Ballinlough 1-11 Dunderry 2-13

Ballinlough and Dunderry made the trip to Trim this afternoon to play out the last round game of their group, with both teams having plenty to play for, so fine was the line between a Quarter Final spot and a relegation battle.

The Dunderry outfit got the dream start with an early goal. But credit to Ballinlough they didn’t let that early setback get them down and took the next three scores, Ronan McGuinness with a fisted effort, a Colm Mallen free and a point from play from Fergal Gibney to leave the sides level with 13 minutes played.

Two points for Dunderry in quick succession gave them their lead back before Ballinlough were awarded a penalty in the 18th minuteand up stepped Colm Mallen who snuck the ball into the bottom corner despite the keeper guessing correctly. That goal gave the Lough a 1-03 to 1-02 lead at the first of the water breaks.

From the restart Ballinlough continued the scoring with Benji Smith pointing from play but Dunderry were to kick two scores of their own with a pointed free and a point from play after winning possession on a Ballinlough kick-out. Despite having plenty of the ball Ballinlough once again were left to rue some very poor shooting and instead of pushing on they kicked three wides in a row, all from scorable positions. One man who did have his shooting boots with him was Benji Smith who scored a fine point on his left in the 29th minute to give Ballinlough a one point lead. 

But disaster wasn’t far away as Dunderry came forward with the ball in the 30th minute, when out in the corner they played a speculative ball into the square and while Senan McDermott came out to clear, he was beaten to the punch by the Dunderry forward who palmed the ball to the back of the net. An advanced mark score for Dunderry on the stroke of half-time gave them a three point lead at the break despite Ballinlough dominating for large parts of the half, the score line read Dunderry 2-05 to Ballinlough’s 1-05.

When the game resumed Seanie Geraghty kicked a monster point in the 32nd minute to reduce the deficit but Dunderry took the next three scores to extend their lead out to five points. Mark McCullen made a great run from the full back position to slot over a point in the 39th minute, before another Dunderry free kept them ticking over. Seanie Geraghty sent over another point from play in the 41st minute and Simon Deevey had a fine goal chance saved before Colm Mallen was to conclude the scoring for this quarter with a pointed free in the 45th minute, a goal all that stood between the teams.

Two Dunderry points upon the restart gave them a further boost while Jamie Casserly hit back with a point from play in the 54th minute to leave the gap at a single score with five minutes left on the clock, but Ballinlough just couldn’t penetrate the Dunderry defense sufficiently to get near the goal area, instead tired bodies and legs began to show as with every time the men in Red pushed forward the task of tracking back was getting more and more tiresome on the Ballinlough men who had given so much in this game already, and Dunderry were able to pick their passes with more ease and sent over two quick points to end this game as a contest. 

Seanie Geraghty did get another consolation point for Ballinlough in the 61st minute but shortly afterwards referee Ciarán Flynn blew the whistle for the final time, Dunderry the victors on a scoreline of 2-13 to Ballinlough’s 1-11.

That leaves us in the unenviable position of the relegation dogfight where 3 out of 5 teams will go down to the Junior grade for 2022, and while it’s always disappointing to lose, there has being enough shown from the Ballinlough lads in each of those defeats to say they will still be hopeful of avoiding the drop if they can play to their ability and grind out the win needed.

Ballinlough: S.McDermott, R.Farrell, M.McCullen(0-01), D.Caffrey, C.Rennicks, M.Geraghty, L.Maguire, S.Geraghty(0-03), D.Galligan, F.Gibney(0-01), C.Mallen(1-02(2f)), T.McCullen, B.Smith(0-02), S.Deevey, R.McGuinness(0-01). Subs: J.Casserly(0-01) for F.Gibney 44’, P.Muldoon for R.McGuinness 48’, H.Briody for C.Rennicks 51’, L.Finnegan for M.McCullen 57’

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