Mayo U21A Football Championship - 1/4 Final
BALLINROBE 1-13 KNOCKMORE 1-11
BALLINROBE blew Knockmore away with a blistering second half performance last Sunday in which they scored an impressive 1-8 to seal a semi-final berth in the U21 ‘A’ Championship. With the rain sodden turf making for a match littered with fouls, it came as no surprise that the game was decided by free takers as Ballinrobe outscored Knock-more 0-9 to 0-7 from dead balls.
Knockmore started the match brightly, taking advantage of Ballinrobe’s visible edginess at the back by bagging three points in the opening six minutes thanks to the expert free taking abilities of Brian Ruttledge who was in red hot form from the off.
Ruttledge added a fourth to his tally swinging over a fine point from 30 metres out following some fine work by Kevin McLoughlin before Brian Timlin added another free to leave a lethargic looking Ballinrobe trailing 0-5 to 0-1 after 15 minutes.
It took a Ray McGreal free on 17 minutes to awaken the South Mayo men from their slumber. Sensing a turning of the tide, a greater sense of urgency developed in Ballinrobe’s play as they finished the first half much the stronger, adding a further three points to the scoreboard thanks to fantastic long range frees from the boot of Sean Burke to leave them trailing 0-7 to 0-5 at the break.
When McGreal added another free from the hands three minutes into the second half to reduce the gap to a single point, Knockmore began to look in serious trouble. With their once commanding lead eroded, it took county senior panellist Kevin McLoughlin to spark them back into life. Picking up the ball 35 metres out, he drove forward ploughing through the helpless Ballinrobe defence before squaring an inch perfect pass across the square to leave Thomas Langan with a simple finish for a goal.
Yet the ‘Robe were not done yet, and just five minutes later they reduced the deficit back to one point with an excellent Donal Vaughan goal who, following some fine work on the right wing by Conor Owens, picked up the ball and drove an unstoppable shot into the bottom left hand corner of John McHale’s net.
The goal seemed to give everyone on the Ballinrobe team an extra gear as they took complete control of the match adding a further four points without reply while Kevin Keane twice went close to adding a second goal, almost breaking Knockmore’s crossbar in the process.
The South Mayo side had done enough, even a late flurry of frees from Brian Ruttledge couldn’t save Knockmore as the hunger and desire of Ballinrobe proved to be enough to see them over the line.
Scorers - Ballinrobe: Sean Burke 0-6f, Donal Vaughan 1-1, Ray McGreal 0-4 (3f), Kevin Keane and Fergal Horan 0-1 each.
Knockmore: Brian Ruttledge 0-7 (6f), Thomas Langan 1-0, Brian Timlin 0-2 (0-1f), Justin Rice and Alan Loftus 0-1 each.
BALLINROBE: Martin Farragher; Eugene O’Malley, David McDonnell, James O’Malley; Conor Owens, Conor Keane, Phelim Reilly; Ray McGreal, Donal Vaughan; Mark Healy, Mark Burke, Shane Owens; Sean Burke, Brendan Butler, Kevin Keane Subs: Fergal Horan (for S Owens 21), Christopher Burke (for Reilly 46), Shane Owens (for M Burke 52), Phelim Reilly (for Horan 55).
KNOCKMORE: John McHale; Jason Clarke, Brian Gibbons, Justin Rice; Alan Loftus, Diarmuid Walsh, Alan Stadler; Daryl Herbert, Shane McHale; Francis O’Neill, Thomas Langan, Brian Timlin; James Ruddy, Kevin McLoughlin, Brian Ruttledge.
Subs: Keith Ruttledge (for O’Neill 40), James Horan (for Timlin 56).
Referee: Mel Kenny (Westport)
