Ballinlough march into final

Sosaidh Ni Fearghail

Ballinlough 1-7

St.Colmcille's 1-4

Ballinlough made the long trip to Páirc Uí Rís in Piltown for this Reserve Cup Division 4 semi-final, and while the home side boasted an impressive squad of no less than 31 players togged out, the north Meath contingent showed massive commitment with players travelling from as far away as Kildare and Galway to be at the game, while many others came straight from work without their dinners to fulfil this fixture on a cool but dry Monday evening.

Early frees were traded in the opening period with Niall Farrelly accurate for Ballinlough, but unbelievably it would take until the 23rd minute before the game produced another score, with both sides making great inroads but lacking that final bit of quality in the scoring zone.

While it was a long time before the next score arrive when it did finally come was a thing of beauty as Jamie Casserly played an exquisite pass onto the wing to Kit Óg Lynch. Lynch was still some distance from goal and with an ocean of blue jerseys in front of him, he jigged and reeled his way through the tackles and calmly slotted the ball low and hard under the St Colmcille's 'keeper to give the visitors a timely boost in the 23rd minute.

It wasn’t as long before that score was cancelled out as St.Colmcille's struck for a goal of their own in the 25th minute when a Ballinlough short kick out went awry, and while Ballinlough netminder Keith McGuinness did very well to parry away the initial shot, there was nothing he could do to stop the rebound from hitting the back of net.

That score was to be the last of the opening half so when referee Hugo Whoriskey blew the half time whistle it was level pegging on a low scoreline of 1-1 to both sides.

While St.Colmcille's headed for the warmth of the dressing rooms, Ballinlough manager Kevin Devine chose to do his talking on the pitch, perhaps a subtle symbolic gesture to his players that they needed to do likewise. For all their possession and good play Ballinlough hadn’t really imposed themselves in the game as well as we knew they could.

That all changed upon the restart when Séan Tunney intercepted a St.Colmcille's attack in the 33rd minute before making a marauding run towards their opponent's goalposts and the only way to stop him was to foul him, allowing Peader Byrne to fire over a close range free to give Ballinlough the lead.

The veteran Ballinlough man repeated the dose with a further point from the placed ball two minutes later to extend Ballinlough’s lead and indeed they could have being further ahead but again those wides crept back into their game for a period.

But the men in red were definitely in the ascendancy in this second-half and nobody epitomised the hunger and desire from Ballinlough more than their centre back Joshua Lynch who’s reading of the game was impeccable all evening with his interceptions cutting out several promising St.Colmcille's attacks.

Not only did he deny scoring opportunities at one end, he also picked his forward passes with great accuracy, setting up Daire Shine in the 40th minute as he fired over the bar, and Shine was to split the posts again moments later with a super effort from distance to put four between the sides.

A rare foray into the Ballinlough defensive area resulted in a St.Colmcille's point from play in the 47th minute, but that man Josh Lynch was to the fore again as he picked out Shine once more in the 51st minute and the danger man added his third point of the evening.

Sensing this game was slipping away from them and with time running down St.Colmcille's began to attack with a bit more impetus and were rewarded for their bravery with two quick fire points from play in the 55th minute to lower the gap to two points entering the closing stages.

The greatest cheer of the evening came in the 62nd minute when Ballinlough attacked with pace and Daire Shine sent over a wonderful point to put three between the sides, and despite the referee playing over five minutes, in what was a physical but fair contest, St.Colmcille's could not carve out that goal chance they desperately craved.

As another final attack broke down and with Ballinlough coming away with the ball referee Whoriskey finally decided he had seen enough and blew the full time whistle much to the relief of the Ballinlough faithful who had made the trip to support our lads this evening, as the Reds held on for a three point win on a scoreline of 1-7 to St.Colmcilles 1-4.

That win sets up a final clash between our old friends Meath Hill and we’ve no doubt there will be plenty of fire and brimstone from both sides when that one throws in at the weekend!

Ballinlough - K McGuinness, L Finnegan, H Briody, N McDonnell, C Rennicks, J Lynch, S Tunney, J Casserly, D Galligan, J O’Reilly, P Muldoon, B Brady, N Farrelly(0-1), P Byrne(0-2), K Óg Lynch(1-0).

Subs - D.Shine(0-4) for N.Farrelly, O.McDermott for B.Brady, C.Briody for J.Reilly.