Ballyheane blitz leaves Rathoath feeling blue
Ballyheane’s Michael Fahy put in a man of the match display. Picture: John Corless
A rampant Ballyheane demolished Leinster Senior League side Ratoath Harps to advance to the sixth round of the FAI Junior Cup on Sunday.
Fired-up by the previous week’s disappointing Connacht Cup exit to Dunmore Town, the home side hit a height last achieved in the title-winning seasons of 2021 and 2022. They were hungrier than Ratoath; they were strong and quick, they moved the ball really well and their transitions were textbook. They were first to every breaking ball and quite simply, played the Meath side off the park. If they had taken all their chances they would have hit double figures, but seven is an excellent return, especially when they didn’t concede.
“We needed this after last week,” Ashley Stevenson, the Ballyheane manager, told the . “We were really poor against Dunmore and we needed a reaction and we delivered it today. This result and performance comes from last week.”
The performance was led by man of the match Michael Fahy in the middle of the park. He took on the role normally performed by Seán Kilcoyne but the captain picked up an injury during the week, and, alongside long-term absentee Cillian Redmond, watched on from the sideline. Fahy was outstanding. He played box to box. He dropped back to assist the defence after the interval, when Ratoath reshaped in an attempt to get something from the match. In the end, all they got was a hiding.
Ballyheane were brilliant all over the park. Nathan Reilly Doyle was excellent, especially in the first half. Rory Morris, on the left wing, had his best game in a Ballyheane shirt. Darragh Ludden and Jack Tuffy in the centre of the defence played really well, and Luca Meldrum, minding the net, put in a great shift too.
Ballyheane’s hunger was evident from the off and when they went two up after eleven minutes, their illustrious visitors were simply shell shocked. Ratoath play on astro and it was obvious on Sunday. They struggled with the wet surface of Quigley Park, even if the grass was shaved with the club’s robotic mower. But they struggled too, with the menacing running of the Ballyheane front three of Ben Edeh, Dan Purcell and Morris, and the excellent supply from Fahy and Reilly Doyle.
Before Reilly Doyle netted in the sixth minute, Edeh had sent two low crosses in but Purcell couldn’t connect. Ludden won possession from a clearance and fed Edeh who sent his third cross in, and Reilly Doyle ran in behind Gary Eiffe to slot home.
Darren Tinnelly had a cross plucked by Meldrum in the Ballyheane goal and Edeh headed over, before Reilly Doyle forced a corner. Morris’s inswinging delivery was perfect and in the scramble, Aaron Kelly ended up putting the ball into his own net to see the home side go two up. Ballyheane had two more corners in quick succession, with the Ratoath defence looking very uncomfortable, under the high ball. Edeh headed over before Purcell finished well to make it three, on twenty-one minutes. At that stage we could all have gone home because the tie was over.
Morris should have made it four soon after, but he shot wide after Reilly Doyle’s brilliant set up. Dylan Stevenson missed the target too, as Ballyheane carved Ratoath open time and time again. Kelly and Ben Bosze shot over from distance as the visitors couldn’t get near the home goal. Back at the other end, Edeh should have added another after good work by Purcell.
Ratoath had a bit more to them for a while in the second half, but they were unable to create a real chance. When they were filleted once again, just before the hour mark, with Morris destroying Matty Cullen to send in a low cross for Edeh to pass into the net, they knew there would be no fairy-tale comeback. Their heads dropped and while they didn’t fully give up, they offered little beyond that point.
Substitute Alan Hegarty made it five when he picked up a loose ball from a Stevenson free-kick. Purcell was fouled in the box by Luke Neville with fifteen remaining and the striker fired his second, and Ballyheane’s sixth, home from the spot. Edeh could have made it seven after a long run, but he shot wide. The seventh did come at the death from Seán Rabbette to round off an excellent overall display from the home side.
“We know the players have the character and the ability,” Stevenson said. “We had good training sessions during the week, and they went on the pitch as a team and as a squad. It’s good to see such a spread of scorers, and we’re really pleased to keep a clean sheet.”
Michael Fahy also credited the previous week’s defeat as the inspiration for Sunday’s performance. “The tempo was better right from the start,” Fahy said. “We’ve let teams back into the game a few times recently, when we were ahead, so we didn’t want to repeat that. Each time we scored today, we kept going, we kept pushing for more.”
Darragh Ludden said that Ballyheane wanted to avoid another defeat, and played with confidence. “We controlled the game pretty well,” Ludden said. “We didn’t know much about them, and when you hear Leinster Senior League, we were expecting a good battle. I thought we were very good today, especially in front of goal. It’s nice to be on top but you need to take the chances too. It’s great to see a good mix of players on the scoreboard.” Nathan Reilly Doyle said that Ballyheane did what they set out to do.
“We wanted to dominate the game from the start,” he said. “We wanted to keep the intensity and keep getting the goals, and we did that. We need to be at this level every week; for every game. We stuck to our own game plan. We wanted the first goal and we got it. And then we wanted to add to it and not concede, and we managed that.”
Jack Tuffy said everyone was wired-up after the defeat the previous week. “We had two good training sessions and we wanted to make amends. It was a bad day for Ratoath to come to Ballyheane. The forwards were unbelievable and we could have had ten goals today. We didn’t know too much about them, but it was about us, really. They were annoyed at being three-nil down at half time, and they came at us for a while in the second half but then we scored and that was it really. We’d make a block or Luca would make a save, and then we’d break and score.”
The game was handled by Roscommon referee, David Jameson, due to the injury crisis hitting Mayo referees. Mr Jameson, aided by Mayo’s Philip O’Brien Gleeson and Oisin Walsh on the line, had an excellent match which was acknowledged by both sides after the game.
