Moysiders make hard work of ‘Mullet men
Niall Feeney of Ballina Stephenites shoots for the target but his attempt was subsequently blocked by his brother Daniel (in the background) during the Mayo SFL Division 1A match at James Stephens Park last Saturday evening. Pictures: David Farrell Photography
Try as they might, Ballina Stephenites were unable to lose Saturday’s Division 1A encounter with Belmullet. Already with a slender lead at half-time, the Green and Red were backed by a stiff wind during a second-half in which Belmullet had to play 20 minutes with only fourteen men and at one stage were even reduced to thirteen. However, 10 second-half wides by Ballina (they had kicked just two when playing against the wind) helped to keep the Erris visitors in the mix right up until the final whistle.
But ultimately, Niall Heffernan’s side won by the one point advantage they had held at the halfway stage, to make it four straight league wins since their opening day loss at home to Breaffy. Belmullet, though, will believe this was a game where a couple of league points could easily have been accumulated, particularly if they, like Ballina, had not been so inaccurate with the wind at their backs.
Fionn O’Donoghue and goalkeeper Shane Nallen, from frees, and Owen McHale all hit wides during a first quarter in which O’Donoghue also had a goal chance blocked down and then skewed his attempt to point the rebound. The upshot was that by the 21st minute, Ballina Stephenites led 0-5 to 0-1, with points by Evan Regan, two, Conor McStay, Niall Feeney and Mikey Murray, who curled over stylishly off his left. Feeney very nearly had a goal too, except his shot crashed into the back of his brother Daniel who was stood on the Belmullet goal-line.
Owen McHale, who had opened the scoring within 50 seconds of throw-in, kicked Belmullet’s fourth wide of the first-half before Daithi Cosgrove ended their 25-minute wait for a second score, when blasting over from outside the arc. Ballina players protested vehemently that the ball had grazed a home hand just as it left Cosgrove’s boot, but referee Frank Flynn awarded the two points.
Shane Nallen missed another long-range free but when Stephen Mullin hauled Peter McArthur to ground just as the opportunity of a Belmullet goal had opened up, Owen McHale pointed the stoppage time free which left Ballina’s lead at 0-5 to 0-4.
Maybe it’s the conditions they’re so used to in Tallagh, but Belmullet returned for the second-half and inside twelve minutes had kicked a pair of two-pointers into the wind, the first by Padraig Cowman, who was an inspirational presence at centre-back throughout, the other by Shane Nallen, when a free was brought forward for Ballina’s failure to allow a tap-and-go. But it wasn’t all rosy for Kieran Lavelle’s side; a black card picked up in the 36th minute by corner-forward Luke McWilliams, who had checked the run of Ballina wing-back Brendan Collins, left them a man short for ten minutes, while Evan Regan hit one and two-point scores for the Stephenites, to see the sides level at 0-8 apiece after 43 minutes.
A breach of the four back rule by the locals gifted Belmullet the lead for the one and only time in the game, in the 46th minute, when Fionn O’Donoghue popped over the free, but five minutes after McWilliams’ spell in the sin-bin, Belmullet were back down to fourteen, this time for Conan Connor’s off-the-ball foul on Evan Regan.
Regan converted the free which, allied with Conor McStay’s second point of the game, restored Ballina’s lead, before Ben Thornton also split the posts, to send the Moysiders 0-11 to 0-9 ahead, with seven minutes of normal time remaining.
Thornton and McStay, however, were among a plethora of Ballina players to kick wides, and so when Fionn O’Donoghue curled over a free in the 57th minute to leave Belmullet just the minimum behind, the potential of the guests claiming at least a point from their travels could not be ruled out.
But with Connor still in the bin, he was joined in the 59th minute by Owen McHale who received red for reacting at a Ballina player who had just been awarded a free, and the Erris men were unable to overcome their numerical disadvantage.
Ballina Stephenites sit joint third in the table with Knockmore (who they play next) after five rounds, two points behind Breaffy and one behind Castlebar Mitchels. Belmullet, on four points, have three teams below them in the table, including the pointless Ardnaree and Charlestown.
Scorers – Ballina: Evan Regan 0-1-4 (2f), Conor McStay 0-0-2, Mikey Murray, Niall Feeney and Ben Thornton 0-0-1 each.
Belmullet: Daithi Cosgrove, Padraig Cowman and Shane Nallen (1tpf) 0-1-0 each, Owen McHale (1f) and Fionn O’Donoghue (2f) 0-0-2 each.
Ballina Stephenites: Eoghan Coleman; Stephen Mullin, David Tighe, Ciaran Boland; Brendan Collins, Sean Regan, Daniel Feeney; Mikey Murray, Luke Feeney; Ben Thornton, Conor McStay, Ciaran Sweeney; Evan Regan, Niall Feeney, Patrick Carr. Subs: Liam Golden (for Mullin ht), James Doherty (for Carr 40), Adam McAndrew (for Sweeney 49).
Belmullet: Shane Nallen; Padraig Meenaghan, Conan Connor, Daniel Barrett; James O’Donnell, Padraig Cowman, Rian Concannon; Anthony Barrett, Seamus Howard; Shea O’Donoghue, Owen McHale, Daithi Cosgrove; Peter McArthur, Fionn O’Donoghue, Luke McWilliams. Subs: Darren McDonnell (for McWilliams 46), Pat Conroy and Colin Barrett (for Cosgrove and McArthur 55), Leo Howard.
REF: Frank Flynn (Aghamore)
