Ballina find some scoring form to brush past Exiles
Conor McStay and Mark Birrane of Ballina Stephenites tackle Fiontan Eastwood of Fulham Irish during the AIB Connacht SFC quarter-final at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar, last Saturday night. Pictures: David Farrell Photography
A routine victory for Ballina Stephenites last Saturday evening has set up a mouthwatering Connacht Club SFC semi-final against Corofin.
The Mayo champions swatted aside Fulham Irish in Castlebar – and did so without the services of some key personnel.
Top scorer in this year’s Mayo SFC, Evan Regan, was overseas while injuries also deprived the Moysiders of county defender Padraig O’Hora and their joint captain Dylan Thornton, but not even the first-half withdrawal of ultra-experienced full-back Ger Cafferkey through illness could derail the Stephenites who were much too strong for the London champions.
Never in the near 50-year history of the Connacht or All-Ireland series’ has a home-based club lost to the UK’s representatives, but some past encounters have been far closer than this one. Ballina Stephenites never looked in danger of falling victim to an ambush from once Mikey Murray and Niall Feeney fired home goals inside the final five minutes of the first-half. The Stephenites led 2-6 to 0-2 at half-time and would hold their opponents totally scoreless from play in the second-half, even without the likes of O’Hora and Cafferkey in their defensive ranks.
Ballina Stephenites entered this match on the back of winning their first Mayo SFC title in sixteen years. The final, against Breaffy, had attracted much criticism, particularly for its low scoreline (0-6 to 0-4), so this match – and opposition – represented an excellent opportunity for the Green and Red to move the conversation on somewhat.
Sam Callinan was an inspirational presence at centre-back, his probing runs turning Fulham Irish towards their own goal time after time. Ciaran Treacy looked especially keen capitalise on the absences and make the most of his rare start while the goal and two points supplied by Conor McStay inside the final ten minutes was a timely reminder of the corner-forward’s abilities. But as challenges go, Ballina will have had tougher in-house matches.
That said, the first-half had been something of a slow burner, with the opening quarter ending only 0-3 to 0-1 in Ballina’s favour after points by full-forward Luke Feeney, Frank Irwin, a free, and Niall Feeney were replied to by Jack Goulding, who registered Fulham Irish’s opening point in the 16th minute, from a free.
There had been a bit of gusto about the Exiles early doors, with full-forward Chris Duggan claiming a couple of wins off Ger Cafferkey and Liam Golden, but Niall O’Leary and Daniel Eastwood, both times from placed balls, had missed very scorable chances, so when Frank Irwin pointed his second free of the evening and Ciaran Treacy rounded off a counterattack involving Conor McStay and Sean Regan, Ballina’s lead had moved out to four points by the 24th minute.
Jack Goulding, a dual star and Kerry native, hit a beautiful reply, but that point would be the only one scored from play in the entire game by Fulham Irish – and their last of the first-half. Indeed it was in those final minutes before half-time that the game quickly ran away from the visitors, as the Stephenites firmly stamped their authority on proceedings.
An excellent move on the left wing, one that was full of intricate passing involving McStay and the Feeney brothers, Niall and Luke, was expertly finished to the net by Mikey Murray, who beat Fulham Irish goalkeeper Andrew Walsh at his near post. The finish was just as clinical for Ballina’s second goal, two minutes into first-half stoppage time, albeit there was none of the same creativity about the build-up, as a high ball into the goalmouth which was contested by Walsh, his full-back Daire Rooney and Ballina’s Luke Feeney, was won by none but instead broke kindly for Niall Feeney who stroked the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
With a third point of the half for Frank Irwin coming in between those two goals, this one from play after Callinan had brilliantly outmuscled Chris Duggan to set up the attack, Niall Heffernan’s team suddenly led by ten points at the interval.
Ballina went for the jugular upon the restart with Ciaran Treacy drawing an early save from the goalkeeper and Ciaran Boland’s follow-up attempt being blocked by a defender. And while Niall O’Leary did fire over three frees for the Exiles in the third quarter, they would prove to be his side’s only scores of the entire half.
Frank Irwin, a free, Ciaran Boland and Conor McStay raised white flags for the Moysiders in the 36th, 43rd and 54th minutes before the game was truly put to bed in the 55th, as Sam Callinan, Ballina’s best player on the night, and Ciaran Treacy combined to set up McStay to rifle home the Green and Red’s third goal, leaving the scoreboard reading 3-9 to 0-5.
It's not as though Fulham Irish had been all that short on possession, or chances, with no fewer than eight scoring attempts all going unconverted in the second-half alone by the Londoners, including wides from their corner-backs Danny Buckley and Fiontan Eastwood who had been gamely attacking from deep all evening. But at this level of the game such inaccuracy is normally punished and so it was that Ballina Stephenites set aside the criticism they themselves had received after last month’s low-scoring Mayo SFC final, by rounding off the match with a couple of dipping goal attempts. Conor McStay’s dropped just over the crossbar but the first by Ciaran Treacy required the fingertips of Walsh to tip over.
Scorers – Ballina Stephenites: Conor McStay 1-2, Niall Feeney 1-1, Frank Irwin 0-4 (3f), Mikey Murray 1-0, Ciaran Treacy 0-2, Luke Feeney and Ciaran Boland 0-1 each.
Fulham Irish: Niall O’Leary 0-3f, Jack Goulding 0-2 (1f).
Ballina Stephenites: David Clarke; Liam Golden, Ger Cafferkey, Sean Regan; Ciaran Boland, Sam Callinan, David Tighe; Frank Irwin, Ciaran Treacy; Niall Feeney, Mark Birrane, Mikey Murray; Jack Irwin, Luke Feeney, Conor McStay. Subs: James Doherty (for Cafferkey 27), Ciaran Sweeney (for Murray 39), Ross Geraghty (for Golden 44), Stephen Mullins (for Birrane 49), David O’Mahoney (for J Irwin 55).
Fulham Irish: Andrew Walsh; Danny Buckley, Daire Rooney, Fiontan Eastwood; Paddy Naughton, Michael Clarke, David Connern; David O’Connor, Cormac Hughes; Niall O’Leary, Chris Duggan, Liam Turley; Daniel Eastwood, Jack Goulding, DJ O’Flaherty. Subs: Hurl Dockry (for Hughes 28), Niall Corkery (for Naughton 36), Jonathan Henry and Brian Sheanon (for D Eastwood and Duggan 45), Jack O’Sullivan (for O’Flaherty 54), Martin Hughes (for Dockry 58, inj).
REF: Christopher Ryan (Galway)
