Balla still unbeaten after derby victory
Balla’s Conor Walsh shoots for goal against local rivals Mayo Gaels.
Balla moved to the top of the Division 2 table after a deserved victory over local rivals Mayo Gaels last Saturday evening.
The Gaels trailed only by three points at the break but it came off the back of a scoreless second quarter. They also went over 20 minutes without a score in the second-half and in that period, Balla his 1-6 without reply to leave Gaels with too big a mountain to overcome as the Maroon and White maintained their unbeaten start to the league season.
John Gallagher got the opening point for Mayo Gaels but Balla responded with their first major of the evening. Patrick McLoughlin’s diagonal ball found Conor Walsh and the experienced forward unleashed a ferocious strike into the roof of the net past the helpless Paul Mannion.
Gaels hit back with a goal of their own seconds later, with John Gallagher firing low into the bottom corner. Balla were back level after a fine effort from the left boot of full-back Ger Flanagan but Mayo Gaels were back in front at the end of the first quarter after they scored the next three points, one through a well-worked point by Ryan McGurrin, another from fellow wing-back Liam Hughes and a free by Peter Gallagher.
That free, however, would be the last score of the half for Gaels. It was all Balla from here until half-time and Walsh was unfortunate not to net a second goal. Ger Flanagan and former Mayo panellist Oisin Jordan began the move, but Walsh’s strike was saved by Mannion on this occasion.
A Liam Glynn free and a rocket of a two-pointer from Val Roughneen drew Balla level on 24 minutes and it was another two-pointer that sent the home side in front. Balla were awarded a free behind the 45-metre line but dissent saw referee Ronan Gurren move the ball forward and David Dolan elected to take his free from the edge of the arc and slot it over. The impressive Odhran O’Connor pointed in added time to leave the scoreboard reading 1-7 to 1-4 in Balla’s favour.
From the restart, it was John Gallagher again who opened the scoring but the Mayo Gaels attack would largely misfire again from here.
Liam Glynn, a free, and Luke Flatley extended Balla’s lead to five and the corner-forwards would combine on 38 minutes as Flatley raised Balla’s second green flag of the evening.
Glynn, Colm Murphy and Odhran O’Connor extended the gap out to nine going into the final quarter as tempers began to fray, with Murphy, Flatley and Mayo Gaels midfielder Ethan Henry all picking up yellows after an incident where Flatley was fouled.
Patrick McHale struck Balla’s final score of the evening with ten minutes remaining. Gaels kept battling and Ryan McGurrin finished off a sweeping move through the Balla backline for their second goal. The impressive John Gallagher added another three points to his tally, including a thumping two-pointer on 58 minutes, but Balla had the game well won by that stage.
Scorers – Balla: Luke Flatley 1-0-1 (1f), Conor Walsh 1-0-0, Liam Glynn 0-0-3 (2f), Val Roughneen and David Dolan (tpf) 0-1-0 each, Odhran O’Connor 0-0-2, Ger Flanagan, Colm Murphy and Patrick McHale (f) 0-0-1 each.
Mayo Gaels: John Gallagher 1-1-3 (1f), Ryan McGurrin 1-0-1, Liam Hughes and Peter Gallagher (f) 0-0-1 each.
Balla: David Dolan; Ger Holian, Ger Flanagan, Brian O’Donovan; Conor Dunleavy, Oisin Jordan, Patrick McLoughlin; Jude Clarke, Odhran O’Connor; Colm Murphy, Val Roughneen, Ryan O’Donnell; Liam Glynn, Conor Walsh, Luke Flatley. Subs: Patrick McHale (for Roughneen 45), Shane Conway (for Glynn 50), Sean McCann (for O’Donnell 57).
Mayo Gaels: Paul Mannion; John Finn, Ruairi Keane, Myles Durkan; Liam Hughes, Alan Brennan, Ryan McGurrin; Ethan Henry, Adam Gallagher; Andrew Quinn, Ronan Commons, Kevin Lynch; John Gallagher, Peter Gallagher, Padraig Jennings. Subs: David Quinn (for Keane 16), Keelan McNamara (for P Jennings 42), Enda Jennings (for Lynch 45), Matthew Quinn (for Hughes 57).
REF: Ronan Gurren (Aghamore)
