Butler adds to mix
Bannow-Ballymitty hammer Hogues
BANNOW-B’MITTY BALLYHOGUE 1-15 0-5 A LOT has changed for both clubs, with more negatives than positives, since Bannow-Ballymitty pipped Ballyhogue by a point to reach the Senior football championship semi-finals back in 2009.
Both have more modest ambitions now, but on the evidence of Saturday’s action in Innovate Wexford Park, the red and blacks are the only ones going in the right direction.
Bannow-Ballymitty’s comprehensive 13-point win leaves them odds-on to secure one of the quarter-final places from Group A of the Ashdown Park/Amber Springs Hotels Intermediate football championship, whereas Ballyhogue simply must beat Clongeen in their last game to have any chance of advancing.
There is the possibility that all three will finish with four points apiece, but in that scenario Bannow-Ballymitty look to be in the driving seat with the best scoring difference by 14 points.
This result also confirmed that St. Joseph’s will contest the relegation final from this group, regardless of how they do in their last game against the beaten finalists of 2015 who simply obliterated a very poor Ballyhogue side on this occasion.
The acquisition of county player Kieran Butler from Geraldine O’Hanrahans has undoubtedly given them something extra, with the full-forward contributing four points and a further two assists in an eye-catching display.
Bannow-Ballymitty only trailed once, when Ballyhogue captain Edward Galavan pointed inside two minutes, but they never looked back after a speculative Ben Brosnan kick hopped in front of Myles Roche and went over for the equaliser.
A Brosnan free gave them a lead they would never relinquish in the seventh minute and, aided by the wind on a miserable evening, they cut loose to open up a healthy gap of 1-10 to 0-3 by the interval.
A brace from Butler plus efforts from Mark Sinnott and John Sinnott made it 6-1, with the latter blazing over from a goal chance at the end of a move started by netminder Philly Murphy in the 17th minute.
Ballyhogue briefly stopped the rot with points from Shane Murphy and a fisted Dylan Dalton effort, but that was the one and only time for the blue and whites to manage a brace of scores in succession.
Bannow-Ballymitty really hammered home their advantage in the last ten minutes of the half via an unanswered 1-4, with the goal palmed in by Mark Sinnott after Kieran Butler fed the lively Niall Harney who rounded Richard Dunne and provided an inviting pass across the square.
Conor Neville, Harney, John Sinnott and Harney (’45) extended the gap to ten points by the break, with a Ben Brosnan goal attempt saved by Myles Roche while Sinnott fired a later effort wide.
Ballyhogue were expected to come up with some response with the elements in their favour, but their efforts were pathetic. Not alone did they fail to kick a point for 20 minutes, they didn’t even manage a shot at goal resulting in a first wide of the half until the end of the third quarter.
By that stage the leaders had tacked on another point from Butler while both sides were reduced to 14 men when Micheál Murphy (Bannow-Ballymitty) and Ballyhogue substitute Kevin Ring saw red after a brief flashpoint.
Shane Doyle, who started the second-half on the ’40 and finished at full-forward, did force county colleague Philly Murphy into a decent save in the 47th minute, with Niall Harney increasing the gap to twelve before a Noel Roche free finally got the ’Hogues - minus county player Syl Byrne - back in a scoring groove, their first point in half an hour.
Butler and two Harney placed balls completing the winners’ tally, with the only Ballyhogue point from play after the break arriving from Shane Doyle 35 seconds from the end of normal time.
Bannow-Ballymitty: Philly Murphy; John Staples, Niall Murphy, M.J. Doran; Conor Neville (0-1), Art Sweetman, Nicky Doyle; John Sinnott (capt., 0-2), David Currid; Micheál Murphy, Niall Harney (0-5, 2 ’45s, 1 free), Ben Brosnan (0-2, 1 free); Mark Sinnott (11), Kieran Butler (0-4), Graham Sinnott. Subs. - Darren Sinnott for M. Sinnott (42), Richie Walsh for G. Sinnott (48), Gary Morton for Brosnan (57).
Ballyhogue: Myles Roche; Tony Ryan, Seán Rochford, James Parle; Arthur Dunne, Richard Dunne, Graham Parker; Shane Byrne, Shane Doyle (0-1); Mick Condon, Edward Galavan (capt., 0-1), Shane Murphy (0-1); Dylan Dalton (0-1), Seán Ring, Noel Roche (0-1 free). Subs. - Kevin Ring for Condon (24), Condon for S. Ring (45).
Referee: (Clonard). Barry Redmond