Stephenites lack sparkle but get the job done
Mikey Murray contests the ball with Garrymore’s Liam Og Horkan during Ballina Stephenites' three points win in Sunday's Mayo SFC Group 1 game at Fr O’Hara Park in Charlestown. Pictures: David Farrell Photography
This match was a lot more clearcut than the scoreline might suggest – Ballina Stephenites were more than one kick of the ball better than Garrymore – but for anyone looking for chinks in the armour of the defending champions, they were easy enough to identify.
In mitigation, the Moysiders knew that topping Group 1 was unachievable so had all the look of a team content just to do enough to make sure Garrymore didn’t leapfrog into the second qualifying spot. But it goes without saying that improvement will be required at the business end of the competition if the Stephenites are to win a third consecutive Moclair Cup crown.
Ballina scored just twice in the second-half, both of which were frees. Their last score of the game came as early as the 39th minute. Their last score from play was in the 28th minute of the first-half. The forward line scored just twice from play. A replication of those statistics when travelling to Ballaghaderreen for their quarter-final could easily be fatal. And yet there never seemed any danger of Niall Heffernan’s side losing Sunday’s clash in Charlestown.
Garrymore scored the last five points of the game but left as much behind them, resorting to long range efforts as the miserly Ballina defence guaranteed their goalkeeper David Clarke a quiet afternoon.
The Stephenites played their best football in the first quarter and had fired off five shots at Garrymore’s posts inside the opening four minutes, which resulted in a point apiece for the rampaging Sam Callinan and Niall Feeney and a two-point free by Frank Irwin.
Former Roscommon attacker Andrew Glennon got Garrymore off the mark in the sixth minute when he struck over a two-point free of his own, but Ballina replied with scores by Ciaran Boland and Ciaran Treacy, an excellent two-point kick from the right wing, to lead 0-7 to 0-2 after thirteen minutes.
Treacy would miss three other chances however, and by the 22nd minute four points in-a-row by Darren Quinn, including two from play, saw Garrymore reduce their arrears to the minimum.
It was during this period where came the only goal chance of the first-half, with Garrymore goalkeeper Brian Lynskey saving a rasping effort by Jack Irwin, but Ballina were able to push out their lead again through points by midfield duo Mikey Murray and Frank Irwin.
Irwin was probably the standout player of the first-half and replied to a Trevor Nally point with a booming two-pointer, after Callinan, Niall Feeney, Brendan Collins and Conor McStay all played their part in the build-up.
Full-back Luke Jordan joined in on the scoring act and while that was met by an excellent reply from Eoin McGreal, who simply refused to yield to a multiple of Ballina defenders, the 0-12 to 0-8 scoreline at half-time was a fair reflection of the proceedings.
It should be noted that Garrymore were operating without a trio of their most influential players, Enda Hession, Shane Nally and David Dolan, all because of injury, and while county man Hession did appear off the bench seven minutes into the second-half, he was unable to affect matters to any great degree.
Evan Regan lofted over a pair of two-point frees on 33 and 39 minutes, in between which Lynskey saved another Ballina goal attempt, this one by Mikey Murray, and wave after wave of relentless pressure was taking its toll on Garrymore who now trailed by double scores, 0-16 to 0-8. What nobody was to know however, was that the Green and Red were done scoring for the day.
Andrew Glennon was supplied by Darren Quinn and scored Garrymore’s first point of the second-half on 41 minutes but Glennon, substitute Mark Gibbons and Gary Golden each kicked wides before Quinn slotted over their next point in the 48th minute. And it would take them another ten minutes to trouble the umpires again, during which time Quinn, from a ’45, and Aaron Hughes added to the wide count.
Glennon, who made full-back Luke Jordan earn his corn throughout, broke Golden’s high ball and whipped over his fourth point of the match, and Mark Gibbons drove over a two-point free in the third minute of stoppage time, but that was the very last act of Garrymore’s season.
Scorers – Ballina: Frank Irwin 0-2-1 (1tpf), Evan Regan 0-2-0 (2tpf), Ciaran Treacy 0-1-0, Sam Callinan, Niall Feeney, Ciaran Boland, Mikey Murray and Luke Jordan 0-0-1 each.
Garrymore: Darren Quinn 0-0-5 (1 ’45, 1f), Andrew Glennon 0-1-2 (1tpf), Mark Gibbons 0-1-0 (1tpf), Trevor Nally and Eoin McGreal 0-0-1 each.
Ballina Stephenites: David Clarke; Liam Golden, Luke Jordan, Ciaran Boland; Sam Callinan, Padraig O’Hora, David Tighe; Mikey Murray, Frank Irwin; Jack Irwin, Conor McStay, Niall Feeney; Evan Regan, Brendan Collins, Ciaran Treacy. Subs: Barry Walsh (for Treacy 55), Luke Feeney (for N Feeney 58), Keith Tighe and Daniel Feeney (for Collins and O’Hora 60+2).
Garrymore: Brian Lynskey; Jamie Oates, Caolan Crowe, Colin Commins; Conor Lydon, Eoin McGreal, Kenneth Lydon; Liam Og Horkan, Cathal Slattery; Darren Quinn, Gary Golden, Aaron Hughes; Michael Connolly, Andrew Glennon, Trevor Nally. Subs: Enda Hession (for Nally 37), Patrick Hession (for Horkan 39), Mark Gibbons (for Connolly 43), Jamie Hession (for Lydon 48), Conor Monaghan (for Hughes 57).
REF: Ronan Gurren (Aghamore)
