Ballinagh well on top against 14 man Castlerahan

With the beginning of storm betty on Friday night last, Ballinagh paid little attention to the terrible conditions as they ran out seven point winners over newly promoted Castlerahan. Despite the wind and driving rain a crowd of about 400 gathered for the opening round match which pitted two of the last three intermediate champions against each other.

Castlerahan will look to their double digit misses as one of the reasons for the loss but crucially the red card shown to Enda O’Connell after only five minutes left them chasing shadows for long periods. They also lost Jamie Reilly to a black card for ten minutes in the second half when they had to chase the game down two players.

Ballinagh at first appeared to be playing with the aid of the wind in the first half but Stephen Cooney’s point from distance after two minutes left everyone questioning what the wind was doing. From the resulting kick-out Fionn Keating drove the ball well into the Castlerahan half of the field and Shane Finnegan curled it over the bar.

With both sides determined to stamp their physicality on the game there were a few early flash points for referee John Emo to deal with. Niall McDermott edged Ballinagh in front before O’Connell’s red card. Castlerahan weren’t affected straight away by the sending off as they levelled the game through a Cian McCabe free on the nineth minute.

At the midway point in the half Karl Cosgrove played a one-two for a 40 meter free and split the posts to give Castlerahan back a one point lead. Cosgrove followed up a minute later with his second point off his left foot as Ballinagh struggled to figure out how to use their extra player.

A super free off the right boot from Shane Finnegan near the left side line ended Ballinagh’s 13 minute wait for a score and seemed to spark them into life. Evan Finnegan upon sight of the Castlerahan 45 meter line sent a shot over the bar to level the game with 10 minutes to go to half-time. Niall McDermott’s attacking mark a minute later saw Ballinagh take a lead which they never let slip.

Excellent work by Patrick O’Brien set up Damien Reilly for a point from 40 meters in the relentless rain but a foul on Oisin O’Connell saw Cian McCabe convert his second free of the night. Now full of confidence, Evan Finnegan sent over a second long range point for Ballinagh, but again a foul on O’Connell allowed McCabe to cancel it out at the other end.

The midfield battle was physical and honest with the majority of kick-outs going long. David Finnegan carried the ball through the middle to set up Niall McDermott for a simple tap over point which left Ballinagh holding a two point lead at the break.

Two early points at the start of the second half set Ballinagh up well to push on for the win. Damien Reilly used the outside of his right boot to raise the first white flag after the break. Evan Finnegan breaking out from the Ballinagh defense at pace kicked a beautiful 50 meter pass to Shane Finnegan for an attacking mark which he converted.

Castlerahan should have claimed the game's first goal after six second half minutes but Jamie Reilly couldn’t redirect Cian McCabe’s pass into the net. McCabe measured the wind brilliantly when he sent over a free from where the sideline meets the 20 meter line which closed the gap to three.

After Niall McDermott restored Ballinagh’s four point lead, Jamie Reilly received a black card meaning Castlerahan were down to 13 players until the 26th minute of the second half. Ronan Connolly was fouled for Shane Finnegan to send over his fourth point of the night before Patrick O’Brien was denied a goal by a brave Kieran Daly save.

A Niall McDermott free was matched by a mark from sub Enda Flanagan leaving the score 0-13 to 0-8 when Jamie Reilly returned to the field. Shane Finnegan crowned off a fine performance with his fifth point of the game to push Ballinagh into a six point lead.

The game was put beyond all doubt a minute into injury time when Kevin Smith hit the back of the Castlerahan net. The Ballyjamesduff based side did finish with two injury-time points from Enda Flanagan and Cian McCabe but they were little consolation at the final whistle.

Ballinagh team: Fionn Keating, Niall Robinson, Patrick Carroll, Aaron Reilly, Damien Reilly(0-2), Evan Finnegan(0-2), Ronan Connolly, David Finnegan, Philip Bogue, Kyle Tyler, Niall McDermott(0-5,2f,1m), Thomas Smith, Patrick O’Brien, Kevin Smith(1-0), Shane Finnegan(0-4,2f,1m). Subs used: Cormac Timoney for K Tyler, Kyle Tyler for A Reilly, Killian Fay for P Carroll Triston Graham for D Reilly.

Castlerahan team: Kieran Daly, Stephen Cooney(0-1), Sean Óg McGearty, Jamie Reilly, Jason O’Gorman, Oisin Kiernan, Conor Farrelly, David Wright, Cormac Daly, Enda O’Connell, Padraig McGahern, Karl Cosgrove(0-2), Oisin O’Connell, Cian McCabe(0-5f), Rory Smith. Subs used: Thomas McGearty for P McGahern, Enda Flanagan for C Farrelly, Eoin McCaul for R Smith.