Clonmel Commercials remain in the hunt for three in a row in Tipperary football championship

Clonmel Commercials 1-12 Ballina 0-6

Despite playing below their best for much of the game, Clonmel Commercials were far too strong for Ballina in the FBD Insurance County Senior Football Championship quarter-final at The Ragg on Sunday, the win keeping their bid for a third title in a row on track.

Commercials last achieved a three-in-a-row back in 1967 and while their form so far this campaign has not been up to their usual level, it has been enough for them to clear the hurdles before them, the only blot being their loss to rivals Moyle Rovers in the South final.

There was never any real danger of them losing here. Ballina, Intermediate champions two years ago, were without key county men Steven O’Brien and Teddy Doyle, with Michael Breen also sidelined, and this undermined their challenge immensely. They do not have the strength in depth to cope with such losses and set up defensively in a bid to frustrate the champions, who themselves were without Seamus Kennedy and James Morris.

After some initial uncertainty as Commercials raced into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead inside twenty minutes, Ballina came out of their shell.

Commercials established their advantage through scores from Sean O’Connor (two), Cian Smith (two) and Joe Higgins and looked to be coasting, enjoying a monopoly of possession, although without any real penetration up front.

Ballina opted for counter-attacks and this paid off as they had the last three points of the first half from Jack O’Mahoney, Harry Byrne and Cathal O'Donnell to trail by just one point, 0-4 to 0-5 at half-time. Even at that, a Commercials win was not in doubt.

Five minutes into the second half, Ballina were level (0-6 each) and one wondered were they going to produce a shock result but that was as good as it got for the north representatives.

Two Jack Kennedy points and another from Sean O’ Connor, in as many minutes firmly established Commercials’ control. They added another three at the start of the last quarter, a Jason Lonergan effort might well have been a goal, and with their place in the semi-final safely secured, Sean O’Connor rounded off the day with a goal from the penalty spot in injury time.

From the start of this campaign Commercials were fancied to be in the shake-up, so it’s no surprise that they are in the last four again, even while being less than impressive so far. For this encounter they had a new look about them, with Michael Quinlivan and Conal Kennedy in the half-back line and Kevin Fahey in the last line of defence.

Seamus Kennedy is unlikely to see any action in this championship but they will be hoping to have James Morris available to bolster their hat-trick bid in the coming weeks.

Given the defensive strategy adopted by Ballina, Commercials will not have learned much from this encounter but they are where they want to be and they are the side to beat if you want to win the title.

Now the serious business is at hand and they need to up their game, but they have the quality in their squad to compete at the highest level and not just in the county. No reputations were enhanced in this encounter but Jack Kennedy, Peter McGarry, Conal Kennedy, Sean O’Connor and Ross Peters all worked hard, while Michael Quinlivan did a solid defending job in the number six spot.

Ballina fell to Commercials in last year’s championship also and while the margin of defeat this time was not as great, the gulf in self-belief and quality was every bit as evident. Still, they deserve plaudits for their gameness and resolve and their commitment to the big ball code is admirable.

Without their key men they were always going to be stretched and even though both Teddy Doyle and Steven O’Brien came on in the second half, they were still struggling to match their rivals once they eventually got going. Charlie King, Jack O’Mahoney, Paddy O’ Donovan, Cillian Ryan and Tom Lee all worked their socks off to keep Ballina in the game.

Clonmel Commercials: Shane Ryan; Kevin Fahey, Ross Slattery, Tadhg Condon; Conal Kennedy, Michael Quinlivan (0-1), Padraic Looram; Cathal Deely, Jack Kennedy (0-2,1f); Peter McGarry, Jason Lonergan (0-1), Joe Higgins (0-1); Cian Smith (0-3,2fs), Sean O’Connor (1-3, 1-0 penalty, 0-1f), Ross Peters.

Subs: Aldo Matassa (0-1) for Higgins (40 mins), Rory O’Dowd for Lonergan (50 mins), Tadhg Sheehan for Deely (51 mins), Sean Kennedy for Smith (54 mins), Michael Murphy for McGarry (55 mins).

Ballina: Dara King; Kian Donnelly, Cillian Ryan, Paddy O’Donovan; Josh Egan, Charlie King (0-1), Terry O’ Halloran; Tom Lee, Harry Byrne (0-1), Charlie Grace, David Kelly, Cathal O’Donnell (0-1); Ben King (0-1), Jack O’Mahoney (0-2, 1f), Conor Power.

Subs: Teddy Doyle and Steven O’ Brien for Power and O’ Donnell (40 mins), Matthew Power for King (43 mins), Zach Egan for Lee (46 mins), JP Mbokha Tansia for Egan (50 mins).

Referee: Sean Everard, Moyne-Templetuohy.