Stephenites shade northern derby with Rovers
Luke Jordan breaks out of defence for Ballina despite the best efforts of Crossmolina's Mikie Loftus and Dylan Flynn during the Mayo SFL Division 1 meeting at James Stephens Park on Saturday. Pictures courtesy of Ballina Stephenites
An enthralling top of the table clash between two North Mayo rivals was played in perfect conditions last Saturday. Both sides had the chance to take top spot in the table, with Westport ready to capitalise on a slip-up from either team.
Ballina and Crossmolina each came in missing key players due to county duty but the former did have the services of Dylan Thornton and Frank Irwin to call upon.
The Stephenites took the lead early on with two quick scores, as Niall Feeney popped over closely followed by a Patrick Carr ‘45. Crossmolina responded a minute later through Cillian Fergus, sweeping over from mid-range with his left foot. After a string of Ballina wides, Crossmolina gave away the ball cheaply in their own half leading to Oisin McCann bearing down on goal, however, the corner-forward opted for a fist over the bar from a tight angle.
Crossmolina responded with a couple of dominant kickouts allowing the visitors to have a nice spell of possession around the Ballina arc. James Maheady was cynically pulled down on the right-hand side just inside the arc. Diarmuid Walsh knocked the free over, cutting the home side's lead to a point. On the following kickout Ballina’s Luke Feeney was called for a foul. The half-forward did not allow the kick to be taken quickly, bringing the referee Ronan Gurren to move the free well up. Fionan Duffy stroked the ball over from inside the arc and the game was level.
Maheady and Conor Jordan exchanged points before some good play from the hosts led to Oisin McCann with a great goal opportunity, however, shot stopper JP Mulhern produced a fine save.
Fionan Duffy, a free, levelled the game again for Crossmolina and soon after the men in maroon had a goal chance of their own. Dylan Flynn burst through the middle of the Ballina defence, but David Clarke tipped Flynn's rocket over the bar.
Ballina answered back, progressing the ball up the pitch quickly resulting in Dylan Thornton being hauled down by Diarmuid Coggins and Patrick Carr knocking over the two-point free.
Ballina stretched the lead to two when the two Jordans combined. Conor dropped his marker before popping to Luke on his left hand side, who swept the ball over.
Crossmolina again would not lie down. Ballina’s Michael Caden was booked after pulling down Fionan Duffy, and Duffy tagged on the free. Aaron Coggins won the following kickout and popped the ball to James Maheady who burnt his marker and slotted over to level the game. Patrick Carr and Diarmuid Walsh exchanged points just before half-time, with the game now tied at 0-9 apiece.
The first few minutes of the second-half were cagey and scoreless before Diarmuid Walsh put Crossmolina in front with a well struck free from just inside the arc.
The lead was short-lived as a fluid Ballina move followed and Niall Feeney found himself with the ball in hand in the goalmouth, but as he went to pull the trigger he was chopped down and Ronan Gurren pointed to the spot. Frank Irwin slotted the ball hard and low to the left.
Carr continued his outstanding place-kicking for the day, sweeping a two-point free over the black spot to stretch Ballina’s lead to four.
Flynn tagged on points either side of a Barry Walsh fisted effort for Ballina, before Patrick Carr continued to punish Crossmolina as they gave away another free just outside the arc which the young corner-forward neatly dispatched.
Crossmolina were roared on from the sideline to not let the game get away from them, and this appeared to translate to the pitch as Fionan Duffy and James Maheady supplied the visitors with two quick points.
Dylan Thornton answered back for Ballina as the game began to get scrappy and legs grew tired. A spectacular Fionan Duffy point and a single from Mikie Loftus soon made it a two-point game but Frank Irwin responded for the hosts with his first from play.
David Clarke produced another great save to deny Patrick Leddy, turning the ball behind for a ’45 which was calmly put over by Cillian Fergus.
With just a few minutes to go Ballina looked to have cemented the win after two well-taken scores from Frank Irwin and the freshly introduced Sean Treacy. Bt James Maheady kept the visitors alive and made it a three-point game after a sloppy Ballina kickout, after which Rovers then won the following kickout knowing that only a goal would do. Cathal Carolan hoisted the ball towards goal with an abundance of Crossmolina players waiting to tip it to the net, but there was too much on the kick and the ball sailed over for a two-pointer, allowing the hosts to escape with a slim victory.
Scorers – Ballina Stephenites: Patrick Carr 0-3-2 (3tpf, 1 ‘45), Frank Irwin 1-0-2 (1-0pen), Luke Jordan 0-0-2, Dylan Thornton, Barry Walsh, Conor Jordan, Niall Feeney, Oisin McCann and Sean Treacy 0-0-1 each.
Crossmolina Deel Rovers: Fionan Duffy 0-0-6 (5f), James Maheady 0-0-4, Dylan Flynn 0-0-3 (1f), Cathal Carolan 0-1-0, Cillian Fergus (1 ’45) and Diarmuid Walsh (1f) 0-0-2 each, Mikie Loftus 0-0-1.
Ballina Stephenites: David Clarke; Michael Caden, Liam Golden, Luke Jordan; James Doherty, David Tighe, Ciarán Boland; Frank Irwin, Dylan Thornton; Niall Feeney, Barry Walsh, Luke Feeney; Patrick Carr, Conor Jordan, Oisin McCann. Subs: Sean Regan (for N Feeney), Sean Treacy (for McCann).
Crossmolina Deel Rovers: JP Mulhern; Sean Óg McGuiness, Kevin Mulhern, Matthew Gordetskyy; Mikie Loftus, Patrick McCandrew, Aaron Coggins; Cillian Fergus, Diarmuid Coggins; Oisin Deane, Patrick Leddy, Dylan Flynn; Diarmuid Walsh, James Maheady, Fionan Duffy. Subs: Cathal Carolan (for Walsh), Joseph Loftus (for A Coggins).
REF: Ronan Gurren (Aghamore)
