March 16th 2019 Kelly Cup Semi-Final
Ballintubber 0-8 Burrishoole 2-7
Our interest in the Kelly Cup was ended by Burrishoole in Islandeady today, with a pair of second half goals from the Clew Bay side proving enough to see them through comfortably. Despite an impressive first-half showing from the Red and White we were well off the pace in the second half, with wet and windy weather conditions doing us no favours. In the end we never came close to turning Burrishoole over as we only pointed twice in the second half.
A quartet of points from the Abbeysiders saw us take a three point lead after 11 minutes. It was in the first half that we played out best football, with young guns Keelan McDonnell and Stephen O’Malley pointing while Ciaran Gavin landed three white flags in his first outing of the season.
With us leading by a point at the break, Burrishoole were a different team in the second half. We were left reeling when they netted a goal after Tom McGing’s punched clearance fell in the direction of their corner-forward who soccer-styled to the back of the net.
From then on, we lost our shape as the men from the barony pointed two more unanswered scores. It wasn’t until the 16th minute that Alan Plunkett pointed our first score of the half before our opponents killed off the game when David Hanley slid a low shot home for their second goal, leaving the scores at 2-7 to 0-7 with less than fifteen minutes remaining.
Facing into a more defensive Burrishoole unit as sleet began to fall, we failed to find a way back into the game, with a solitary point from Padraig O’Connor at the death proving to be the only dent we could make in our opponents lead.
Attentions will no doubt now turn to the opening round of the Mayo Senior League, where we will once again lock horns with Breaffy with an almost full complement of Mayo players available to both sides.
Ballintubber team that lined out: (1)Tom McGing (2)Myles Kelly (3)Gary Loftus (4)Finian Bourke (5)Damien Coleman (6)Hugh Geraghty (7)Jarlath Staunton (8)Brian Walsh (9)Ciaran Gavin (0-3, 2f) (10)Keelan McDonnell (0-1) (17)Alan Plunkett (0-1) (12)Noel Geraghty (30)Jamsie Finnerty (14)Padraig O’Connor (0-1) (15)Stephen O’Malley (0-2, 2f)
Substitutions used: Seanie Larkin for Gary Loftus, John Kerrigan for Jarlath Staunton, Darragh McGovern for Jamsie Finnerty, Matthew Fox for Noel Geraghty, Gavin Roache for Keelan McDonnell, Kevin Shannon for Myles Kelly