Ballisodare advance to Shield final

BALLISODARE u18s advanced to the semi finals of the Connacht Shield with a 3- 2 win against Athenry B at the weekend. It would have been easy to assume Athenry B would be a good draw but their B side are made up of all their u17s as there’s no u17 league in Galway and a handful of u18s too. This coupled with their league form of 5 wins and 1 draw left Ballisodare knowing it would be a tough game. Steven Patton put the home side Ballisodare one up after 15 minutes and despite playing the better football Ballisodare missed chances to add to the scoreline and it stayed 1- 0 to BUFC at half time. Athenry pegged back when a well struck volley flew into through a crowded box and past Thomas McLoughlin in goals. 1- 1. Ballisodare took the lead again when Patton grabbed his second of the game after good work down our left hand side. Again the home side were brought back to level pegging when Athenry buried an unmarked header with 15 minutes left, 2- 2. The winner came with seven minutes remaining when Dermot McLoughlin whipped in a fine corner and Bryan McPartland headed it in in for a BUFC win and great opportunity to get to a Connacht Shield final. Roan Coneelly, Kyle Smith and Odhrán Mahon were impressive throughout in what was a decent performance with plenty of positives. Roll on to the next round for Ballisodare.