April 1st 2018
Mayo Senior Leauge Division 4
Ballintubber 3-16 Ballina 0-7
We made it two wins from two over Ballina this weekend as our Junior team kicked off their season in style with a superb win today in a chilly Ray Prendergast Memorial Park, in which all six of our starting forwards got on the scoreboard. This relatively young Junior side, under the stewardship of Jackie Heneghan, Michael Kerrigan and Gerry Dillon showed that there is plenty of talent in their ranks and will no doubt look to build on today’s victory.
Donning our white “away” jerseys, our juniors made their intent clear straight from the throw-in when full-forward Hugh Geraghty buried a low shot into the net after receiving a pass from the impressive youngster Ciarán Gavin, who gave an excellent all-round performance. Three more quick-fire points from the Abbeysiders followed to put us four points ahead after only three minutes. Ballina were then well and truly beaten when Darragh McGovern, on the anniversary of his winning goal for Ballinrobe Community School in the All-Ireland Schools “B” final, fired a looping shot from distance into the top corner of the Ballina net on fourteen minutes. Ballina did tack on five points before the break, but Ballintubber added four more singles to ensure an eight-point half-time lead.
Our attacking intent certainly didn’t waiver in the second half, with Ciarán Gavin kicking the pick of his four points in the first minute before Darragh McGovern added another single. Indeed, Gavin was unlucky not to crown a fine performance with a goal when he shot wide of the Ballina net shortly afterwards.
Eoin Heneghan was impressive at corner-forward in the third quarter with a well-executed ’45 followed by a brilliant finish into the roof of the net to raise our third green flag of the day. Substitute Paddy Burke chipped in with a point shortly after his introduction followed by a white flag from David McHale, who was superb at centre field. A point each from Darragh McGovern and James McGing towards full-time capped a comprehensive victory for this youthful Ballintubber side.
Ballintubber team that lined out: (1)Tom McGing (2)Oran Scully (3)Kevin Shannon (4)Michael Conway (5)Aaron Lally (6)Keith Coleman (7)John Kerrigan (8)Eoin Vahey (9)David McHale (0-1) (10)Ciarán Gavin (0-4) (11)Darragh McGovern (1-2) (12)Johnny Duffy (0-1) (13)James McGing (0-2) (14)Hugh Geraghty (1-1, 1f) (15)Eoin Heneghan (1-4, 1f, 1 ’45)
Substitutions used: Paddy Burke (0-1) for Ciarán Gavin, Liam Feeney for Aaron Lally, Niall Hession for Oran Scully, Dave Clarke for Hugh Geraghty, Cian Corcoran for Eoin Heneghan