Crosserlough ease into last four

Senior Football Championship quarter-final

Crosserlough 3-15

Ballinagh 0-5

Crosserlough continued their unbeaten run with a comprehensive win over Ballinagh in this one-sided quarter-final.

With the middle game of three to be played in Kingspan Breffni on Sunday being moved to the 3G pitch, there was a worry that this one could be postponed but after a pitch inspection, referee John Emo was happy to allow it to go ahead. Crosserlough came into the match as strong favourites and wore the tag comfortably as they lead from the 12th minute to the final whistle.

Ballinagh, who survived a relegation play-off last year were in some people’s eyes in bonus territory, but a 19-point defeat and only scoring one point from open play across the hour will disappoint the team. With Jimmy Higgins’s side installed as front runners to lift the Oliver Plunkett cup neutrals were looking to spot a chink in the armour, but this game failed to expose any of note.

The Crosserlough squad appears to be getting stronger with youngsters Harry Boylan and Oran Rehill contributing 2-3 between them in a star-studded forward line. At the back, Fionn Lovett continues to blot out some of the best forwards in the county while Thomas Byrd has quietly made the number one spot his own with four clean sheets in the championship so far.

Ballinagh, playing with the wind at their backs in the first half, opened the scoring after six minutes with a free from the 45-metre line by Niall McDermott. With conditions very difficult, McDermott would miss two long-range frees for Ballinagh while Crosserlough ran in a goal and five points without reply.

A Patrick Lynch free in the left corner opened the scoring for Crosserlough a minute later. It took another five minutes for the scoreboard to change when Harry Boylan played a on- two before raising a white flag from just inside the Ballinagh D. Before the end of the first quarter, Emmett Boylan supplied an accurate kick pass for the sliding Oran Rehill, who converted the resulting attacking mark.

With 16 minutes on the clock, Patrick Lynch drew in the Ballinagh defenders with a powerful run along the left end-line before slipping a hand pass to Harry Boylan who blasted to the far corner of the net. Lynch’s point from an acute angle kept Crosserlough on the front foot with 10 minutes remaining in the half.

A minute later Cian Boylan acted as a pivot point for Emmett Boylan’s one-two which lead to his first point for the evening, giving Crosserlough a seven-point lead. With four minutes to go to the break, Kevin Smith went short to Kyle Tyler with a 45 for Tyler to split the posts ending a 20 minute spell without a Ballinagh score.

Crosserlough had to deal with a minor bump in the road on the 28th minute when Peter Smith was shown a black card for a diving ankle tap on Kyle Tyler. Patrick Lynch’s third point of the evening from a free a minute into injury time showed they could handled the loss of Smith as they outscored Ballinagh two points to one in his absence. Niall McDermott converted a free after Kevin Smith was fouled to leave the half-time score 1-6 to 0-3.

The black and yellows came out after half-time in the mind to finish the game off as quickly as possible with the wind behind them. Brandon Boylan almost bagged their second goal early on, but the Ballinagh keeper Fionn Keating pulled of a super save to deny. Dara McVeety popped up with a point from wing back before a beautiful piece of anticipation by Brandon Boylan allowing the ball to bounce by him to get himself goal side of his marker to curl the ball over the bar.

A rare right-footed point from Emmett Boylan kept the Crosserlough side of the scoreboard ticking over and when Harry Boylan gathered a Patrick Lynch effort dropping short to set up Oran Rehill for a tap over point Crosserlough held a ten point lead.

Emmett Boylan and Kevin Smith traded frees before Crosserlough but the game to bed with a goal and three points in a row. Lynch converted a free won by Peter Smith before Brandon Boylan played a one two with Dara McVeety to create the space for his second point of the game.

As the final quarter began Patrick Lynch sent a long range free goalward and with no small slice of luck it found it’s way into the back of the Ballinagh net. Brandon Boylan’s converted attacking mark pushed Crosserlough into a 16 point lead with 11 minutes remaining.

A free from Niall McDermott with five minutes to go became Ballinagh’s second score of the half and their final of the game. Two minutes later Emmett Boylan brought his personal tally to four-points with a free as the game fizzled out. A minute into injury-time Harry Boylan broke through to face off with Fionn Keating and faked a shot at goal before selflessly playing in Oran Rehill for a palmed goal to put the cherry on top of a dominant Crosserlough performance.

Crosserlough: Thomas Byrd, John Cooke, Patrick O’Reilly, Fionn Lovett, Peter Smith, Cian Boylan, Dara McVeety(0-1), Conor Rehill, Emmett Boylan(0-4,2f), Harry Boylan(1-1), Patrick Lynch(1f-4,3f), Darren Gaffney, Oran Rehill(1-2,1m), Stephen Smith, Brandon Boylan(0-3,1m)

Subs: Shane McManus for P Lynch, Adrian Smith for S Smith, Ryan Galligan for P Smith, David Shalvey for J Cooke, Mark Stuart for D McVeety

Ballinagh: Fionn Keating, Niall Robinson, Patrick Carroll, Aaron Reilly, Damien Reilly, Evan Finnegan, Ronan Connolly, David Finnegan, Cormac Timoney, Kyle Tyler(0-1), Niall McDermott(0-3f), Thomas Smith, Patrick O’Brien, Kevin Smith(0-1f), Shane Finnegan

Subs: Peter Donohoe for K Tyler, Triston Graham for A Reilly, Odhrán Keating for N Robinson, Fergus Bogue for S Finnegan

Ref: John Emo