Battle of Ballys goes the way of ‘Heane
Players from nine of the ten teams who will compete in this season's Elverys Sports Mayo Super League. At the far left and far right of the back row respectively, are Sean Kilcoyne of Ballyheane and John Morley of Ballyhaunis Town who faced off in last Saturday afternoon's Mayo Super League Cup encounter at Pat Quigley Park. Picture: Ryan Gallagher
The floodgates opened for Ballyheane in a second-half where they netted all five of their goals after a frustrating opening 45 minutes against Ballyhaunis Town in the Mayo Super League Cup.
The visitors were defensively resolute in the first-half of Saturday’s game but there was always a sense that if Ballyheane could just get one, more would soon follow.
There was very little in the way of clear-cut chances for the hosts in the first-half but they had the majority of possession. A gap opened for striker Dan Purcell in the 19th minute but Ballyhaunis’ new signing Tarek Yassin, who was selected in the League Two Team of the Year for Snugboro last year, made a crunching tackle to keep Purcell at bay.
Ballyheane were constantly looking to play a ball in behind and five minutes later, Purcell looked to latch onto a pass from the defence only to collide with Town keeper Ljubo Spajic. There were shouts for a penalty from the home bench but referee Jimmy Cawley deemed it a hop ball.
Their last effort of the half was a looping volley from centre-back Jack Tuffy about 30 yards out that narrowly flew over the bar, bringing an end to a vexing 45 from Ballyheane’s perspective.
But with 57 minutes played, the deadlock was finally broken. Nathan Reilly Doyle’s shot was palmed out to the right flank by Spajic and collected by Dylan Stevenson. He played a low ball to Purcell who fired at goal; his shot was blocked by Spajic but fell loose to Sean Kilcoyne for a tap-in.
Five minutes later, Kilcoyne turned provider as his corner was turned in at the back post by Reilly Doyle. Ballyhaunis barely had time to dust themselves down when Spajic dived in to get the ball and fouled the involved-again Sean Kilcoyne. The referee had no doubt about this one and pointed to the spot and Dan Purcell stepped up to bury it.
Ballyheane rang the changes with a big FAI Junior Cup trip to St Michael’s of Limerick next weekend and added two further goals to their tally. Ballyhaunis would end the game with 10 men following a second yellow card for Lukasz Roda.
Dylan Stevenson scored the pick of them, hitting a low driven shot from outside the box into the corner of the net, with the assist from Cian Benson.
Then, in the 89th minute, Stevenson popped up again and found substitute Alan Hegarty at the back post who applied the finish. Ballyhaunis, to their credit, had the ball in the net through Emmanuel Fasanmi but it was flagged for offside.
Ballyheane manager Ashley Stevenson said after the game they are looking forward to the trip to Limerick next weekend.
“I think we’re good, we had a good couple of weeks. We’ll go down to Limerick and throw everything at them. There’s no fear here from these lads, they’re well-schooled at this stage,” he said.
“We’ll approach it not too bothered about them, we’ll be bothered about us and try and put it together for 90 minutes and see what happens.”
Ballyhaunis meanwhile will begin life anew in the Super League with a trip to Mount Falcon to face Conn Rangers.
Ballyheane: Luca Meldrum, Adam Blake, Jack Tuffy, Jack Rochford, Donal Behan, Michael Fahy, Sean Kilcoyne, Dylan Stevenson, Rory Morris, Dan Purcell, Nathan Reilly Doyle. Subs: Cian Benson (for Morris 65), Sean Rabbette (for Kilcoyne 67), Mark Bolger (for Rochford 73), Alan Hegarty (for Purcell 76).
Ballyhaunis Town: Ljubo Spajic, Josh Maughan, John Morley, Tarek Yassin, Evan McNamara, Emmanuel Fasanmi, Lukasz Roda, Isaac Owusu, Adam Noone, David Leavy, Mohamad Kezze. Subs: Y Rahmani (for Leavy 61), Mohamed Abdouni (for Owusu 67), Sean Moran (for Kezze 83), Jake Powers (for Yassin 88).
REF: Jimmy Cawley
