Stars shine with convincing win over Ballinagh

SFC round 2

Kingscourt Stars 3-13

Ballinagh 1-11

Kevin Óg Carney at Kingspan Breffni

Kingscourt Stars underlined their intention to have a significant say in this year’s SFC title race by impressing last Saturday evening at Kingspan Breffni.

The Blues left the Saffrons with nothing to show for their gutsy efforts by producing a very economical, at times classy, and wholehearted performance.

While Kingscourt didn’t always push the right buttons, an outstanding 20-minute shift either side of the half-time break proved too potent a cocktail for their hard working opponents to imbibe.

In what was an intriguing and entertaining contest, Kingscourt took just 38 seconds to open their account with Seán Burke arrowing the ball over the bar.

After a prolonged bout of sparring, Ballinagh’s impressive number seven Ronan Connolly went on an over-lapping run in the 11th minute, engineering a half-goal chance in the process but he took his point.

The game continued to be a nip and took affair with Niall McDermott’s attentive policing of Padraig Faulkner an interesting cameo.

McDermott’s lead point (0-3 to 0-2) in the 17th minute was the cue though for Kingscourt to kick-start a purple patch which included an inspirational opening goal.

Jordan Morris had angled over a neat effort - after a peach of a crossfield ball by Burke – and then Barry Reilly posted a fine free before Kingscourt hit the jackpot when Ciarán Dermody received a fisted pass from an almost prostrate Joe Dillon and in a jiffy planted the ball in the Ballinagh net from 16 metres.

Dermody’s delightful finish left Ballinagh facing into a 0-3 to 1-4 deficit with 23 minutes on the clock and, slowly but surely, it became increasingly obvious that the Saffrons just didn’t possess the same firepower to reel in the Stars’ lead.

The Stars were immediately on the front foot at the start of the second half with the steady influence of midfielders Alan Clarke and Seán Burke again evident from the throw-in as they set up Barry Tully for an excellent point 28 seconds into the second half.

Ballinagh remained focused on hanging in there but after Damien Reilly slipped Kevin Smith through (38) on goal, the latter rifled his shot over, rather than under, the bar, albeit under pressure from the diving Alan Clarke.

Disaster struck for the chasing team just three minutes later when Jordan Morris took supreme advantage of a mix-up in the Ballinagh full-back line to screw the ball to the net, soccer-style.

Morris’s skilful finish left the words game, set and match loitering with intent but Ballinagh faced into their 0-6 to 3-9 deficit with bravery, resilience and a no-surrender attitude.

The chasing team showed they had more in the tank than maybe their own partisan support might have thought and Niall McDermott almost nabbed a consolation goal in the 46th minute but Padraig Faulkner dived to deflect his goal bound effort at the expense of a ’45 which was converted by Thomas Smith.

McDemott and company stuck at it and when Ronan Connolly’s shot (49)from six metres found the Kingscourt net via the butt of the post, suddenly the Stars looked less than comfortable.

With ten minutes of normal time left to play, Kingscourt’s lead was reduced to seven points (3-10 to 1-9) and four minutes later Evan Finnegan’s pin-point effort left just two scores – albeit goals – separating the sides.

Ballinagh gave it their all down the back straight and the fact that most of the action was centered in the blue half of the field in the run-in fairly reflected the balance of play as the game raced to a conclusion.

To Ballinagh’s chagrin, the Stars had more than enough in the tank to see out the game with the likes of Alan Clarke, Padraig Faulkner and Jordan Morris buffers and thorns in equal measure on behalf of the blues.

Kingscourt Stars: James Farrelly; Cathal McKeown, Padraig Faulkner, Ciarán Roe; Barry Tully (0-2), Paddy Meade, Odhrán Cunningham (1-0); Shane Duffy, Seán Burke (0-1); Ciarán Dermody (1-1), Barry Reilly (0-5, 5f), Kevin Curtis; Jordan Morris (1-3), Alan Clarke, Joe Dillon (0-1).

Subs; Cian Shekleton for B Reilly; Patrick Farrelly for O Cunningham; Conrad Martin for K Curtis (inj); Padraig Donagh for S Duffy.

Ballinagh: Fionn Keating; Kyle Tyler, Patrick Carroll, Aaron Reilly; Damien Reilly (0-1), Evan Finnegan, Ronan Connolly (1-1); David Finnegan, Cormac Timoney; Philip Bogue, Niall McDermott (0-4, 4f), Thomas Smith (0-2,’ 45); Patrick O’Brien, Kevin Smith (0-2), Shane Finnegan (0-2, 1f).

Subs; Niall Robinson for P Bogue; Tristian Graham for K Tyler; Anthony Gaynor for S Finnegan; Blake Carty for P Carroll.