Ballina are left beached on the ‘strand as underdogs bark loudest

AIB Connacht Club SFC Semi-Final 

Coolera-Strandhill 0-9 

Ballina Stephenites 0-9 

(AET, 0-7 apiece at full-time, Coolera-SH win 5-4 on pens) 

Anthony Hennigan in Markievicz Park 

There was a time midway through the second-half where you thought that, for once, quantity might prove itself more important than quality. Ballina Stephenites were playing to a standard far below anything we had seen of them this year yet crucially, were still ahead on the scoreboard. The same applied during extra-time when they edged two points ahead of Coolera-Strandhill; finally it looked as though the misfiring Moysiders had found a way to muzzle the underdog in this Connacht senior club football semi-final.

But if there’s one thing the Sligo champions have proven themselves masters of this season, it’s how to survive a tight squeeze. They won their replayed county final 0-8 to 0-7 after Ross Doherty’s 56th minute point had earned them a draw in the original fixture with St Molaise Gaels. And Doherty was the hero again on Sunday, converting the winning penalty after a shoot-out was required to separate the teams.

Ballina Stephenites may well wonder how on earth they were unable to put away a team that was rated 11/2 with the bookmakers to beat them but the truth is, the Green and Red simply didn’t play well enough, at least not for long enough. Over the course of the first hour they missed 10 scoring attempts (six of them falling short) and scored just seven points. And of those seven, three were actually derived from other shots that had also fallen short but where the dropping ball was punched over the bar. But still they could easily have won this match.

With 59 minutes elapsed and the game finely poised at 0-7 apiece, a gilt-edged opportunity to hit the net landed at the boot of Ballina Stephenites substitute Ciaran Treacy. An attempt by Conor McStay to kick a winning point from the left wing instead floated towards the back post and was punched back across goal into the path of Treacy whose first-time shot seemed headed for an empty net only for a Coolera-Strandhill player to somehow get back and clear off the line.

And while Ballina were fortunate to even make extra-time after Peter Laffey and Mark McDaniel hit stoppage time wides for the Sligo outfit, the visitors again looked the more likely winners when Evan Regan, from a free, and Ciaran Treacy kicked them two clear either side of Coolera-Strandhill losing talisman Niall Murphy to a black card two minutes before half-time in extra-time. But another black card five minutes later, this one to Luke Jordan, removed Ballina’s extra man advantage and Murphy returned just in time to score the frees that forced a penalty shoot-out and saw the Seasiders book a first ever Connacht final appearance.

Adding to their achievement was that they had played without recently retired Sligo stalwart Keelan Cawley, their best player this year, who picked up an injury in the pre-match warm-up.

As much as travelling to the UK to play London champions North London Shamrocks the previous weekend might have taken its toll, you do wonder if complacency also infected Ballina’s play as the early indicators were that this would be a routine victory. By the seventh minute Evan Regan had scored one point from four shots, dragging full-back Sean Taylor every direction, while Luke Doherty reached high to punch Niall Feeney’s kick over the bar, meaning Ballina led 0-2 to no score until Barry O’Mahony picked the pocket of Conor McStay and Niall Murphy scored on the counterattack for Coolera-Strandhill.

Murphy, from a free, levelled matters in the 14th minute while Ballina Stephenites, now bereft of possession but only because they were seemingly content to let their opponents keep it, went 22 minutes between scores.

Mark McDaniel kicked Coolera-Strandhill in front six minutes before half-time but that was negated when Frank Irwin scored an exquisite 50-metre free to leave the scoreboard reading 0-3 apiece at the interval.

A late tackle on corner-back Sean Murphy deprived Ballina of Padraig O’Hora’s services for a 10-minute period either side of half-time yet in the full-back’s absence the Mayo champions began the second-half in a similar vein to the first, with points inside five minutes by Luke Feeney and Niall Feeney, the latter after Irwin’s free had rebounded off the post. But Coolera-Strandhill were to enjoy a purple patch between the 42nd and 50th minutes which saw them move into a 0-7 to 0-6 lead; Barry O’Mahony, after a give and go with Niall Murphy, and Murphy himself, from a free, had the game all-square for a third time, and while Luke Doherty kicked an excellent point at the other end, receiving corner-back David Tighe’s pass and cutting in from the left wing, Murphy got the better of Ballina’s other corner-back Liam Golden to swing over his fourth point before Ross Doherty took sub Conor Burke’s pass on the overlap and stroked over off his left boot.

The final 15 minutes of normal time were disjointed and frantic with both teams leaving numerous scoring opportunities behind them, the majority of those by Coolera-Strandhill. But Frank Irwin missed a pair of scorable frees for Ballina down the stretch too, so was no doubt relieved that Dylan Thornton’s fist connected with Ciaran Treacy’s long-range delivery to level for Ballina.

John McPartland, manager of Coolera-Strandhill, returned Leo Doherty and Barry O’Mahony, who had earlier been replaced, to his team for the start of extra-time, but Ballina dictated the opening half. A point from an Evan Regan free, however, was all they had to show for their endeavour, as Regan and Conor McStay both kicked wides from play. Still, when Treacy doubled their lead shortly after the restart, and with Niall Murphy now sidelined for his reaction to referee Paddy Neilan awarding a free against him, it looked like Ballina had one foot in the final.

But Treacy and Niall Feeney missed further chances to stretch the lead which was like fresh oxygen to the chasers. Murphy returned in the 78th minute and immediately pulled one point back from an Oran Harte won free. And Murphy and Harte were instrumental in the leveller too, with the former turning down a shot from a 40-metre free in favour of kicking short to Harte and taking the return pass before drawing a foul much closer to the posts. His conversion, three minutes into stoppage time, was the last kick of the game.

Evan Regan and Niall Murphy scored the first penalties of the shoot-out but Ballina’s second, taken by Conor McStay, was saved by goalkeeper Keelan Harte down to his left. That was the fatal blow, the only one of the 10 penalties not to hit the net.

Coolera-Strandhill’s reward is to play Roscommon’s Padraig Pearses who on the same afternoon overcame Leitrim champions Mohill by 0-13 to 0-3.

Scorers – Coolera-Strandhill: Niall Murphy 0-6 (4f), Mark McDaniel, Barry O’Mahony and Ross Doherty 0-1 each. Penalty scorers – Niall Murphy, Conor Burker, Barry O’Mahony, Leo Doherty and Ross Doherty.

Ballina Stephenites: Evan Regan (1f) and Luke Doherty 0-2 each, Frank Irwin (f), Luke Feeney, Niall Feeney, Dylan Thornton and Ciaran Treacy 0-1 each. Penalty scorers – Evan Regan, Padraig O’Hora, Frank Irwin and Niall Feeney.

Coolera-Strandhill: Keelan Harte; Sean Murphy, Sean Taylor, Conor McDonagh; Jonathan Cassidy, Ross O’Carroll, Oran Harte; Kevin Banks, Peter Laffey; Aaron O’Boyle, Mark McDaniel, Ross Doherty; Leo Doherty, Niall Murphy, Barry O’Mahony. Subs: Hugh Rooney (for O’Boyle 39), Adam Higgins (for L Doherty 42), Conor Burke (for O’Mahony 47), L Doherty and O’Mahony (for Rooney and Burke et), Burke (for O’Mahony 69), O’Mahony (for Cassidy 80+3).

Ballina Stephenites: David Clarke; Liam Golden, Padraig O’Hora, David Tighe; Ciaran Boland, Sam Callinan, Luke Jordan; Mikey Murray, Frank Irwin; Luke Doherty, Conor McStay, Niall Feeney; Evan Regan, Luke Feeney, Brendan Collins. Subs: Ciaran Treacy (for Collins 47), Rory Morrin (for L Feeney 53), James Doherty (for Callinan 53, blood), Dylan Thornton (for N Feeney 56), Ciaran Sweeney (for Boland 59), Collins (for Golden 60-61, blood), N Feeney (for Regan 78), Regan (for Sweeney 80+3).

REF: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon)