Ballinlough 1-00-08 (11) St.Brigids 0-02-11 (15)

Ballinlough and St.Brigids met on Sunday morning in The Park for Round 5 of the Div.4 A 'League and with the rain having teemed down all night it made conditions slightly trickier than would have been expected for a game played in the first week of May.

The visitors opened the scoring with a point inside the first minute which was followed up by a second two minutes later. 

Ballinlough to their credit were getting on the ball early but their early efforts were either tame, dropped short or wide of the posts, allowing St. Brigids to win back possession and do damage at the other end.

They did just that with Cormac Browne to the fore as he pointed in the tenth minute before adding a fine two point free in the 14th minute to leave the visitors leading by five.

Once again Ballinlough were to rue poor decision making and shot selection as the ball was sent wide of the posts on a number of occasions with St.Brigids taking the next score on the 16-minute mark when Browne converted another free.

Ballinlough finally got the scoreboard ticking when Kit Óg Lynch fired over a tidy point in the 24th minute but St.Brigids were still well on top, and they added two further points to their tally by the 31st minute.

Joshua Lynch took the final score of the half when he worked well and found himself in space to shoot in the 32nd minute, so when Referee Raymond Tynan blew the half time whistle Ballinlough trailed by six on a scoreline of 0-2 to St.Brigids 0-08.

Upon the restart Ballinlough started at a lively pace with Dan O’Brien firing over a lovely point in the 34th minute, before great work from Luke Harte and Dan O’Brien set Sean Tunney up and he made no mistake landing a score a moment later.

That Ballinlough revival didn’t last long however as St.Brigids added three further points to their score without reply by the 43rd minute, but the home side could have wiped those scores out in the 49th minute when Ferghal Gibneys point effort came back off the post and while Sean Tunney got hands on it to palm it towards goal, the St.Brigids netminder did exceptionally well to stop the ball from point blank range and get it away from danger and out over the end line.

That chance sparked something in Ballinlough though and Oisin McDermott nailed the resulting 45’ before Kit Óg Lynch added his second of the morning a moment later to reduce the deficit to five points.

Cian Blake calmed some St.Brigids nerves with a score in the 52nd minute but from the next kickout Ballinlough secured possession via a fine fetch from Mark McCullen who played it onto Dan O’Brien, and the young Ballinlough attacker kept his cool as he jinked past defenders before sending the ball over the bar.

From the kickout it was Oisin McDermotts turn to win clean possession and work it forward, and with Benji Smith doing very well to retain the ball for his side, his link up play with Dan O’Brien afforded Ballinlough the chance to work the ball to Jamie Casserly who collected possession on the run, before hopping off a defensive shoulder and rifling the ball to the net with an excellent score in the 53rd minute.

Sean Tunney pointed for Ballinlough in the 54th minute to leave just one point between the sides but the concession of a silly foul down the other end allowed St.Brigids to put two points between them once more.

Despite a great effort in the second half Ballinlough found themselves down to fourteen men when Mark McCullen received a second yellow card in the 56th minute, and the numerical advantage allowed St.Brigids push for home as they added a two point score and a single point from play in the closing stages to record a victory on a scoreline of 0-15 to Ballinloughs 1-08.

Ballinlough: Alan Gibney, Ryan Kellett, Robbie Farrell, Conor Rennicks, Ferghal Gibney, Eoin Briody, Louis Finnegan, Oisin McDermott(0-01(one 45’)), Mark McCullen, Joshua Lynch(0-01), Brandon Brunton, Luke Harte, Dan O’Brien(0-02), Sean Tunney(0-02), Kit Óg Lynch(0-02)

Subs: Robert O’Brien for R.Kellett 29’, Jamie Casserly (1-00) for B.Brunton 37’, Lorcan Maguire for L.Finnegan 42’, Benji Smith for C.Rennicks 45’

Referee: Raymond Tynan

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