St Ultans 1-12 Ballivor 0-15
St Ultans and Ballivor met in the Intermediate relegation game on Sunday with both teams earning a hard fought point.
Ballivor came into the game after losing to Longwood in the first game of the group knowing they needed to get something from the game or they would face relation from Intermediate. Ultans started brightly with Mark Allen opening the scoring from distance but this was quickly cancelled out. Ultans enjoyed a period of dominance and scored 4 in a row from Conor Smyth, Mark Allen and Ronan Breslin, with a score from a narrow angle and a free. Ballivor kept in touch and the sides exchanged scores in the build up to half with Ultans points coming from Breslin 2 and Mark Allen. Declan Galligan replaced the injured Breslin before half time.
Ultans led by 3 points at the break, Ballivor closed the gap at the start of the 2nd half but Ultans responded with a Darren Kavanagh goal, quickly followed by another point for Kavanagh to leave them leading by 6. Ballivor were determined to keep their intermediate status and fought hard and started to pick up all the breaking ball and 4 points in a row closed the gap to 2 points. Conor Smyth scored his second of the game but Ballivor continued to apply the pressure responding with 2 frees. Gearoid Rennicks drove forward from midfield and pointed to leave 2 between the sides with time running out. Ballivor scored 2 to bring the sides level. Ultans won a kickout and moved up the field and Darren Kavanagh was fouled leaving Mark Allen with a difficult free in injury time but he converted. Ultans however failed to close out the game and Ballivor won and converted a free deep into injury time.
Ultans face Longwood in the final group game needing a draw or win to secure their Intermediate status while Ballivor must hope for a Longwood victory
St. Ultans: Cian Farnan, Declan Ball, Jason Bennett, Darren Mallon, Alan Martin, Martin Dolan, Sean Herward, Kevin Galligan, Gearoid Rennicks 0-1, Emmet Costello, Mark Allen 0-4 2f, Darren Kavanagh 1-1, Conor Smyth 0-2, Paul Murray, Ronan Breslin 0-4 2f. Subs used Declan Galligan, Cian Rennicks, Ronan Galligan, Shane Mulroe