Kilmac give themselves a glimmer of hope

KILMACANOGUE BALLINACOR 1-17 1-6

KILMACANOGUE gave themselves a glimmer of hope in qualifying for the knockout stages of the Intermediate Football Championship as they defeated 13-man Ballinacor by 11 points at Pearse’s Park on Sunday.

Referee Damien Byrne gave Ballinacor’s Michael Dowling and Stephen Dowling their marching orders during a game where they lacked discipline as they struggled to cope with their opponents on the day.

Byrne didn’t let the victors away with anything either as their midfielder Andrew Molloy received a black card before half-time.

The opening score came from full-forward Josh O’Callaghan but Ballinacor’s Paddy Byrne levelled immediately off his left.

Kilmac started the stronger as Ballinacor failed to get out of the blocks. Captain Simon Doyle was at the centre of most of his side’s good play. They, in fact, kicked three poor early wides to counteract their three scores, so they probably should have been much further ahead.

Ballinacor continued to struggle and were dealt a major blow as nine minutes in Michael Dowling was sent off after a poorly judged tackle in which he led with the elbow.

Lots of words were exchanged between both benches as Kilmacanogue were annoyed by Ballinacor’s aggressive style of play.

Aaron Creavin, Josh O’Callaghan and Michael Whelan all had two points on the board for Kilmacanogue before Sam O’Callaghan added a free.

This free came about after O’Callaghan had the ball in the net, but the goal was disallowed after an off the ball incident in the build-up, leading to the free being awarded.

Ballinacor were rarely first to the ball throughout the first half as they were more often than not caught on their heels.

They were struggling to get a grip of the game as some sloppy play led to them being caught on the break and were punished by a potent Kilmac attack.

Josh O Callaghan was unfortunate not to net 20 minutes in as he hit the post after some good play by Michael Whelan.

It was a very stop-start game as plenty of fouls were committed, causing a lot of players to go down on a few occasions.

There was a six-point deficit for Ballinacor to overturn in the second half with the scores nine points to three. Kilmacanogue were playing much better and probably should have been further ahead.

The second half commenced and just a minute in Michael Whelan fired over a precise 45 to extend the lead to seven.

James Murphy replied but Donal Tuohy, who bombed forward on many occasions, added his name to the scoresheet.

Five minutes after the restart, Kilmacanogue finally got their goal through captain Simon Doyle.

His side broke away after some poor play by Ballinacor which was intercepted. Doyle played a nice one-two with Josh O’Callaghan and the captain led by example and fired past goalkeeper Ciarán O’Neill.

Kilmac read the flight of the ball well in this early period, to the frustration of the Ballinacor outfit. But it was Ballinacor who would strike next against the run of play. Half-time substitute David Carter finished well past Niall King to add three points to their tally.

Ballinacor did then begin to play better football following the goal, as full-forward James Murphy added a couple of nice frees to reduce the game to six at one stage.

But they were no match for their opponents as this decent period for the side was short lived as Kilmacanogue again controlled the latter stages as they stretched their lead out to ten, with the scores being spread out well as nine of their players placed their names on the scoresheet throughout the clash.

The side were not wasteful in the second half as they had only two wides.

Two minutes from time, Kilmacanogue were awarded a penalty after Stephen Dowling took down substitute Cormac Kelly in a last-ditch challenge. Dowling was shown a red card to reduce his side to 13.

Full-forward O’Callaghan stepped up to take the penalty. But Ballinacor goalkeeper Ciarán O’Neill kept it out with an impressive save which he parried away from danger.

O’Neill made a few good saves in the game to help the score line look healthier.

An eleven-point victory in the end for Kilmacanogue who now face Stratford-Grangecon knowing a win will place them in the IFC quarter-finals.

As for Ballinacor, a fourth defeat on the spin for them as they face an uphill challenge in a relegation battle.

Scorers: Kilmacanogue – Simon Doyle 1-2; Michael Whelan 0-4 (2 45s); Josh O Callaghan 0-3 (1f); Aaron Creavin 0-3 (2f); Sam O Callaghan 0-1 (f); Stephen Morgan 0-1; Robert Conan 0-1; Donal Tuohy 0-1; Niall Meldon 0-1.

Ballinacor – James Murphy 0-4 (3f); David Carter 1-0; Paddy Byrne 0-2 (1f)