Wayward Ballinamere show real potential in comprehensive win

SHOOTING practice is likely to be on Niall Rigney's agenda in Ballinamere this week after they took an important step towards the quarter-finals with an ultimately comfortable win over Seir Kieran in Faithful Fields, Kilcormac on Saturday evening.

Molloy Environmental Systems Senior Hurling Championship Group 2

Ballinamere 2-26

|Seir Kieran 0-17

It might seem strange to highlight misses on a day when Ballinamere scored 2-26, won by fifteen points and never looked like losing, even when Seir Kieran were competitive in the first half. Yet their manager, the former Laois star Rigney won't be doing his job if he doesn't focus somewhat on their abundance of misses here.

This game could have been over at half time but instead, they kept the door open and were only two points up at the break. In the second half, they missed a few but their conversion percentage rose considerably. They scored 1-17 in the second half, restricted Seir Kieran to seven points and had the points in the bag from a long way out.

Ballinamere could have scored 4-32 without doing a whole lot more and while it didn't matter here, they simply won't be able to afford some of those misses in the bigger tests in the knockout stages. They missed too much, yet there was something impressive about the way they won here. It is hard to put your finger on but Ballinamere may be turning a corner. They are certainly displaying a new found maturity and in previous years, their heads may have dropped after some of their misses and they could have been vulnerable.

Instead, they continued playing at a high level of intensity and pace, kept doing the right thing and they really put Seir Kieran to the sword in the second half. Serious tests lie ahead but for now Ballinamere are where they want to be and this win almost certainly puts them into the quarter-finals, at least, with a semi-final place still on offer – Seir Kieran can't get up to them now and while Coolderry can get four points, Ballinamere have the head to head advantage over them and their scoring difference is also likely to be better in the event that there is a tie for qualification.

It shouldn't come to that and Ballinamere are moving well, with their confidence growing the whole time. This win over Seir Kieran is not to be sneezed at either. Seir Kieran had played very well in their opening defeats by Belmont and Shinrone, playing with great character and were not far off a win. This was the first time this year they had their tail handed to them and with three defeats and just one game left against Coolderry, they are on their way out of the championship.

Seir Kieran tried very hard here but stayed in the game into the second half more because of Ballinamere's misses than anything they did. They deserve credit for the way they have performed this year, much better than last year and this is down to an improved level of fitness and work rate. These ingredients weren't near enough here and when it came to first touch, skill, pace and overall hurling, Ballinamere were clearly the superior side.

Ballinamere won't have been one bit happy with their first half as they left an easy 2-5 behind them. They were 1-9 to 0-10 up at half time and with the wind to come, they were still in a strong position but this game really should have been over as a contest.

Instead, Seir Kieran gave a masterclass of how to take your chances. Living on much less possession than the favourites, they missed very little and an excellent display of free taking from Tom Dooley kept them in the hunt. Dooley got six points, five of them from frees and some of those placed balls were quality long range scores.

In contrast, Ballinamere were very wasteful. Brian Duignan missed three fairly straightforward chances before eventually getting his first point from play in the 25th minute – a beautifully floated score after he briliantly won the ball and turned. Dan Bourke and Joe Maher also added to the catalogue of poor misses while they should have got two more goals.

Mike O'Brien tapped over the bar with a goal chance in the 24th minute – he had options to the left and also could have went for it himself. Similarly, Aaron Maher was blocked with a goal chance in the 30th minute when Conor Wyer was unmarked and roaring for the ball inside him – to add to Ballinamere's woe, Brian Duignan dropped the “65” into Joseph Connors' hands.

Ballinamere were the better team for most of the first half, though Seir Kieran started very well and deservedly led by 0-3 to 0-1 after two minutes. Ballinamere then got going and four points in a row, the final one from Aaron Maher put them 0-5 to 0-3 ahead after 10 minutes.

Two Dooley frees got the Clareen men back on terms but Ballinamere grabbed the initiative with a 14th minute Mike O'Brien goal after a Seir Kieran defender fatally slipped. They didn't build on this and a series of bad misses kept Seir Kieran alive. All their remaining scores came from Dooley frees until Kevin Dunne stroked over a fine score from midfield in injury time and Seir Kieran were certainly glad to be only two points down at the break.

Seir Kieran stayed in it for a few minutes in the second half. They were 1-12 to 0-12 behind after 35 minutes but a Brian Duignan free was followed by a superbly taken Ronan Cleary goal in the 38th minute and that was basically that.

Luke Carey and Tom Dooley got the next two points to bring the gap back to five but Ballinamere's dominance became absolute as the half wore on. 2-17 to 0-16 ahead after 47 minutes, their score taking improved noticeably in the last quarter as they won pulling up – they could have got another goal or two but were generally content to fire over from distance in a clearcut win.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Brian Duignan (Ballinamere): All the contenders were on the Ballinamere side and while you could punish Brian Duignan for his first half misses, that would be just wrong. He exerted the biggest influence on the game, got five of his ten points from play and played some wonderful hurling. His touch was generally excellent and his power and movement continually got him into the clear. On a different day, he could have really shot the lights out and he will be one of the ones putting in individual work outside the training field on his shooting but he was immense.

Ross Ravenhill had a class game at wing back and was very close but the Seir Kieran attack struggled to extend the Ballinamere defence. Mike O'Brien was very sharp in their attack with a haul of 1-4 while Kevin McDermott made a powerful influence when introduced. He needs more hurling practice, tried a couple of things that couldn't work at this level and wasn't clinical but he brought something different to the table, a real livewire and he unsettled the Seir Kieran defence. Dan Ravenhill had a superb second half, opening up full throttle while a creditable mention to corner back, Eoin Boland for his work rate and defending when the losers were in it.

Tom Dooley, Kevin Dunne and Adrian Hynes were among the Seir Kieran players to impress.

THE SCORERS

Ballinamere: Brian Duignan 0-10 (5f), Mike O'Brien 1-4, Dan Ravenhill 0-6 (2 '65s'), Aaron Maher 0-3, Ronan Cleary 1-0, Dan Bourke, Joe Maher and Kevin McDermott 0-1 each.

Seir Kieran: Tom Dooley 0-7 (5f), Adrian Hynes 0-6 (2f), James Mulrooney (1f), Kevin Dunne and Luke Carey 0-2 each.

THE TEAMS

BALLINAMERE: Mark Troy; Eoin Boland, Ciaran Burke, Gerry Spollen; Ronan Cleary, Sam Bourke, Ross Ravenhill; David Magner, Conor Wyer; Dan Bourke, Joe Maher, Aaron Maher; Dan Ravenhill, Brian Duignan, Mike O'Brien. Subs – Kevin McDermott for Joe Maher, inj. (20m), Darragh Wyer for Aaron Maher (54m), Aaron Maher for Dan Ravenhill (62m).

SEIR KIERAN: Joseph Connors; Donal Coughlan, Sean Coughlan, Barry Kealey; Kieran Connor, Conor Dooley, Stephen Gilligan; James Mulrooney, John Coughlan; Kevin Dunne, Pat Gilligan, Tom Dooley; Adrian Hynes, Luke Carey, Darragh Guinan. Subs – Joe Bergin for John Coughlan (39m), Eanna Murphy for Guinan (50m),

Referee – Brian Gavin (Clara).

REFEREE WATCH

Brian Gavin refereed it well. He showed his vast experience, didn't suffer fools gladly and there were no big issues. Barry Kealey ventured into red card territory for a slap on Brian Duignan with eleven minutes left. It wasn't hard, designed to injure or malicious but it was on his helmet, it was unnecessary and had he been sanctioned with more than a yellow, he couldn't have complained.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Dan Ravenhill's 43rd minute point was wonderful. Sam Bourke gave a great pass out of defence, Ravenhill superbly killed the ball on his hurl, turned and floated it over to give them a 2-16 to 0-14 lead.

VENUE WATCH

This game was switched from Killeigh to Faithful Fields because of an unplayable pitch. As usual, the Faithful Fields pitch was excellent and the County Board hosted the fixture with typical professionalism.

WHAT'S NEXT

Seir Kieran play Coolderry and Ballinamere meet Belmont in round 4.

STATISTICS

Wides: Ballinamere – 13 (7 in first half); Seir Kieran – 7 (4 in first half).

Yellow cards: Ballinamere – 2 (Dan Ravenhill and Brian Duignan); Seir Kieran – 3 (Kevin Dunne, Pat Gilligan and Tom Dooley).

Red cards: 0.