Ballinlough and Moynalty share the spoils

Reserve Cup

Ballinlough 1-8

Moynalty 0-11

Susan Farrell

Ballinlough made the trip to Moynalty on a very cold but thankfully dry Thursday evening for round tjwo of the Div 3 Reserve Cup and they opened the scoring in a matter of minutes with Mark McCullen sending over a booming effort from play early on.

Similar to Monday evenings game the visitors were to be rewarded from their fast start and again found the back of the net inside the first five minutes, this time Ben Jordan working brilliantly in defence to work the ball forward to Darragh Caffery, and when he found Jack Smith, the young Ballinlough man rifled the net with an excellent shot to give Ballinlough a four point lead with as many minutes played.

Moynalty hit back with a point from play in the sixth minute, and while Ballinlough were left to rue a couple of missed shots, even the usually accurate Benji Smith shooting wide of the posts, thankfully his cousin Jack was on hand to show him how it’s done when he fired over the bar in the ninth minute to add to his earlier goal.

A lovely point from play for Conor Briody extended Ballinlough’s lead back to four points while Moynalty had to rely on a 12th minute free to get their next score of the game, but Ballinlough kept coming at them and a fine bit of play was rewarded when Jamie Casserly sent over a lovely point from play in the 14th minute.

With the wind at the backs and momentum surging through them in the opening thirty minutes Ballinlough had plenty of scoring chances, but unfortunately most of them were all to one side (of the posts) like the village of Moynalty resulting in no scores recorded for over thirteen minutes of the half.

The white flag was finally raised again when Jamie Casserly sent over a free in the 27th minute, that score coming after a great showing of immense work-rate from Alan Gibney in the Ballinlough defence, the young man settling into life as an adult footballer like a duck to water.

There was just enough time before the half time whistle for Moynalty to add a third point to their tally so when referee Joseph Curran called for the ball, Ballinlough led on a scoreline of 1-5 to Moynaltys 0-3.

With the wind advantage now with the hosts it was inevitable that Moynalty would come out fighting and they landed two quick fire points to reduce the deficit to three points within minutes of the second half commencing.

Colm Mallen marked his introduction at half time with an excellent solo score, and like Robin Hood stealing from the rich, the Man in tights tonight stole the ball away from three Moynalty defenders before nonchalantly sending it over the bar in the 33rd minute.

A Moynalty point in the 41st minute could easily have being a goal chance but thankfully for Ballinlough the ball was always rising up and over the bar.

Ballinlough maintained their four point lead when Ciaran Ryan showed great tenacity to chase down a loose ball and work it back to Jack Smith, who in turn found Casserly and his left footed effort split the posts beautifully in the 45th minute.

A hammer blow for Ballinlough came moments later when they lost the energetic Jack Smith to a harsh black card in the 48th minute, and with an extra man at their disposal Moynalty began to punish their visitors on the scoreboard.

Three unanswered points between the 49th and 53rd minute left just a solitary point between the sides heading into the final five minutes, and with Ballinlough losing Niall Farrelly to injury, they had to recall Kit Óg Lynch back into action in the 55th minute.

Showing no signs of fatigue or cold muscles Kit Óg's first touch of the ball after his re-introduction was to send a super point over the bar in the 56th minute to leave Ballinlough leading by two.

Credit to the home side though they kept battling and were rewarded with two fine scores from play to level the sides in the 60th minute and both teams ended up sharing the spoils.

With games coming thick and fast our lads find themselves back in action tomorrow evening in the Tailteann Cup when we welcome Dunderry to the Park for round two of the competition, while our reserve team will welcome Oldcastle to the Park next Thursday!

Ballinlough - C.Monaghan, A.Gibney, B.Jordan, M.Farrell, J.Casserly(0-3(1f)), D.Caffrey, L.Maguire, D.Galligan, M.McCullen(0-1), J.Smith(1-1), B.Smith, C.Briody (0-1), K.Óg Lynch (0-1), N.Farrelly, J.Reilly. Subs - R.Farrell for D.Caffrey H/T, D.Rogers for M.McCullen H/T, C.Mallen(0-01) for K.Óg Lynch H/T. C.Ryan for J.Reilly 32’. K.Óg Lynch for N.Farrelly 55’

MOYNALTY VIEWPOINT

Moynalty shared the spoils with Ballinlough in what was a game of two halves on Thursday night.

Ballinlough raced into an early five point lead within the first 10 minutes, after a well taken goal and some well taken long range points. Moynalty began to regroup as the half went on, and the half time score was Ballinlough 1-05 Moynalty 0-03.

Moynalty played into the wind in the second half and began to slowly notch away at the deficit.

James Lynch and Jack Farrell were in fine form in front of goal, scoring a mixture of open play points and well taken frees to keep the game in the melting pot throughout.

The final breakthrough was made as the clock ticked up to 30 minutes as Kian Lynch drew Moynalty level for the first time in what proved to be the final score of the night.

Moynalty's defence in the second half stood firm, with Niall Gilsenan making his debut and impressing at wing half back.

Moynalty - N McKenna, J Smyth, S Nevin, K Farrelly, D Farrelly, P Reilly, N Gilsenan, R Owens, A Reilly, J Farrell, C Gaynor, J Lynch, C Cahill, K Lynch, P Olwell. Subs - B McCormack, D Gargan, D Smyth, J Gilsenan, M Lynch, M Collins, J McEntee, K Cussen,

Scorers: J Lynch (0-4), J Farrell (0-03), K Lynch (0-2), D Farrelly (0-1), J Gilsenan (0-1).