Ballinlough 3-9 St Marys 2-7

St Marys came up agonisingly short in their quest to become Under 19 B Champions on a cold Friday night in Dunganny against a dogged and experienced Ballinlough side. 

The massive crowd filtered in shortly before 7:30pm to pitch 1 in anticipation of a lively game between the two form teams in the grade. 

The early exchanges were cagey between the two teams, both sides were defending resolutely and space was at a premium in both forward lines. Eventually the first score of the game came from the boot of Tom Shine after patient build up play from Ballinlough. After a nervy start, St Mary’s started to put their stamp on the game, putting some excellent fluid passing moves together and getting their first two points from the excellent inside forward line of Cormac Victory and Andrew Brien. Marys then took the lead through an excellent point from Liam Lynch. Ballinlough had a couple of goal chances, but were denied through some smart saves from Paddy Owens in the Marys goal in addition to some excellent last ditch defending from Neil Floyd and Ruairi Condra. 

At this point, the momentum started to shift in St Marys favour, and in the lead up to half time turned on the style with a quick fire 2-2 without reply. After some excellent work by the outstanding Maithiu Brien and Victory, the pacey Fionn Brereton found himself one on one and slotted the ball under the advancing Matthew Farrelly to the delight of the considerable Marys support. After a further Victory point, St Mary’s were in for goal again. An intricate move from midfield ended up inside with Victory laying the ball off to the onrushing Dylan Bagnall and the Marys captain hit the back of the net to send the Marys support into raptures. The Donore/Rosnaree men were in complete control and in truth the half time whistle from referee Frank Scully came too quickly for the Marys men.

The management team of Nicky Gogan, Locky Hill, Brian Smith and Ken Brien relayed the message to the players that the job was only halfway done and the second half would bring an inevitable storm from Ballinlough, something the players weathered very well in the opening exchanges of the second half. Points from Brereton and Joey Greene were cancelled out by points from the Shine brothers Tom and Daire. 

With 20 mins left, Marys were 2-5 to 0-4 in front and holding their own, but then Ballinlough found a devastating second gear. Much like the last 10 mins of the first half, one side had the other hemmed in, but this time it was the North Meath men with the upper hand. Daire Shine started to control matters in the middle of the field and every break which was previously going the Marys way seemed to fall right to a red jersey more often than not. This sustained barrage on the Marys defence yielded 3-3 for the victorious side, goals from Kit Og Lynch and a brace from Darren O’Higgins stunned the Marys into silence. Despite some heroic efforts from the Marys lads, the damage was done and to their immense credit, as through the whole 19s campaign they didn’t stop fighting until the final whistle.

The end of the game brought a great sense of despair to the Marys team and management, who had given so much and ultimately came up short on the night. Despite this, the campaign as a whole has been massive success for the club. There is a special bond within the team, and with all bar threestarting players eligible again next year for under 19, it bodes very well for the future at underage and adult football level, with these group of players very hungry for success. 

Congratulations to the winners Ballinlough and a special word of thanks for referee Frank Scully, who officiated a very sporting and free flowing game in a great manner. 

St Marys: Paddy Owens; Ruairi Condra, Neil Floyd, Tadhg Lynch; Liam Lynch, Dylan Bagnall (c), Tadhg Dixon; Adam Craven, Joey Greene; Fionn Brereton, Liam O’Brien, AJ Bradshaw; Andrew Brien, Cormac Victory, Maithiu Brien.

Subs: Caimin Hughes for Tadhg Lynch, Tadhg McLaughlin for Fionn Brereton. Brian Everard, Ronan Everard, Eoin Jackson, John O’Brien.

Referee: Frank Scully 

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