McHale’s double makes all the difference in Knock-out win
Spectators look on from the hill as Conor Flynn of Knockmore shoots to score his side's second goal during last Sunday's Mayo SFC quarter-final between Knockmore and Ballintubber at St Joseph's Park. Pictures: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
There were doubts about whether the GAA’s all-time leading championship scorer Cillian O’Connor would feature in Ballintubber’s visit to Knockmore. A hamstring issue had caused him to miss the previous round’s clash with Ballaghaderreen.
You wonder now how bad this might have been for ‘Tubber had O’Connor not taken his place for the throw-in, as he was their only forward to score in a six points defeat at St Joseph’s Park. Yet it still needed Darren McHale to score his second goal – and Knockmore’s third – on the hour mark, to make totally sure of the home team’s place in the semi-final.
A cagey game had failed to set the pulses racing, with Ballintubber no doubt ruing the litany of mistakes, misses and misfortune that contributed to their championship exit. They’ll wonder if a little more urgency could have prevented Darren McHale’s opening goal and will be frustrated at how Conor Flynn’s point attempt had looped into their net in the second-half. They’ll also regret a wides tally that was more than double Knockmore’s. Such things matter greatly in games of fine margins.
It should be said that Damien Coleman’s team got a lot of things right too, like limiting former Mayo attacker Aiden Orme to a single point from a free, while fellow Knockmore marksman Peter Naughton was replaced scoreless ten minutes into the second-half. But Ballintubber trailed from the moment Darren McHale opened the scoring with his seventh minute goal, with that debilitating dependency on Cillian O’Connor contributing greatly to their downfall.
Credit, of course, also goes to an excellent Knockmore defence, with the glue-like man-marking by Sean Holmes a particular feature of their play.
O’Connor had kicked one wide and dropped another effort short of the posts, while Stephen Burke had also registered a miss by the time O’Connor received an excellent diagonal pass from midfielder Jason Gibbons to finally open the visitors account in the twelfth minute. But they were already playing catch up by then, as a clever delivery from the left wing by Sean Holmes had drawn a tentative Brendan Walsh from his line, with McHale winning the foot race and fisting beyond the Ballintubber goalkeeper into an empty net.
Orme and O’Connor traded frees before points from play by Pearse Ruttledge and Connell Dempsey pushed Knockmore’s lead out to four points, 1-3 to 0-2, after 23 minutes. At the other end, Jason Gibbons and Ciaran Gavin, twice, failed with two-point attempts, and Stephen Burke missed from closer range, which left Bryan Walsh and corner-back Ethan Lyons having to show the Ballintubber attack how it should be done, popping over a single apiece to leave it a two-point game at half-time.
Such are Knockmore’s riches, they could introduce Kevin McLoughlin for the restart – and the ex-Mayo forward was an assured presence throughout a second-half that wasn’t much different to the first for quantity of scores, albeit there was more of a looseness to some of the exchanges.
After seven first-half wides to Knockmore’s one, Ballintubber could have done without Cillian O’Connor adding two more to their tally inside twelve minutes, including one from what looked a straightforward free for a player of his ability. But they were fortunate that Knockmore were in the middle of a barren scoring spell, going a full twenty minutes without raising a flag.
A 36th minute point for Ballintubber by centre-back Michael Plunkett was almost met by a Knockmore goal in reply, except that Finian Burke made an exceptional block to thwart Peter Naughton after Dempsey had picked out the corner-forward.
A heavy landing curtailed the influence of Jason Gibbons who hobbled on bravely throughout the second-half, and by the end of the third quarter Knockmore were three points clear, 1-5 to 0-5, as McHale rounded off the good work of Kevin McLoughlin and Darragh Staunton with a point, after which substitute Dylan Coleman curled over a free earned by the wily McLoughlin.
An uncharacteristic blip by the Knockmore defence on 51 minutes did allow Diarmuid O’Connor to pick out brother Cillian for his second point from play, however, the game’s true turning point was just around the corner.
Conor Flynn was only minutes on the pitch when getting on the end of an excellent move involving Connell Dempsey and Liam Durkan, and in the act of trying to whip over a point from the right of goal, Flynn saw his shot nestle in the top left corner of Brendan Walsh’s net.
2-5 to 0-6 in arrears with five minutes plus stoppage time to play, Ballintubber quickly pared pack two points courtesy of Cillian O’Connor, including one from a free, but the excellent Darren McHale denied the large attendance a grandstand finish when following up his second point of the game with his second goal, after Adam Naughton stormed forward to pick out the county star for the simplest of punched finishes.
O’Connor rifled over a goal chance in the fourth added minute but that still left six points between the teams at full-time, after which ref Lydon flashed a red card to a Ballintubber player and a yellow to Knockmore for a goal-mouth skirmish on the whistle.
Scorers – Knockmore: Darren McHale 2-2, Conor Flynn 1-0, Aiden Orme (f), Pearse Ruttledge, Connell Dempsey and Dylan Coleman (f) 0-1 each.
Ballintubber: Cillian O’Connor 0-6 (2f), Bryan Walsh, Ethan Lyons and Michael Plunkett 0-1 each.
Knockmore: Colm Reape; Sean Holmes, Adam Naughton, Aaron Timlin; David McHale, Kieran King, Nathan Armstrong; Darragh Staunton, Connell Dempsey; Darren McHale, Pearse Ruttledge, Oliver Armstrong; Liam Durkan, Aiden Orme, Peter Naughton. Subs: Kevin McLoughlin (for O Armstrong ht), Dylan Coleman (for P Naughton 40), Conor Flynn (for Timlin 51), Keith Ruttledge (for Durkan 60), Shane McHale (for N Armstrong 60+5).
Ballintubber: Brendan Walsh; Ethan Lyons, Brian Murphy, Finian Burke; Joe Geraghty, Michael Plunkett, Josh Mahon; Jason Gibbons, Bryan Walsh; Ciaran Gavin, Diarmuid O’Connor, Stephen Burke; Noel Geraghty, Cillian O’Connor, Stephen O’Malley. Subs: David McHale (for J Geraghty 44), Robbie Finnerty and Tiernan Brady (for O’Malley and Gavin 51), Jack Prendergast (for S Burke 60).
REF: Paul Lydon (Kiltimagh)
