Ballinagh pick up league title with gutsy performance

ACFL Division 2 final

Ballinagh 3-9

Lavey 0-13

Eddie Halligan at Dr Plunkett Park

Ballinagh deservedly claimed the Division 2 league title as their overall superior experience and physicality reigned supreme against a youthful Lavey side in sun-kissed Kilnaleck on Saturday evening last.

In what was an emotional victory for the winners, Ballinagh’s win was largely based on a dominant third quarter where they especially decimated Dean McCabe’s kickout, but they still needed late goals from Niall O’Reilly and Niall McDermott to finally put Lavey to the sword.

On the weekend previous, Ballinagh showed immense grit in achieving promotion at the first attempt with their win over Killygarry, but when McDermott raised the green flag in injury time to seal victory, it sparked joyous and emotional scenes in the Ballinagh dugout as the silverware earned was a poignant tribute to their teammate, Thomas Moore, who tragically passed away earlier this year.

Although Lavey would have been delighted to finally achieve promotion to Division 1 after a barren spell, they would be somewhat disappointed with their showing in Kilnaleck on Saturday evening. They responded brilliantly to Tristan Graham’s opportunist goal midway through the first half and proceeded to finish the half the stronger of the two teams, but they struggled to gain much needed primary possession around midfield in the aforementioned third quarter.

However, due to Ballinagh’s prolificacy in front of goal, Lavey remained in the hunt but they could not capitalise and in the end, Ballinagh were deserving winners.

The opening 15 minutes was cagey and littered with mistakes with both teams operating very defensively which caused possession to be coughed up easily or given away cheaply for both sides. Lavey captain James McBreen opened the scoring with a curling effort in the second minute after a Ballinagh attack broke down, but Kevin Smith soon responded with a free to level matters.

The game entered into a period of 10 minutes where both sides repeatedly gave away possession when on the attack much to the frustration of both dugouts, however in the 14th minute, midfielder Callum Maguire got the scoreboard moving again when he popped over a fine score after good work from Darren Jordan.

A minute later, Ballinagh corner-back, Aaron Reilly was harshly black carded but that incident seemed to ignite the men in saffron as two quickfire points from Shane Finnegan pushed Ballinagh ahead at 0-3 to 0-2 and when Tristan Graham rattled the Lavey net after a Kevin Smith effort fell short, the momentum was firmly in the path of the soon-to-be winners. However, Lavey responded excellently, making efficient use of the extra man, and points from Aaron McCabe, Gerry Smith (mark), Thomas Plunkett and another Smith major had the sides level at 0-6 to 1-3 by the 23rd minute.

The game was now starting to ebb and flow to a certain degree as Ballinagh looked to curtail the Lavey momentum somewhat, with a much-needed Eamon McEvoy free nudging Ballinagh in front. However, Lavey’s response was swift with Maguire floating another excellent score from the wing to tie up the contest once again.

As the game neared half-time, both teams traded scores in the closing minutes as a Kevin Smith free and another Plunkett point left the tie finely balanced at the interval, with the scores 0-8 to 1-5.

Within two minutes of the restart, Shane Tierney curled over a free, but Ballinagh began to stamp their authority on the contest as they dominated proceedings for the next 15 minutes. Evan Finnegan kicked over a fine score which was quickly followed up with another Kevin Smith free and when David Finnegan curled over a good score from a quick McDermott free a minute later, Ballinagh were in the ascendancy.

At this stage, Ballinagh caused Lavey huge problems especially in obtaining possession from McCabe’s kick-out with their physicality a telling factor, but in truth and despite their dominance, Ballinagh should have been much further in front only for poor shooting in front of goal diluting their control of the contest.

McEvoy curled over another super free to leave Ballinagh three to the good at 1-9 to 0-9 by the 40th minute, and although Tierney stopped the rot with a well taken point in the 45th minute, it was Lavey’s turn to squander chances as they hit three wides in as many minutes with the game evidently becoming sloppy.

Substitute Oisin Tynan curled over a good score after a patient move to narrow the gap to one at 0-11 to 1-9 in the 51st minute as Lavey looked to overhaul the deficit despite being second best, but Niall O’Reilly gave Ballinagh much needed breathing space in the 54th minute when he combined with David Finnegan to hammer his shot to the top corner of the Lavey net.

The green flag was nearly raised again soon after only for McCabe to deny the vibrant Ronan Connolly with Gerry Smith clearing off the line from the rebound, and from there, Lavey swept up the field which ended with a point from Callum Maguire to leave the scores at 2-9 to 0-12 - with Lavey’s hopes of an ambush now growing.

However, any thoughts that Lavey might force the contest to extra-time were truly extinguished when McDermott coolly slotted to the net in injury time after good work from Connolly in a breakaway attack which ensured that the league title silverware deservedly went the way of Ballinagh.

Ballinagh: Fionn Keating, Aaron Reilly, Philip Bogue, Cormac Timoney, Niall O’Reilly (1-0), Evan Finnegan (0-1), Ronan Connolly, David Finnegan (0-1), Eamon McEvoy (0-2, 2f), Damien Reilly, Kevin Smith (0-3, 3f), Thomas Smith, Tristan Graham (1-0), Niall McDermott (1-0), Shane Finnegan (0-2).

Subs: Killian Fay for Shane Finnegan; Cathal Bogue for Thomas Smith; Xabi McCaffrey for Tristan Graham, Niall Robinson for Eamon McEvoy

Lavey: Dean McCabe, Oran Daly, Liam Maguire, James McBreen (0-1), Finn Buckley, Gerard Smith (0-2, 1m) Daragh Tierney, Callum Maguire (0-3), Darren Jordan, Darragh Conaty, Aaron McCabe (0-1), Thomas Plunkett (0-2), James Sheridan, Shane Tierney (0-3, 2f), Ronan King.

Subs: Oisin Tynan for Darren Jordan (0-1); Peter Smith for James Sheridan.