Ballyglass shatter Iorras hearts to end barren spell
Conor Heneghan of Ballyglass finds himself outnumbered by the Iorras defence on this occasion.
Ballyglass ended a ten-year wait for silverware – and Iorras Aontaithe’s treble hopes – following a comfortable 2-0 win that saw them claim the Calor Gas Premier Cup for the first time.
The League Two and McDonnell Cup champions had won every game they played this season since their re-entry into the Mayo League and went into this game as favourites but the Red and White produced an accomplished display to win a first trophy since the Tuohy Cup in 2013.
Iorras started the game brightly and went close to scoring through Cillian Reilly but his flick from a Ryan Ruddy free-kick went wide. At the other end, Ryan Connolly had a free-kick on the edge of the area, after Kian Gallagher stepped just outside the box to gather, but just like Reilly’s effort it went inches wide of the post.
Ballyglass began to stamp their authority on proceedings and Liam Hughes had the ball in the net on 25 minutes only for that to be chalked off for offside.
Five minutes later, the South Mayo outfit made the breakthrough when Connolly had all the time in the world on the right hand side to pick out the oncoming Josh Moran and the centre-back volleyed home a finish any striker would be proud of.
Liam Hughes was a menace to the Iorras defence as he tormented Liam Donoghue and Billy O’Connor throughout the first-half. Conor Heneghan’s through-ball on 37 minutes was not dealt with by O’Connor as Hughes was in one-on-one but the finish did not match the run.
They got their second goal four minutes before half-time when a cross from the left got the faintest of touches by Tiernan Egan to poke past Gallagher.
Ballyglass had a chance to put this game to bed ten minutes into the second-half after Darren Reilly played a clever ball over the top to Liam Hughes. His finish was denied by Gallagher while Conor Heneghan’s follow up effort was cleared away.
Iorras struggled to create much of note in the second-half inside the Ballyglass penalty area, with the centre-back pairing of Josh Mahon and captain Aaron Moran dominant over the 90 minutes. The men from the Barony were forced into shots from distance to try and pull a goal back; Aaron Lally saw a 25-yeard effort tipped over by Alan Jennings while Ryan Ruddy clipped the corner of the crossbar from a free-kick.
That was a good as it got for Iorras, who are back in action this Sunday against Cartron United in the FAI Junior Cup, as Ballyglass, who had a Ryan Connolly penalty late on saved, saw the game out with relative comfort to finish the season with a trophy.
