O’Connor’s dozen reminds Mayo what they're missing

Mayo SFL Division 1B – Round 4 

Ballintubber 0-22 

Balla 0-10 

Stuart Tynan at Nally Park, Balla

The GAA’s all-time leading championship scorer Cillian O’Connor gave a demonstration of what his county may just be missing, with his clinical display helping Ballintubber to victory over Balla in Saturday evening’s West Mayo derby.

The sun shone down on Nally Park and conditions were perfect for this senior football league encounter, but the five-time Moclair Cup champions had the result all but wrapped up by the end of the third quarter, thanks in the main to Cillian O’Connor ruthlessly punishing any infringements by Balla through his prowess from placed balls.

Scoring twelve points in total, O’Connor’s first free arrived less than a minute in, capitalising on a foul by Ger Flanagan. Stephen O’Malley and Ciaran Gavin then sent over their first scores of the evening before former Mayo panellist Michael Plunkett fired over the first two-pointer to put the visitors 0-5 to no score in front inside seven minutes.

Gary McHale got Balla up and running on ten minutes after he was picked out by Iarlaith Golding, but Ballintubber kept the scoreboard ticking along through O’Connor and Noel Geraghty. The Maroon and White would begin to enjoy their best period of the game as the second quarter got underway. A free from Colm Murphy and a wonderful strike off the outside of Shaun Dempsey’s left boot got Balla’s tails up but their inconsistency in front of the posts saw them score only two more points in the half. After another Murphy free and a point from Gary McHale brought the gap back to three, O’Connor scored his first two-point free to make 0-10 to 0-5 in Ballintubber’s favour at the change of ends.

Ciaran Gavin and Conor Nolan exchanged points at the start of the second-half, but Balla’s indiscipline would come back to bite them. O’Connor would tap over a trio of simple frees before scoring his second from play to make it 0-15 to 0-6 with just seven minutes gone in the second-half. Gavin looked in for a goal on 41 minutes for the Red and White but he struck his effort straight at goalkeeper Val Roughneen.

Balla captain Conor Walsh and Colm Murphy, a free, stopped the rot but the game was going in only one direction. After Stephen O’Malley and Conor Walsh traded points, O’Connor’s second two-point free left no way back for the home side, with Gavin, Noel Geraghty and a third two-point free from O’Connor capping off the comprehensive win.

Scorers – Ballintubber: Cillian O’Connor 0-3-6 (3tpf, 4f), Ciaran Gavin 0-0-3, Michael Plunkett 0-1-0, Stephen O’Malley and Noel Geraghty 0-0-2 each, Stephen Burke 0-0-1.

Balla: Colm Murphy 0-0-3 (2f), Gary McHale and Conor Walsh 0-0-2 (1f) each, Conor Nolan, Shaun Dempsey and Aaron Dunleavy 0-0-1 each.

Ballintubber: Brendan Walsh; Gavin Murphy, Joe Geraghty, Jack Walsh; Michael Plunkett, Finian Bourke, Josh Mahon; Jason Gibbons, David McHale; Stephen Burke, Cillian O’Connor, Jack Prendergast; Ciaran Gavin, Stephen O’Malley, Noel Geraghty. Subs: John Kerrigan (for S Burke 32), Brian Murphy (for Mahon 42), Robbie Finnerty (for O’Malley 48).

Balla: Val Roughneen; Sean Brohan, Ger Flanagan, Shaun Dempsey; Conor Dunleavy, Oisin Jordan, Patrick McLoughlin; Shane Conway, Odhran O’Connor; Colm Murphy, Conor Nolan, Gary McHale; Iarlaith Golding, Conor Walsh, Luke Flatley. Subs: Patrick McHale (for G McHale 38), Aaron Dunleavy (for Conway 40), Harry Freney (for McLoughlin 50), Liam Glynn and Jamie Moran (for Golding and Nolan 53).

REF: John Brennan (Claremorris)