High scoring Ballinagar finally click as Ballycumber head towards relegation play off

BALLINAGAR finally clicked into top gear with a ruthless demolition of struggling Ballycumber in a one sided Senior “B” Football Championship game at Ballinagar on Sunday evening.

Tullamore Court Hotel Senior “B” Football Championship

Ballinagar 6-19

Ballycumber 1-12

After drawing their first two games against Cappincur and Tubber, this was a must win game for Ballinagar. Intermediate champions last year, they had let golden chances of big wins against long established senior B teams in Cappincur and Tubber slip in the first two rounds and anything other than a win would have been a disaster here.

With Ballycumber having lost their first three games and struggling, this match was ideal timing for Ballinagar and they duly performed, running up a whopping 6-19 and never in an ounce of danger of losing.

They were way more clinical here and had the points wrapped up when they led by 3-8 to 0-9 at half time. The outstanding Robbie Gallagher was in flying form in the first half, scoring all three of their goals.

They had let an early ten point lead slip in their draw with Tubber in the previous round but there was no real fear of that happening here as it was clear that Ballinagar were the better team by a long distance.

They more than doubled their score in the second half, adding 3-11 and conceding just 1-3 for a win that should not be celebrated in anyway but was important for Ballinagar as it gets them going and means that their fate is in their own hands. The livewire Conor Bracken got two of their goals in the second half with the other coming from Adam Mangan and it was a demoralising afternoon for Ballycumber who are trying their best but are in a transition period and now face a big task to avoid the drop to intermediate football.

For Ballinagar, it leaves their fate in their own hands with games to come against Daingean, Clara and Gracefield and their prospects of making the semi-finals are very realistic – the top four qualify.

Ballycumber made a game of it for a while in the first half and were only a point down, 1-5 to 0-7 after seventeen minutes but two more Robbie Gallagher goals saw daylight open up by half time.

Ballinagar quickly ended it out as a contest with man of the match Robbie Gallagher firing over a great two pointer and Conor Bracken getting through for a goal to make it 4-13 to 0-9 after 39 minutes.

There was no way back for Ballycumber from there and the only highlight was a Keith Lawler goal as they got the deficit back to 5-15 to 1-10.

SEE NEXT: Cappincur rue missed chances as Daingean take a share of the spoils

The Scorers

Ballinagar: Robbie Gallagher 3-9 (0-7 Frees, 1 2p), Morgan Tynan 0-8 (0-2 1 x 2pf, 0-2 Frees), Conor Bracken 2-0, Adam Mangan 1-1, Geordi O’Meara 0-1.

Ballycumber: Gary Larkin 0-8 (1 2pf, 0-5 Frees), Keith Lawler 1-2, Nigel Grennan 0-1, Colin Daly 0-1.

The Teams

BALLINAGAR: Ryan Kinahan; Declan Crombie, Diarmuid Finneran, Eoin McGuinness; Jack Gorry, Brian Malone, Aaron Gorman; Adam Strong (Capt.), Alex Cuddy; Conor McGuinness, Adam Joyce, Geordi O'Meara; Conor Bracken, Morgan Tynan, Robbie Gallagher.

Subs: Jacob Beatty for Alex Cuddy (Halt Time), Adam Mangan for Jacob Beatty (inj. 33 mins), Jamie Ballesty for Jack Gorry (41 mins), Jack Sheil for Conor McGuinness (41 mins), Ryan Dunne for Adam Strong (45 mins).

BALLYCUMBER: Oisin Carroll; Dylan Daly, John Egan, Adam Daly; Marcus Keena, Cathal Guinan, Keith Lawler; Cormac Quinn (Joint Capt.), Ethan Keena; Jamie Cornally, Gary Larkin, Clive Keena (Joint Capt.); Nigel Grennan, Shaun Creevy, Joe Lowry.

Subs: Harry Champ for Shaun Creevy (Half Time), Colin Daly for Joe Lowry (Half Time), Aaron Daly for Dylan Daly (43 mins),

Referee: Fergal Smyth (Kilclonfert).