Baltinglass in flying form
Big victory over Coolboy
BALTINGLASS COOLBOY 5-13 0-6
THE Baltinglass stranglehold on Group 1 of the Junior ‘A’ football championship tightened significantly on Friday evening last when they put a depleted Coolboy to the sword in impressive fashion in Joule Park Aughrim.
Missing the likes of James and Michael Gregan, Adam Barnes and PJ Mulhall was never going to make it any easier for Keith Byrne’s men against this very well organised Baltinglass outfit, but it might have assisted them on the scoreboard where they suffered badly.
And while they couldn’t post a decent tally at one end, they couldn’t stop Henry Sinnott and his attacking colleagues at the other as they posted 5-13 – Sinnott with 1-5 from play – to secure total dominance of the group and mark themselves out as serious contenders for the title in what will be a very competitive battle from the quarter-final stage onwards.
The writing was on the wall for Coolboy in the early stages despite them taking the lead in the opening minute through a Wayne Kinsella point.
Robin Farrell would go wide off the outside of the right boot, Jack Timmins would point a free after a foul on Henry Sinnott who would point himself after seven minutes and a wayward kickout would cost Coolboy dear when the ball was worked to impressive full-forward Mark Ashton who rifled home the first of his two goals for the evening to put Baltinglass into a 1-2 to 0-1 lead after eight minutes.
They led by 2-6 to 0-3 at the break, Coolboy proving stunted in attack while Aaron Phelan gathered a short Will Rogers free to fire home to the back of Gavin O’Brien’s net. Keith Byrne’s side’s scores would come from their midfielders Wayne Kinsella and Dan Nolan while Henry Sinnott (2) and Jack Timmins (2) put Baltinglass in control at the break.
There was a brief rally from the Coolboy men after the break with points from Wayne Kinsella (free) and Aaron Kinsella but a fine goal from Jack Timmins, another Henry Sinnott point and Mark Ashton’s second goal by the 12th minute of the second half left Baltinglass with the unassailable lead of 4-7 to 0-6.
From here on in it was all Baltinglass as they added another 1-7, Henry Sinnott with 1-1, and points from Aaron Phelan (one), Jack Timmins (three) and Tommy Murphy (one) while Fabian Dunne had a penalty saved by Gavin O’Brien and his rebound whacked off the crossbar and was cleared by the Coolboy defence.
Scorers – Baltinglass: Jack Timmins 1-6 (2f), Henry Sinnott 1-5, Mark Ashton 2-0, Aaron Phelan 1-1, Tommy Murphy 0-1.
Coolboy: Wayne Kinsella 0-3 (2f), Dan Nolan 0-1, Aaron Kinsella 0-1, Johnny Willoughby 0-1.
Will Rogers; Paul Colgan, James Keane, Fabian Dunne; James Tyrrell, Tommy Cullen, Michael Dowling; Tommy Murphy, Tadgh O’Toole; Jason Sinnott, Henry Sinnott, Robin Farrell; Jack Timmins, Mark Ashton, Aaron Phelan.
Gavin O’Brien; Garreth Gregan, Anthony Holly, Enda Gethings; Jonathan Smyth, Aaron Kinsella, Bradley Walsh; Dan Nolan, Wayne Kinsella; Damien O’Keeffe, PJ O’Keeffe, Dean Grandy; Niall O’Keeffe, Johnny Willoughby, Stephen Carter. Subs: Adam Doyle for J Smyth, David Tighe for A Holly.
VALLEYMOUNT KNOCKANANNA 4-16 2-3
VALLEYMOUNT showed that they can mount a serious challenge in the Boom Platform Hire Junior ‘A’ Championship with a comprehensive 19-point victory over Knockananna in Roundwood on Sunday evening.
Both sides came into the clash on the back of six-point wins in the previous round of games. Valleymount overcame Barndarrig whereas Knockananna defeated Newcastle in Pearse Park.
The victors started off like a house on fire with two goals inside the opening five minutes.
The first of these came after William Kavanagh played Mark Carroll through on goal after a lovely hand pass over the top, who then finished low past keeper Sean Canna.
Canna was beaten again two minutes later after Valleymount captain Steven Byrne blasted the ball into the top left corner.
It was one-way traffic early doors, with the side looking very confident in possession and not afraid to take on defenders.
William Kavanagh was running the show in the opening stages as he had a lot of the ball early on and used it well.
Knockananna struggled under the high ball as their opposition leaped highest on most occasions.
They also failed to create any openings as they couldn’t get the ball up to their full forwards with Valleymount defending strongly particularly Robbie Behan, who held firm throughout.
Fifteen minutes in and it was 2-6 to no score. At this stage it looked as if Valleymount could score a lot more.
Knockananna were dealt another punch in the stomach as referee Pat Hickey awarded the leaders a penalty. Patrick O Keeffe barged over Mark Carroll as he was about to take a shot at goal, receiving a yellow card for his misery. Declan Cahill stepped up to take the spot kick to which he confidently slotted into the bottom right.
This goal put Valleymount 17 points up, the game subsequently decided.
Knockananna just couldn’t cope with the attacking threat that Valleymount possessed.
They finally registered their first point five minutes from the break as Lorcan Tyrrell put over a long range free.
They hadn’t many other opportunities in the half, with just three wides and two points, another free from Tyrrell.
The scores were 3-9 to 0-2 as referee Pat Hickey blew his half time whistle. Valleymount were well worth their big advantage as they stunned Knockananna with their two early goals.
Knockananna came out for the second half with a little more fire in their bellies as they started strongly.
They hit the net with 30 seconds gone in the half as Edward Bracken palmed the ball past goalie Paul Miley, who had practically no action to deal with in the first period.
He was busy early on as he conceded another goal a couple of minutes later after Lorcan Tyrrell’s deflected effort found its way into the back of the net.
They added another point from Bracken to pull the game back to within nine points.
But unfortunately for the side, this was the end of the scoring on their part.
Valleymount had quite a slack start to the half, allowing Knockananna to within that distance of them will disappoint the outfit. They also only pointed once in the first 15 minutes of the half.
There was a flurry of yellow cards in the second period as Pat Hickey was kept busy.
Knockananna again struggled to create chances, although a couple of frees from Lorcan Tyrrell went well astray of the goal. They registered just five wides in the bout compared to Valleymount’s 11.
Valleymount did add several good scores late on in the game as Liam Miley, Mark Carroll and Stephen Flanagan all added to their sides point tally to pull away from the opponents.
Valleymount did get their fourth goal with virtually the last kick of the game.
Captain Steven Byrne got his second of the clash with a well placed finish past the unfortunate Canna.
A resounding triumph in the end for Valleymount who will look to push on and mount a challenge in this year’s championship.
Final Score: Valleymount 4-16 Knockananna 2-3
Scorers: Valleymount – Steven Byrne 2-2; Mark Carroll 1-4 (2f); Declan Cahill 1-2; William Kavanagh 0-2 (1f); Liam Miley 0-2; Mick Richardson 0-1; James Fitzpatrick 0-1; Brian Flynn 0-1; Stephen Flanagan 0-1.
Knockananna – Lorcan Tyrrell 1-2 (2f); Edward Bracken 1-1.
Valleymount: Paul Miley; Robbie Behan, Steven Cahill, Darragh Browne; Jamie Miley, Stephen Flanagan, Shane Browne; William Kavanagh, Liam Miley; Brian Miley, Declan Cahill, Mark Carroll; James Fitzpatrick, Steven Byrne, Mick Richardson. Subs: Glen Cullen for B Miley (HT); Brian Flynn for Cahill (HT); Shay Geoghegan for J Miley (33 mins); Shane Hughes for Richardson (47 mins).
Knockananna: Sean Canna; Patrick O Keeffe, Arron O Neill, Declan Whelan; Reid Byrne, Garry Bradley, Noel Byrne; Tristan Maher, Padraig Lancaster; Alan Doyle, Anthony Tracey, Edward Bracken; Joseph Byrne, Lorcan Tyrrell, Kevin Tyrrell. Subs: Keith Corrigan for J Byrne (15 mins); Dylan Tracey for A Tracey (20 mins); Alan Byrne for N Byrne (HT); William Whelan for K Tyrrell (58 mins).
Referee: Pat Hickey