The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Dingle move off foot of Division 1A
DENNY DIVISION 1A
Ballyheigue Athletic 2 Dingle Bay Rovers 3
DINGLE Bay Rovers moved off the foot of the table at the KDL on Friday after a very impressive win over title chasing Ballyheigue Athletic.
The West Kerry club has been ravaged this season by the loss of key players who have immigrated or moved to other parts of the county and they have brought in a bunch of young players who have been improving with every game.
Players of the pedigree of Joe Sheehy, Luke Burgess, Sean Fitzgerald, Sean O’Connor and Donnacha Higgins are very difficult to replace but the management duo of Dan Maunsell and Martin O’Neill have put their trust on the up and coming young players and they are gelling together very nicely and play a nice brand of free-flowing football.
The club entered a Youth team this season and they are going very well in the league and the management hope some of these players will come through to play at senior level a few years down the road.
The West Kerry side enjoyed the assistance of a stiff wind in the first half and used their passing game very effectively at midfield and were finding openings in the Ballyheigue defence.
They started brightly and went ahead after seven minutes with a superbly crafted goal. They moved the ball quickly from midfield and Cian Wright used his speed to get around a defender and he rolled the ball inside the box to Tomas Lynch and he applied a great finish.
Then a free just outside the box gave Ballyheigue a good chance to level the game but Pa
McElligott’s shot low and wide of the right post.
Down the other end Tomas Lynch set up Danny Feehan just outside the box and his dipping shot was fractionally over the top.
Ballyheigue were only a whisker away from levelling the game on three occasions after this but Frankie Flaherty and Padraig Behan and Diarmuid Walsh efforts on goal were just inches at the wrong side of the post.
The seasiders had another decent chance just before half time with a free kick just outside the box but McElligott’s shot came off the defensive wall.
Ballyheigue must have been contented enough going in a goal down at half time as they would have the strong wind behind them in the second half.
However Dingle doubled their lead 7 minutes into the second hand when the Ballyheigue defence failed to deal with a free kick floated in from the sideline and when the ball broke loose Danny Feehan was quickest off the mark and drilled the ball to the net.
Ballyheigue pulled a goal back three minutes later after a defensive error at the back by Dingle when a back pass was left short gifted the ball to Kieran O’Connor and this was Manna from Heaven for the prolific goalscorer and with the Dingle goalie coming out he showed great composure drilling the ball across him and into the far corner of the net.
Now Ballyheigue began to pile on the pressure for an equaliser and brought on a number of substitutions.
While they forced a few corner kicks and free kicks they were finding it hard to break down a rock solid Dingle defence.
Dingle’s goalie Barry Galvin then had to go off with an injured foot and Ivan Parker took over in goals and the keeper was replaced by 16-year-old Oisin Smailes who went on to have a major impact in the game.
He had a chance to restore Dingle’s two-goal advantage in the 72nd minute when he used his lightening speed to get inside a defender but his shot from inside the box did not have the zip to beat the Ballyheigue goalie Darren Burns who made a comfortable save.
He was not to be denied five minutes later when Cian Wright and Danny Feehan done the ground work to create space for him inside the box and he smashed the ball to the back of the net.
To their credit Ballyheigue kept battling away and they were rewarded in the 88th minute after a corner kick by sub Jack Thornton found Diarmuid Walsh at the back post and he volleyed to the roof of the net.
In the six minutes of added time they done everything they could to try and engineer an equaliser but they never looked like getting it and Dingle ran out very deserving winners at the end.
Dingle will be delighted with the win as they lost their two opening games of the season and with games in hand over teams above them they have a chance to get much higher up the table if they can keep the momentum going after winning this game.
Ballyheigue played well below par but they should be in the mix for a place in the league final by the end of the season. BALLYHEIGUE ATHLETIC: Darren Burns, Paul Galloway (Mark Mulvihill 72), Jimmy O’Halloran, Pa McElligott, Philip Martin, Diarmuid Walsh, Michael Hudson (Jack Thornton 76), Sean Paterson (Dan Kinsella 76), Padraig Behan (Conor O’Sullivan 56), Franke Flaherty, Kieran Connor,
DINGLE BAY ROVERS: Barry Galvin (Oisin Smailes 57), Joe Saunders, David Smith, James Rusk, Ger Byrne, Naoise McGearalt, Cian Wright, Danny Feehan, Ivan Parker, Seamus Lynch, Tomas Lynch.