St Michael"s claim title

A BLISTERING start to the second-half set St Michael"s on the road to victory over Ballinlough in a well-contested A FL Div 3 final for the Cummins Cup at Athboy on Sunday. Ballinlough had looked the more likely winners for much of the first-half, but there was an improvement in the winner"s performance in the closing stages of the period and they carried that forward to the restart when they bolted from the blocks in devastating fashion. They scored 1-3 in the opening eight minutes of the second-half to take a grip on the contest, but they were happy to hear referee Pat Clarke"s final whistle at the end of five minutes injury-time as they hung on to a minimum margin advantage. There was confusion before the start when both teams appeared on the pitch in similar colours, but the matter was eventually sorted out with the toss of a coin which Ballinlough won and St Michael"s quickly changed. Ballinlough had won an earlier league meeting of the sides by two points and when they opened up a four-point advantage early in the second-quarter of this encounter they looked well capable of repeating that success. Seamus Fagan and Cian Mallon went through plenty of valuable work at midfield and with Peadar Byrne exerting an influence and Derek Muldoon effective at full-forward they appeared to have a launch pad for victory. Centre-forward Anthony Lynch opened the scoring with a point from a well-taken free after three minutes and Ballinlough just shaded the first-quarter as they opened up a 0-3 to 0-2 lead. Muldoon got their second score and Byrne fired over the third after a brilliant run up the left flank by the busy Benji Smith, but well-taken points from Daithi Regan and Ciaran Lynch kept St Michael"s well in the hunt. A goal was always going to provide a huge tonic in a tight encounter and Ballinlough"s came after 18 minutes and was a superbly worked score. Fagan found Byrne who produced a piece of brilliance to pick out Muldoon and he finished for a 1-3 to 0-2 lead. That should probably have provided the platform for Ballinlough to push further ahead, but instead St Michael"s out-scored them by 0-3 to 0-1 for the remainder of the first-half. Lynch got Ballinlough"s only other point of the period from a free and with Regan slotting over two impressive placed balls and Peter Clinton finding the target brilliantly from play the Carlanstown / Kilbeg combination had cut the deficit to 0-5 to 1-4 by the interval. They were level within three minutes of the restart after Lynch (free) and Ben Farrell had pointed and then came a major turning point. Byrne was booked after a heavy challenge on Johnny Reilly. Phelim O"Reilly took the resultant free, Regan delivered the ball goalwards and Reilly had the last laugh when he raced through and fisted to the net. St Michael"s had built up great momentum and their lead stood at 1-9 to 1-5 by the three-quarter stage after Regan had slotted over a free and the impressive Lynch pointed in magnificent fashion from the right wing. Fagan had scored the Ballinlough point from a free, but they were struggling and their situation worsened when Regan was on target from another free to increase St Michael"s advantage to five points early in the last quarter. Ballinlough needed to do something and do it quick. They succeeded in holding St Michael"s scoreless for the remainder, but they were playing a game of catch-up which ultimately proved just beyond them. Ken Rothwell and Lynch (free) reduced the deficit to a goal by the 53rd minute and they should have been level a minute later when Rothwell shot badly wide after substitute Padraig Muldoon had provided the ammunition. They were dominating the possession stakes and reduced the gap to the minimum three minutes into injury-time thanks to points from Fagan and Lynch frees. With no sign of the final whistle extra-time looked a possibility, but after Regan was wide going for a goal when he should have pointed it eventually arrived and St Michael"s could celebrate. SCORERS St Michael"s - D Regan 0-5; C Lynch 0-3; J Reilly 1-0; B Farrell 0-1; P Clinton 0-1. Ballinlough - D Muldoon 1-1; A Lynch 0-4; S Fagan 0-2; P Byrne 0-1; K Rothwell 0-1. THE TEAMS St Michael"s - D O"Connell; T Moriarty, D Flood, D Reilly; M Rogers, P Rogers, S Gaffney; P O"Reilly, B Ryan; R Farrell, C Lynch, J Reilly; B Farrell, P Clinton, D Regan. Subs - JB O"Reilly for Farrell, 36 mins, M Reilly for Gaffney 46m, T Halpin for J Reilly 49m. Ballinlough - J O"Higgins; B Smith, L Maguire, R Farrell; E O"Reilly, K Devine, G Smith; S Fagan, Cian Mallon; K Rothwell, A Lynch, P Byrne; Colm Mallon, D Muldoon, R McGuinness. Subs - P Muldoon for Colm Mallon 46 mins, J Reilly for G Smith 58m. REFEREE Pat Clarke (Seneschalstown).