Sean strikes late for Balto
O’Brien kills off Éire Óg
BALTINGLASS ensured they held on to their Senior crown for a while longer thanks to a pulsating final quarter against a gallant Éire Óg team in Aughrim.
Having trailed for almost the entire game up until the 45th minute, they outscored their opponents 1-4 to 0-2 to graft out a tough win which will stand to them in their semi-final showdown with Rathnew.
County star Darren Hayden was full of early running for the Greystones men and opened the scoring from a free with 90 seconds on the clock.
He would play a big part in their second score with a fine run and pass to Jamie McDonald to slot over after Éire Óg intercepted a wayward Baltinglass free on their own 21.
At the other end, Dan Kelly settled Baltinglass into the fixture with a fine score and a couple of frees, but sandwiched in between was the first of several pieces of magic in the fixture.
Craig Smullen got on the end of some neat Éire Óg play and he found a massive gap to run into, he passed to Enda King whose lobbed effort was tipped by Jackson but Daniel Keane was on hand to poke home a deserved goal for his side.
Greystones extended their lead from the impressive Daniel Woods after Stephen Kelly found a gap through the middle again and provided support with a lung busting run after a quick free from Hayden.
Baltinglass kept chipping away at the scoreboard with Éire Óg defending very well and a long range John McGrath effort was the pick of the bunch.
With some exceptional pieces of skill at either end, Enda King’s dummy solo allowed Liam Maguire the time to chip over a point of his own before Baltinglass struck for goal.
Having worked the ball into the full-forward line and finding their progress blocked, the ball was fed across to Peader Burke who avoided a tackle and had time to progress into goal and slot calmly under Lorcan Treanor and into the net.
Éire Óg almost responded immediately through a trademark Hayden burst but his effort was just over the crossbar.
Game on after an electrifying couple of minutes.
Danny Woods provided an enthralling opening half with picking sublime passes to colleagues and kicking some wonderful scores of his own and linked up with the problematic Daniel Keane throughout the opening half for a number of Keane’s scores and assists on the day.
A free from Mark Jackson brought the opening half to its conclusion with a worthy two-point lead for the Greystones men.
Adam McHugh and Dan Kelly brought parity with two fine frees to open the second half but Hayden struck a free for himself and Woods and Keane again linked up for the latter to fire over to keep the Greystones men ticking over.
With considerable size around the middle section of the field on both sides, Baltinglass sprung Mikey English from the bench to shore up the middle after losing three consecutive kick outs.
In the opening period, Éire Óg turned over huge amounts of Baltinglass possession, with Stephen Kelly accounting for over half his side’s total.
In the following 18 minutes, it would be Billy Cullen and Ian Sheerin coming to the fore for their side and winning loose ball.
Cullen was employed as a sweeper for Paul Garrigan’s side and was Baltinglass’ leading light in the opening period and continued on this vein in the second.
Dan Kelly and the accurate John McGrath brought the game level for a third time before Sean O’Brien, who was being extremely well shackled by Éire Óg, won two balls in a row and fired a score for himself and helped set up Jason Kennedy for a rousing score to give Baltinglass a two-point lead.
Danny Woods fired over a magnificent long range point to bring his side back to one but tired bodies were beginning to come evident for Éire Óg who had members playing hurling the day prior and involved in fixtures for almost every weekend in September thus far including replays.
With that in mind, Tom and Pat Burke seen an increase in their running in the second period straight at the heart of Greystones and on one such run from Tom, the ball was worked to an unmarked O’Brien who had ghosted around the back of the Eire Óg defence and fired home low around Treanor.
O’Brien can be lethal in situations as this and needs one sniff to find a goal chance similar to last year’s county final.
Dan Kelly added a point from play and a free to open a six-point gap and it seemed Baltinglass were going to survive this scare with them defending tirelessly with every long ball into their goal mouth.
Dan Keane concluded the scoring on the day but it is Baltinglass who march on in their defence of Miley after two encounters with Eire Óg which will aid them in their pursuit.
Scorers: Baltinglass – Dan Kelly (0-7, 4 frees), Sean O’Brien (1-1), Peader Burke (1-0), John McGrath (0-3), Adam McHugh, Mark Jackson (0-1 frees each), Jason Kennedy (0-1)
Eire Óg: Daniel Keane (14), Daniel Woods (0-3), Darren Hayden (0-3, 2 frees), Liam Maguire, Jamie McDonald (0-1 each)
Baltinglass: Mark Jackson, Alan Nolan, Tommy Murphy, Billy Cullen, Pat Burke, Ian Sheerin, Tom Burke, Peader Burke, Jason Kennedy, Adam McHugh, Dan Kelly, John McGrath, Conor Keogh, Sean O’Brien, Conor Heaslip. Subs: Mikey English for Keogh, Henry Sinnott for Heaslip, Brian Nolan for Peader Burke, Cian Lee for Heaslip
Eire Óg: Lorcan Treanor, Liam Maguire, Leon Browne, Peter Keane, Darren Hayden, Stephen Kelly, Eoin McHugh, Justin O’Brien, Pearse Kelly, Jamie McDonald, Daniel Woods, Daniel Keane, Sean Lawless, Enda King, Craig Smullen. Subs: Fintan O’Shea for McDonald, Dominic O’Brien for McHugh, Johnny O’Donoghue for D Keane, Dominic O’Reilly for King, Billy Cuddihy for P Kelly, D Keane for O’Donoghue.
Referee: Kieron Kenny (Tinahely)