Ballina into the quarter-finals

Darragh Walsh at James Stephens Park

Sunday afternoon saw Mayo Gaels travel to North Mayo to face off against Ballina in James Stephens Park. Both teams came into the contest off the back of respective wins against Breaffy and Balla so a win for either side would secure their quarter final spot with a game to spare.

Ballina opened the scoring with five scores in as many minutes with Mikey Murray, Evan Regan, and Frank Irwin all firing points over from range with David Tighe also adding a single following a slick sidestep to create half a yard.

The fifth score saw a green flag raised as Ciaran Boland found the back of the net. Frank Irwin ran at the Mayo Gaels defence before dishing the ball off to Boland who ventured forward from wing back to slot the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.

After the high scoring opening five minutes, supporters in James Stephens Park had to wait 10 minutes before the next score was found.

Both sides left scores behind them as Ballina missed some routine free kicks and Mayo Gaels struggled to adjust to the strong wind that left some of their shots dropping short of the target.

Mikey Murray ended the scoreless period by adding a point off his left before Ciaran Treacy added a couple of singles from play and Frank Irwin converted a couple of free kicks to take Ballina’s tally to 1-9.

John Gallagher opened Mayo Gaels account after 22 minutes as he swung over a point following a strong run from Ethan Henry. Murray added his third for Ballina before Mayo Gaels added a triplet of points without reply.

John Gallagher curled over a point from a tight angle, James Jennings converted a free kick and Kevin Lynch sliced a stylish point over off the outside of his right boot to take Mayo Gael’s first half tally to four points. It was Ballina who finished the first half scoring however as Frank Irwin added his fourth point to leave 10 points between the sides as the half time whistle sounded.

Returning to the field for the second half, Mayo Gaels quickly showed that they wouldn’t wave the white flag despite Ballina’s convincing lead. Within 20 seconds of the restart David Clarke was picking the ball out of the back of his net as Mayo Gaels went route one from the throw in and found Ryan Connolly inside the Ballina full backline. The corner forward made no mistake in finishing his chance and raised the green flag. Ethan Henry quickly added a point from long distance to narrow Ballina’s lead to six.

Regan and Jennings exchanged free kicks at opposite ends of the pitch before Irwin raised his fifth white flag from a free kick, but after the resulting goal kick a green flag was raised once more.

Regan forced a turnover in the Mayo Gaels backline and finished into the back of the net to re-establish Ballina’s 10-point lead. Regan further extended his side’s lead from a mark and Conor McStay pointed after carrying the ball from inside his own half as far as the Mayo Gaels 21-yard line.

Ethan Henry clawed back points for the visitors, adding a point off his left before firing over a long-distance score from the right-hand sideline. Gallagher also chipped in with another converted free kick before Regan finished Ballina’s scoring for the day. The Stephenites full forward completed his tally of 1-5 with a pointed free and a single from play before James Jennings added the final score of the day with a converted free kick to leave Ballina the victors by a margin of 10 points.

Scorers — Ballina Stephenites: Evan Regan 1-5 (3f), Frank Irwin 0-5 (3f), Ciaran Boland 1-0, Mikey Murray 0-3, Ciaran Treacy 0-2, David Tighe and Conor McStay 0-1 each.

Mayo Gaels: Ryan Connolly 1-0, Ethan Henry, John Gallagher (f) and James Jennings (f) 0-3 each, Kevin Lynch 0-1.

Ballina Stephenites: David Clarke; Liam Golden, Ger Cafferkey, Sam Callinan; Ciaran Boland, David Tighe, Padraig O’Hora; Mikey Murray, Frank Irwin; Brendan Collins, Conor McStay, Niall Feeney; Ciaran Treacy, Evan Regan, Luke Feeney. Subs: Jack Irwin for N Feeney), Luke Jordan for Murray, Mark Birrane (for Treacy), Ross Geraghty (for Cafferkey), Ciaran Sweeney (for L Feeney).

Mayo Gaels: Paul Mannion, Bryan Morrin, Tommy Keane, Conor Burke, Liam Hughes, Ruairi Keane, Sean Keane, Ethan Henry, Keelan McNamara, Kevin Lynch, Jack Fallon, Ronan Commons, James Jennings, John Gallagher, Ryan Connolly. Subs: Phelim Prendergast (for McNamara), Jack Jordan (for T Keane), David Quinn (for Commons), Kevin Jordan (for Fallon), Keelan McNamara (for Lynch).