Ballinrobe get major boost to survival hopes
Ballinrobe Town goalkeeper Seán Shaughnessy punches a corner clear from Manulla’s Cian Benson. Picture: John Corless
There was a look of purpose on the Ballinrobe players and management in their pre-match warm-up. This was one of the games they had targeted from which to gain points and they put out a strong side against Manulla on Sunday afternoon. Manulla too had identified this match as a key fixture from which to gain points. They were two points above their guests going into Sunday’s match and a win would be significant.
Ballinrobe won and while it certainly wasn’t a classic, it won’t matter to the south Mayo side; this one was all about getting much-needed points on the league table.
“It was a hard-fought win, and one we had to get,” Ballinrobe manager Chris McGauley told the . “The wind made it difficult but our bench gave us a new lease of life as the game went on.”
Manulla full-back Lee Lyons served notice on the Ballinrobe defence early on, when he raided on the wing and forced a corner. Nothing came of it but something did come of Manulla’s second corner a few minutes later. It was not what the home side wanted, however.
Player of the match Aaron McDonnell, the towering Ballinrobe centre back, cleared Gavin Jennings’ in-swinger up the field towards Gary Mellett Connolly. The Ballinrobe man turned and looked up before sending a speculative ball in, which found Jonathan Lawrence in space. The striker rounded the advancing goalkeeper Donal Murphy to fire the visitors in front after nine minutes.
With the wind on their backs, Ballinrobe pushed on. Peter Finnerty’s shot didn’t trouble Murphy before Joseph Lydon sent the ball to the Manulla net, but his celebration was ruined by an offside flag.
Ethan Hosty fired one over as Manulla sought an equaliser, and Seán Corcoran sent one wide. At the other end, Harry Hughes sent a cross in, but Lawrence was too far out for his header to threaten the Manulla goal, and a few minutes later, Lawrence drove over when he spotted the goalkeeper off his line.
Manulla’s equaliser came from a sweet finish from Lyons when he controlled Cian Benson’s header and curved it past Seán Shaughnessy in the Ballinrobe goal five minutes before the interval. The goal was a just reward for the home side.
Manulla came back out from the dressing room, fired up for the second half. Wind-assisted, they dominated the next half an hour and looked the most likely to score. But a strong rearguard performance by McDonnell, Seán Hughes, Theo Bellinger and Gillen Jennings denied the home side.
Manulla brought in Matty Nolan and he threatened immediately. Ethan Hosty had a shot saved by the solid Shaughnessy. Despite their dominance, Manulla couldn’t get the lead.
With a quarter of an hour remaining, Ballinrobe suddenly got a second wind. A clever reverse pass by substitute Stanislas Emond resulted in a cracking shot by Mellett Connolly, and a matching save from Murphy. The goalkeeper then made an excellent foot-block from Ballinrobe sub Seán Vahey soon after. But Vahey nicked the points with a fine finish on the break two minutes from the end.
There was still time for Andrew Shally to get his marching orders from referee Damien McGrath for an illegal challenge. The win sees Ballinrobe leapfrog their hosts into seventh place.
“We had a strong bench today,” McGauley added. “I thought we’d at least hold the lead to half time, or even build on it, but it was a fine strike by Lee Lyons. We had to grind out the win, but I’m happy with it.”
“It was a tough game,” Aaron McDonnell told the . “The wind made it difficult and it probably wasn’t the most entertaining game, but I thought we controlled it well against the breeze in the second half, when they had the ball. The lads that came off the bench did the jobs for us. It’s what you need in this league. They gave us more legs and energy. And fair paly to Manulla, they really put it up to us in the second half.”
Manulla manager Roger Clarke said it was a disappointing result. “We upped our performance from last week,” he said. “We had plenty of possession but we couldn’t put the ball in the net. Overall, we tried to play football and we created more chances than they did but we gave away a soft goal in the first half. Lee gave us a great goal just before half time to put us back in it, and we thought with the wind in the second half we’d get the win, but it didn’t happen.”
