Battling Ballinlough fall short against Meath Hill

Reserve Cup

Meath Hill 0-16

Ballinlough1-8

Susan Farrell

Ballinlough made the trip to Meath Hill on a dry but cool Monday evening for this Group A round one game of the Division 3 Reserve Cup competition, and they got off to a blistering start when Collie Mallen found the net in the opening two minutes after a lovely long ball in from the boot of Mark McCullen in midfield.

The home side hit back admirably though, taking the next four points by the tenth minute to give themselves a one point lead and they pushed on from there to win, 0-16 to 1-8.

A mix of youth and experience amongst the Ballinlough side ensured there was a bit of naïveté at times, and the visitors were guilty of rushing their shots and dropping the ball short on a couple of occasions when decent score chances were on.

There was no such issues with Meath Hill in these opening stages as they added two further points from play by the 15th minute to give themselves a three point lead. Indeed they could have increased their lead further only to be denied by the reflexes of Mattie Farrelly in the 18th minute.

Ballinlough finally got scoring again with an excellent point from Shane Lynch in the 21st minute, but the young man who was making his adult debut tonight was to be disappointed as he was forced off through injury moments later. Two further Meath Hill points left four points between the sides in the 24th minute.

More wasteful shooting from Ballinlough kept them trailing but they were to take the final score of the half when Darragh Caffrey intercepted the ball on his own half back line and powered forward, linking up well with Mark McCullen, before finally playing the ball into Kit Óg Lynch who fired over in the 30th minute.

So when referee Peter O’Halloran blew the half time whistle Meath Hill led on a scoreline of 0-8 to Ballinlough’s 1-2.

Ballinlough opened the second half much like the first but this time Mark McCullen's early goal chance was denied by the Meath Hill net-minder, before the home side took the opening score and extended their lead with a point from play in the 35th minute.

Tenacious tackling from McCullen around the midfield area resulted in Ballinlough advancing forward with the ball, and Benji Smith made no mistake firing over the bar to cut the gap.

Unfortunately for Ballinlough every time they seemed to peg Meath Hill back, the home side came up the field and struck for scores of their own and did so again in the 37th minute.

Ballinlough substitute Niall Farrelly sent over a lovely long range point before going on to miss an easier effort a moment later, and once again Meath Hill were equal to anything Ballinlough threw at them when they pointed in the 40th minute.

Another Niall Farrelly point from play in the 42nd minute was followed up with a close range free from Kit Óg Lynch, the young attacker winning the free himself after being taken down on route to goal to lower the deficit to two points.

Further points were traded with Kit Óg nailing another free, this time the distance much greater and the angle more acute but it was no problem to the Ballinlough man as he fired the ball over the bar with ease in the 49th minute.

There was no stopping the Meath Hill attack when they got forward with the ball though and they added two more points by the 55th minute to leave four between the sides again.

A class point from Kit Óg Lynch in the 56th minute was all Ballinlough could muster in reply, and with referee O’Halloran playing three minutes added time, Meath Hill had time to tag on a further two points to give themselves a five point lead and victory on a scoreline of 0-16 to Ballinlough’s 1-8.

While the result didn’t go our way in the end, Manager Jonnie Reilly (who was making his own managerial debut!) will be more than happy with how his charges applied themselves, and with four young men making their adult debuts this evening there were lots of promising signs of more positive things to come in the future when this group of players get a few more games under their belts !

Next up is an away game v Moynalty this Thursday in the Reserve Cup before our first team also take on Dunderry in the Tailteann Cup at the weekend.

Ballinlough - M.Farrelly, R.Farrell, D.Rogers, A.Gibney, J.Casserly, D.Caffrey, J.Lynch, D.Galligan, M.McCullen, J.Smith, B.Smith(0-01), S.Lynch(0-01), K.Óg Lynch(0-04(2f)), C.Mallen(1-00), C.Ryan. Subs - N.Farrelly(0-02) for S.Lynch 24m, M.Farrell for D.Rogers H/T, C.Monaghan for M.Farrelly H/T, M.Tynan for C.Ryan 56.

*A special thank you Meath Hill for the lovely mug of tea afterwards and the excellent game of indoor Bowls on offer too !! *