Conn Rangers claim the bragging rights in local derby
Goalmouth action as Ballina Town defend a corner. Picture: John Corless
The early kick-off on Sunday produced a really cracking match between local rivals, which Conn won, despite being outplayed for most of the second half. The game was played at a frantic pace with a mixture of quality football and committed tackles.
Both sides came into this one on the back of poor performances. Rangers were terrible a week earlier in Ballinrobe, and Town never got going against Castlebar Celtic on Thursday evening. Both sides made changes for this one. Rangers had returning players which strengthened their line-up. Town were without David Cawley, while Tommy Forde was suspended.
Ballina were on top for the first 15 minutes, but Rangers took control for the remainder of the half.
Both sides had half chances with Owen McNamara, Eoin Prendergast and Cormac Reape coming close for the hosts and PJ Gilmartin, Ryan Moran, Matthew Traynor and Dylan McKee, close for the visitors. Then on the 29th minute, referee Damien McGrath pointed to the spot, in response to Stephen Melvin’s challenge on Eoin Prendergast, just inside the box. The experienced McNamara stepped forward and sent Aaron Reilly the wrong way to put Conn in front.
Just before the break, Ballina pulled one back when Gilmartin’s free kick rebounded off the inside of the near upright to beat Brian McMahon in the Conn goal. It was the only time this would happen on Sunday.
Town came out fired up, after the break. But within three minutes they were in arrears again, when Lorcan Towey connected with Eoin Prendergast’s pass, after the Town defence failed to properly deal with a Gilmartin free kick. Despite the setback, Town pressed forward but they couldn’t penetrate the resilient Rangers defence with Mark McMahon, McNamara, Chris Moore and Ronan Holmes, holding firm. And then, on the counter, Rangers added a third to seal it, when Matthew Neary was set up by Towey with six minutes left.
Town will bounce back and are title contenders despite this and Thursday’s loss. Rangers might make the top five when the league is split, which would mean two more juicy battles between the pair in the second half of the season.
Conn Rangers defender Owen McNamara said it was a huge win for the team. “We don't have a great record against Ballina Town the last few years,” he told the . “They're a very tough team, so this is the one we look at, every year in the calendar. We've left a few behind us over the years, but I felt like we were well worth the win today.
“We were chomping from the first minute. Everyone out there was unbelievable. We're buzzing off to that win now; really happy. We've been very poor all year, but we've been going into every game with eleven players, it's been a different eleven every week; we've had no consistency at all on our team, just with lads' injuries and lads going away and that, and we just got a great eleven out there today with a couple of subs and we were fired up for it. Ballina are up there fighting for the Super League.
“They were runaway leaders up until Thursday night. So, they're always going to have their periods of dominance. We're down the bottom fighting for our lives. So yeah, we knew that was going to be the case, but we worked our socks off. I felt like we won all the battles around the pitch. I don't think Brian McMahon had to make any saves, as dominant as they were. I felt like it was kind of sterile possession around the middle.” Ballina defender Daire O’Connor said his team were missing players but wasn’t making excuses. “We had a few of us playing through injuries and we knew it was going to be a battle coming out here. We're disappointed with the result,” he said.
“We're kind of surprised in that way, but we knew it was always going to be a battle. We can blame the pitch, we can blame injuries, but we didn't show up today and that's the bottom line. We have to go again next week now and kick on again for the second half of the season. You need to show up for every game, and we had a great performance last Saturday against Westport.
“We didn't show up against Castlebar and then I think we were just a bit flat coming into this game. But that’s the Super League, if you want to go and win the Super League, like we do this year, we need to show up for every game, so that's something we need to work on.”
Conn Rangers: Brian McMahon; Mark McMahon, Owen McNamara, Chris Moore, Ronan Holmes; Tuan O’Horo, Tadhg O’ Sullivan, Lorcan Towey; Eoin Prendergast, Cormac Reape, Matthew Neary. Subs: Adam Gallagher (for Reape 59), Ronan Weir (for Prendergast 88).
Ballina Town: Aaron Reilly; Martin Delaney, Stephen Melvin, Daire O’Connor, Jamie Moyles; Chris Maughan, Oran Canavan, Dylan McKee; Matthew Traynor, Ryan Moran, PJ Gilmartin. Subs: Jamie Cawley (for Melvin 59), Joe Seigman (for Moran 78).
REF: Damien McGrath.
