U16 Boys West Mayo ‘B’ Semi-Final.
Monday 3rd September 2018
Kilmeena vs Ballintubber
Kilmeena travelled to Clogher to take on Ballintubber. At stake, a place in the West Mayo ‘B’ Final. On a pleasant sunny evening with just a light breeze, conditions were ideal for the game of football.
A game best described as ‘having a bit of everything..........’ - with passages of great play inter-dispersed with poor play, a missed penalty, a disallowed goal, lots of injuries/knocks/stoppages (leading to several minutes of injury time before the final whistle) and ultimately a win for Kilmeena by the narrowest of margins.
Ballintubber were first on the scoreboard, with a well taken point. Shortly afterwards, Ronan O’Donnell opened Kilmeena’s account with a point from play. In a scrappy opening period, the teams exchanged points to leave it 2 points to 3 points in favour of the home side.
Then on the 10 minute mark, following some good build-up movement, Sean Prenty took possession of a pass and drilled the ball to the back of the Ballintubber net. Over the next 10 minutes or so, Kilmeena built on this lead with further points from Ian Murphy, Chris McGlynn and Mikey Hastings. Ballintubber did keep the scoreboard ticking over too, with 2 points from play.
Just when it seemed like Kilmeena would retain a comfortable lead at the small whistle, Ballintubber scored a goal (on 27 minutes) and followed up with 2 further points. With the sides level in first half injury time, Kilmeena continued to work hard and were rewarded with the final point of the half from the boot of Kian Moore.
Half time score: Kilmeena; 1 – 8, Ballintubber; 1 – 7
Kilmeena began the second half with renewed vigour and a run at the Ballintubber defence yielded a free which Ronan O’Donnell duly converted. Ballintubber responded with a point from play.
And then, on the attack deep into Kilmeena territory, a Ballintubber player was brought down in the square – penalty kick for the home side. As Cathal Cawley focused, the Ballintubber penalty taker began his run, his strike and then the ball had deflected wide – off the upright (to great cheers from the travelling fans......). But Cawley had gone the right way, covering the gap into which the ball was targeted and so either way it was not to be at this juncture for Ballintubber.
Both teams continued to exchange points. Then at the mid-point of the second half, Sean Prenty got on the end of a good ball into the Ballintubber backline and goaled, only for the goal to be disallowed – ref deemed it a ‘square ball’.
Not deterred, Kilmeena pressed on but the next significant move came from the boot of a Ballintubber man; with a goal for the home side on the 20 minute mark. As in the first half, Ballintubber pressed the Kilmeena kickouts and notched up a couple of more scores.
The game was in the melting pot coming up the end of normal time, but there were 4 to 5 minutes of injury time (due to several second half stoppages). Both teams had chances to take the spoils in this period and it was Kilmeena who seized the opportunity with a wonderfully converted free from the boot of Ronan O’Donnell deep into injury time.
Ballintubber did have one final chance after this to level the game; when they were awarded a free. In or about 40 metres from the Kilmeena posts, it was always going to be a challenging kick and in the end Ballintubber’s effort went well wide.
And there it ended with the referee’s whistle – Kilmeena by one point.
Final score: Kilmeena; 1 – 15 Ballintubber; 2 - 11
West Mayo Final vs Breaffy on Tuesday 11th September, in Islandeady
The panel present this evening comprised of the following:
Cathal Cawley, Harry Sheridan, Adam Sheridan, Tom Smythe, Robbie Staunton, Ronan O’Donnell, Chris McGlynn, Kian Moore, Mark Hastings, Jason McGlynn, Ian Murphy, Mark Hastings, Sean Prenty, Ben Lennon, Chris McNally, Jack Walsh, Liam Moore, Rory Nolan, Daniel O’Malley