regan 0-7 (5f), Barry Kelly 1-0, Andy Hanley 0-1.
BREAFFY: Robert Hennelly; Kevin Scahill, Barry Jordan, David Cusack; Gerry Jennings, Colm Jordan, Eddie Conroy; Seamus O’Shea, Gerard Hughes; Tommy Canavan, Marty McNicholas, Rory Martyn; Aidan O’Shea, Colum Lyons, Alan Durcan. Subs used: Matthew Conroy (for Hughes 26), Colm Monahan (for E Conroy 60).
BALLAGHADERREEN: Ollie Flanagan; Stephen Drake, Dessie Keegan, David Loftus; Noel Tuohy, David Kilcullen, Declan McGarry; Barry Kelly, James Kilcullen; Andy Hanley, Joe Dillon, Gavin Conway; Andy Moran, Barry Regan, Peter Kelly. Subs used: Joe McCann (for Dillon 54), Gary Conway (for P Kelly 54).
Referee: John Hughes (Kilmaine)
