Ballincollig strike thrice to see off battling ’Barrs

THERE was little to indicate Ballincollig were destined to run out such convincing winners over St Finbarrs at the half way stage of the county SFC Round 1 clash at Pairc Uí Rinn last Saturday evening.

Having failed to score since the 21st minute and conceded four points on the trot, the Mid-Cork men trailed by 1-7 to 1-6 at the interval, which meant the momentum was with the Barrs heading into the second half.

Within seven minutes of the resumption, however, Ballincollig were firmly in the driving seat after bagging 1-4 without reply from the losers, and they comfortably held the whip-hand from there to the finish, serving up a performance that confirmed they are one of the leading contenders for the title they won for the first time in 2014.

Full-forward Cian Dorgan featured prominently in their whirlwind start to the second half, firing over three points before Paddy Kelly sent their prospects soaring when grabbing a goal in the 35th minute.

It was a fortuitous strike in that Kelly appeared to be happy to settle for a point after taking a pass from John Miskella, but his effort was partially blocked by a Barrs defender, with the result that the ball dipped under the crossbar.

While Ballincollig enjoyed the rub of the green then, there could be no disputing they were by far the superior side for the rest of the match, as they stretched their advantage to 3-15 to 1-9, courtesy of a goal from Ian Coughlan, who touched home a probing Cian Dorgan lob, in the 55th minute.

They started most impressively in the first half as well, with Dorgan getting them off the mark within seconds of the throw-in, and Sean Kiely, wing-forward Eoin O’Reilly, twice, and Dorgan, from a free, on target as they moved 0-5 to 0-1 ahead inside eight minutes.

Kiely and Ciaran O’Sullivan dominated at midfield during the opening exchanges when Dorgan, Kelly, Coughlan and the ubiquitous Miskeall showed obvious potential up front.

The Barrs received a badly-needed boost in the 19th minute when Ian O’Callaghan gathered Dylan Quinn’s delivery from behind Ballincollig full-back Liam Jennings to shoot an equalising goal, but it was quickly negated by Ian Coughlan, who was left with the simple task of fisting the ball to the net from close range after Miskella and Kelly had combined to create the opening.

Ballincollig were still three points to the good, 1-6 to 1-3, after lively corner-back Colin Moore surged upfield to play a one-two with wing forward Kevin Browne before posting a stunning point in the 21st minute and they seemed to be playing a little within themselves at that juncture.

With Ian Maguire more involved at midfield, the Barrs finished the first half strongly, however, and they should have got back on terms in the 29th minute when Ian O’Callaghan failed to convert a simple chance from a free.

They were effectively gifted two late points after Ballincollig ‘keeper Jack Gibbons was penalised for delaying a kick-out and the ensuing throw-in yielded a score from Paul Harte, with Ian O’Callaghan slotting over another from a free, resulting from a pickup off the ground by the winners’ centre-back Noel Galvin.

All things considered, the Barrs weren’t flattered to lead by the minimum at the interval, as they had clocked up six wides, three more than Ballincollig, during the opening half.

Along with Ian Maguire, defenders Ross O’Dwyer, Sam Ryan and Dylan Quinn were others to make their presence felt for the Barrs towards the end of the first half when centre-forward Enda Dennehy was regularly seen to good effect in a cohesive attack that posed a share of problems for the Ballincollig rearguard.

Cian Dorgan cut loose at the start of the second half to take the wind from the Barrs’ sails, chipping in with four points, three from play, during Ballincollig’s flourish on the turnover.

Having transformed a onepoint deficit into a six-point lead, Ballincollig never looked back, and, in truth, they held all the aces after the interval when Sean Kiely and Ciaran O’Sullivan were hugely influential at midfield, with the latter landing three exquisite scores to embellish his five-star display

Colin Moore, Cian Kiely and Liam Jennings were very much to the fore as the Ballincollig defence tightened up to such an extent that the Barrs failed to raise a flag from play in the second half, while the attack functioned with immense fluency and conviction as a unit.

All of which meant that the Barrs, who were forced to field without seasoned defender Michael Shields and key attacker Stephen Sherlock due to injury, were completely overwhelmed by last year’s defeated finalists.