Sweet sixteen as Ballina run riot over Mitchels

County Junior ‘A’ Hurling Championship – Round 2

Ballina Stephenites 1-18 

Castlebar Mitchels ‘B’ 0-5 

Daragh Coyle at James Stephens Park 

Ballina Stephenites got rolling early and never let up against their Castlebar Mitchels counterparts, to pick up their second win from two games of this season’s junior hurling championship.

Ballina’s forwards put the Mitchels backs to the sword, with the visitors under pressure from star performers like Luke Hurley and Matthew Keane who combined for 0-9 in what ended as a 16 points win for the Green and Red. A plan which saw Castlebar puck long for the game saw Ballina collect a lot of loose possession and stifle many attacks before they could come to fruition for the visitors.

To begin the proceedings, Luke Hurley converted a free before midfielder Kieran Walshe doubled Ballina’s lead from close range after collecting the loose sliotar. A brilliant move that started in the back line after Ballina’s Padraig O’Flynn collected the Castlebar puckout, saw him pass to Matthew Walsh who in turn delivered a lovely long pass into Cathal Moloney. The full-forward offloaded to wing-forward Mark Jordan who duly sent the sliotar on its way between the posts.

Two frees from Luke Hurley made it five points without reply for the hosts within the game’s first quarter. Castlebar Mitchels were struggling to win second balls and their long puck game was proving ineffective as a result.

Matthew Keane got a lovely score from a tight right-sided angle and Mark Jordan doubled his own tally five minutes later, while another point by Hurley meant the centre-forward had scored half his team’s tally, and he gathered his fifth point from a free as the half was coming to a close.

In the first minute of stoppage time, Abdullah Abassi finally got Mitchels’ account opened courtesy of a pointed free, to leave it 0-9 to 0-1 in favour of the Moysiders at the turnound.

To begin the second-half, Abassi doubled Castlebar’s score from another free, but Ballina’s active midfielder Kieran Walshe grabbed his second point after winning another puckout from the visitors.

Abassi made it three for himself with his first from play, approaching the 40th minute, but two rapid fire points from Matthew Walsh and substitute David Barrett game Ballina Stephenites a nine-point lead. And it was a lead that would continue to grow.

Cathal Moloney got the game’s only goal after a fantastic ball into him was killed dead on the hurl. Turning with composure, the Ballina attacker fired into the top left corner. Matthew Keane then scored his second point to keep the good times rolling for Ballina. Walshe made it a hat-trick of points on a personal note with a right sided point and Keane’s third shortly followed as he hit the sliotar between the posts on the turn.

Conor Donaldson eventually got the visitors up to five points as their resistance faded away but less than a minute later Keane had struck again for a dominant Ballina side cruising towards victory.

A fantastic long distance free from around the ’65 on Ballina’s left was sent over by their netminder Kevin Duffy, and the result was signed, sealed and delivered when Cathal Moloney tapped over a close range free.

Scorers – Ballina: Luke Hurley 0-5 (3f), Cathal Moloney 1-1, Matthew Keane 0-4, Kieran Walshe 0-3, Mark Jordan 0-2, Matthew Walsh, David Barrett and Kevin Duffy (f) 0-1 each.

Castlebar: Abdullah Abassi 0-4 (2f), Conor Donaldson 0-1.

Ballina Stephenites: Kevin Duffy; Eoin Healy, Niall Hurley, Anthony Healy; Noel Walsh, Padraig O’Flynn, Chris Walsh; Matthew Walsh, Kieran Walshe; Bryan Moloney, Luke Hurley, Mark Jordan; Paul Hughes, Cathal Moloney, Matthew Keane. Subs: Paul Flood, David Barrett, Ger Cafferkey.

Castlebar: Martin Parsons; Conor Murphy, James Lowe, Gary Hayes; Ryan Butler, Lucas Kenny, Alan Gavin; Tony Sweeney, Brian Flannery; Conor Donaldson, Abdullah Abassi, Jordan Barr; Liam Sweeney, Colman Munnelly, Donovan McHale. Subs: Rory Deane, Conor O’Shea, Joe O’Donnell.