Smith's spot kick helps Ballinagh advance

SFC round 4

Ballinagh 1-15

Lavey 1-13

Eddie Halligan at St Felim's Park

A Kevin Smith penalty eight minutes from time proved to be the decisive score that earned Ballinagh a place in the quarter-finals of the Kiernan’s Service Station SFC at the expense of Lavey in a hard fought yet entertaining encounter in St Felim’s Park Drumalee on Sunday afternoon last.

With a quarter-final place at stake and a chance to avoid the relegation play-offs, both teams released the shackles to serve up a thoroughly enjoyable 60 minutes of football with some fantastic score-taking as the game ebbed and flowed, with both teams enjoying periods of dominance throughout.

There was a clear competitive edge to the contest too as the carrot of securing their Senior Championship status inspired both sides to scrap for every breaking ball, resulting in plenty of tough tackling but in the end, it was Ballinagh’s greater experience and efficiency that saw them over the line.

Ballinagh, who had a reliance on placed kicks for scores in their last three previous championship outings, were outstanding in the first half as they hit a hot streak with 10 of the 11 scores all coming from play as the tight confines of St. Felim’s Park suiting the accuracy of the Ballinagh forwards. The majority of those brilliantly well taken scores were from approximately 40 yards from the Lavey goal, which resulted in Laveys defensive tactics being turned on its head as they appeared ‘caught on the hop’ by Ballinagh’s accuracy as they struggled to apply pressure on the different kickers from the Ballinagh men within that distance.

But Lavey, to their credit, remained in the hunt and despite being behind at 0-10 to 0-4 at one stage in the first half, they took the lead in the 43rd minute in the second half with a goal from the impressive James McBreen being the catalyst, but it was Ballinagh who finished the stronger with Smith’s penalty the pivotal moment in seeing the Saffrons sealing a quarter final place.

A Tristan Graham mark for Ballinagh and a well-worked Darren Jordan fisted point for Lavey opened the scoring for both teams but when Gerry Smith pointed after another patient move, it was the last time Lavey led in the half as Ballinagh grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck to assume control with the wind advantage.

Thomas Smith hit a rich vein form in the next few minutes when scorched over a beauty from 45 yards after good work from Evan Finnegan and directly from Dean McCabe’s kick-out, Smith won possession and rifled over another long-range score to nudge Ballinagh in front at 0-3 by 0-2 in the 5th minute.

Cormac Timoney swung over a brilliant score off the left boot just in front of the Ballinagh dugout and when Thomas Smith sailed over another wondrous strike from 40 yards, Ballinagh were in the ascendancy as Lavey looked ponderous.

Darren Jordan fisted over another score after a Gerry Smith assist, but Ballinagh were in no mood to relent and two almost identical points from Damian O’Reilly along the right wing had them 0-7 to 0-3 in front by the 13th minute.

Aaron McCabe responded briefly for Lavey, but Ballinagh continued to negotiate Lavey’s packed defence with ease as excellent long-range points from O Reilly, Ronan Connolly and Kevin Smith completely decimated the focal point of Lavey getting numbers back behind the ball as Ballinagh were firmly in control at 0-10 to 0-4.

However, despite being outplayed for the majority of the first half, Lavey did manage reclaim some ownership of the game’s proceedings in the remaining minutes as a curler from Finn Buckley and James McBreen brought the deficit back to four.

Kevin Smith rifled over another pearler from 50 yards, but despite their dominance, Ballinagh went into the dressing rooms only three in front as further points from Callum Maguire and a Gerry Smith free left the scores at the interval, 0-11 to 0-8, to bring a high quality first half to a close.

From the restart, it was Lavey who began with intent and two quickfire Gerry Smith points, including a free, narrowed the gap to one and when Niall McDermott briefly replied with a free, Lavey were then in front when McBreen strode through the Ballinagh defence to unleash a goalbound shot which took a deflection and sailed into the top corner of Fionn Keating’s net.

In stark contrast to the first half, it was Lavey who were now in control of the contest leading 1-10 to 0-12 as they dominated Keating’s kickout as the fluency of Ballinagh’s attack started to derail somewhat, but Lavey did kick some costly wides, five in total, within their period of dominance which gave Ballinagh energy and belief to haul themselves back into the contest.

Two McDermott frees sandwiched a Callum Maguire effort to level matters at 1-11 to 0-14, but Ballinagh had pressed up on McCabe’s kickouts which helped in reclaiming control around the middle eight and the key moment of the game arrived in the 52nd minute when McDermott was hauled to the ground by an overeager Lavey defence and Kevin Smith made no mistake from the penalty spot as a result.

That score ignited the confidence again within Ballinagh as another McDermott point, this time from play after a sweeping move, raised a huge roar from the Ballinagh contingence in the attendance which had them in front at 1-15 to 1-11 with minutes remaining.

Lavey probed again as they looked to snatch the game out of the fire, but they were perhaps unlucky not to get a penalty late on, however two late scores from Gerry and Peter Smith weren’t enough to deter Ballinagh from reaching the quarter-finals with Lavey consigned to the relegation play-offs as a result.

Ballinagh: Fionn Keating, Ronan Connolly (0-1), Patrick Carroll, Philip Bogue, Aaron Reilly, Cormac Timoney (0-1), Evan Finnegan, David Finnegan, Eamon McEvoy, Thomas Smith (0-3), Kevin Smith (1-2), Damian O Reilly (0-3), Tristan Graham (0-1, 1m), Niall McDermott (0-4, 3f), Shane Finnegan

Subs: Cathal Bogue for Shane Finnegan; Killian Fay for Aaron Reilly, Niall O Reilly for Damian O Reilly, Xabi McCaffrey for Kevin Smith

Lavey: Dean McCabe, Oran Daly, Paul Gilcreest, James McBreen (1-1), Liam Maguire, Gerard Smith (0-5, 2f), Finn Buckley (0-1), Callum Maguire (0-2), Thomas Plunkett, Ronan King, Darren Jordan (0-2), Darragh Conaty, Peter Smith (0-1), Aaron McCabe (0-1), Oisin Tynan

Subs: Adam Tierney for Oisin Tynan.