Powerful Parke leave Ballyhaunis in relegation trouble
Parke's Simon Cloherty, left, was on the scoresheet for the home side last Friday evening: David Farrell Photography
Parke/Keelogues/Crimlin outgunned Ballyhaunis in this high-scoring shootout on Friday night last, despite the best efforts of the gutsy visitors.
This was a must win game for Ballyhaunis as they sought to stave off relegation to the second tier and the East Mayo men made a flying start to the opening two minutes of this intriguing clash. Eamonn Phillips popped over the opening point of the night and this was soon buttressed by a goal. A swarming Ballyhaunis attacking foray saw possession delivered into the path of the aforementioned Phillips and despite his strike being blocked by Conor McDonnell, the poaching Kevin Byrne was on hand and he crashed the ball home.
It was indeed the perfect start for visitors, but they were punished for a mistake on five minutes as a misplaced kick-out from Cormac Phillips was snaffled up by Jack McLoughlin. The wing-forward bolted towards goal and zipped the ball home to the back of the net.
Ballyhaunis regrouped and a brace of points from Eamonn Phillips appeared to have steadied their ship. However, a steely Parke hit a purple patch and during that spell, a hat-trick of singles from the effervescent Dara Neary (one free), and further efforts from Ronan Carolan and Colm Lynch, nudged the hosts into a 1-5 to 1-3 advantage.
The helter-skelter nature of the first half continued, with Ballyhaunis once again levelling matters courtesy of a marvellous point from Eoghan Collins and a well-placed free from Eamonn Phillips.
Once again though, the Parke response was rapid as they mustered points courtesy of Carolan, Cathal Keavney and Lynch, to lead 1-8 to 1-5 after 22 minutes and a stern Parke would never again relinquish the lead in this game.
On 25 minutes, Ballyhaunis’ Eamonn Phillips guided over a marvellous long-range free but the final act of the first half was carried out by the locals, as some patient and meticulous build-up play ended with Keavney pointing to help give his Parke team-mates a 1-9 to 1-6 interval lead.
The Black and Amber bamboozled Ballyhaunis during the opening seconds of the second period as Keavney’s dazzling and uninterrupted run ended with the ball rustling the back of the net.
Ballyhaunis’ Aidan Sloyan (a peach of a score) and Parke’s Cian McHale then exchanged points, before the former’s team-mates Eamonn Phillips (free) and an inspirational long-range effort by Collins continued to chip away at the hosts lead.
Once again, however, Parke hit a purple patch and during that bountiful period points from Ronan Reilly, Dara Neary (two, one free) and a majestic effort by Simon Cloherty garnered a sizeable 2-14 to 1-9 lead for the West Mayo men after 50 minutes.
It appeared that Parke were out of sight for Ballyhaunis, with the guests response coming from efforts by Sloyan, free, and county star Jack Coyne.
The second half introduction of Simran Singh offered Parke a new impetus and energy and the busy forward notched a tidy score on 53 minutes, much to the delight of the home bench. The Black and Red valiantly tried to reduce the deficit, but had to work hard to earn their scores, with efforts from Eamonn Phillips and Coyne on 55 and 56 minutes respectively, the result of some hard grafting by their team-mates.
Parke were very economical in front of goal and their patient and tidy build-play was further rewarded when a storming run from Cian Donohoe ended with the umpire once again having to reach for the white flag.
The energetic Coyne landed Ballyhaunis’ final score of the joust but the night belonged to an ever improving Parke and Lynch’s point during the dying embers of the contest rounded off an impressive display by the home side.
