Rangers triumph in north Mayo derby
PJ Gilmartin of Ballina Town gets ahead of the chasing Conn Rangers duo of Ronan Holmes and Brian Durkan. Pic: John Corless
Ballina Town 1
Conn Rangers 3
John Corless at Belleek Park
Conn Rangers took the bragging rights and the points in a competitive Super League derby at Belleek Park on Saturday evening. Conn’s defence, led by captain Owen McNamara, the man of the match, was excellent throughout, and behind them, Brian McMahon, put in a great shift minding the house.
“It was a great game,” McNamara told the Western People after the final whistle. “Ballina always seemed to have one over on us and it was great to win it. The last few years when we played them, we always felt we should have got something and we finally got it today.”
Rangers got two decisive goals in a minute, one third of the way through the game, to rattle their opponents and Town never fully recovered from this double blow. Cian Kilcoyne got the first of his brace on thirty-six, when Town failed to fully clear a corner, and a minute later, Eoin Prendergast made it two, when he finished well on the break.
Town pulled one back after the hour mark, when PJ Gilmartin finished well after he got on the end of a fine diagonal pass from substitute, Niall Casey. Gilmartin played for Conn Rangers in the early part of the season, including in the May meeting of these sides. Ryan Moran, who has been in sensational goal-scoring form for the Town B team, looked lively too, when he came on in a tactical switch involving the withdrawal of defender, Stephen Melvin. He nearly scored with a header, when he met Conor Gorman’s excellent long cross, only to be denied by McMahon.
Kilcoyne got his second, to restore the two-goal lead on ninety, and was further rewarded with a yellow card for removing his shirt in the celebrations. Darragh Holmes and Mikey McHale also received yellow cards for tackles in stoppage time; in McHale’s case it was unfortunately his second, earning him a red. While the game was played at a ferocious pace by both sides, there was no edge to it; it was contested in a sporting manner throughout.
Ballina Town: Emmet Peyton, Jamie Moyles, Chris Moore, Chris Maughan, Stephen Melvin, Danny Gorman, Conor Quinn, Dylan McKee, Tiernan Tighe, PJ Gilmartin, Conor Gorman. Subs: Niall Casey, Ryan Moran, Leon Geraghty.
Conn Rangers: Brian McMahon, Brian Durkan, Owen McNamara, Ajay McGrath, Ciaran Brogan, Darragh Jordan, Tadhg O’Sullivan, Mikey McHale, Eoin Prendergast, Cian Kilcoyne, Adam Gallagher. Subs: Darragh Holmes, Ronan Holmes, Alan Dempsey
Referee: Damien McGrath.
