Ballinagar crown sensational year with fourth title

BALLINAGAR crowned a sensational year with a comfortable win over Edenderry in the Junior “C” Football Championship final in Daingean on Saturday afternoon.

Tullamore Court Hotel Junior “C” Football Championship final

Ballinagar 4-11

Edenderry 1-6

They added this title to the junior “A” crown won a few weeks ago and the Division 4 and 5 Football League titles annexed earlier in the year. It has been a never to be forgotten year for a club who have spent most of their long existence in the doldrums.

Prior to this year, they only won the Junior Football Championship title in 1988 and a Minor Football Championship in 1932 – that was won on an objection from Belmont who fielded a number of overage players and it has been long forgotten in the locality.

The junior “A” title was the holy grail for the club, the junior “C” a bonus but it has added to the enjoyment of a great year for a small club, located on the fringe of Killeigh parish. They didn't enjoy their greatest ever success this year. That was the 1988 junior title: that was Offaly football's third tier at the time, this year's one was the fourth tier but the club has never enjoyed such concerted success before – junior C is the sixth tier.

They never found such a sustained run of form, such consistency and they have now gone 28 games unbeaten in all grades. It may be down the grades but it is still a serious achievement by a club who has often struggled badly in terms of numbers – now they have enough for two teams and with more young players coming on the scene in the coming years, the challenge for them now is to build on this.

Just a short few years ago, Ballinagar members voted in favour of amalgamation with Raheen. Raheen did not get the 75% majority required on the same night and the amalgamation bit the dust. The wheel has turned for Ballinagar since then and while the win a few weeks ago was the one that really mattered for the club, this was also a very sweet success.

It came from a team who steamrolled their way through this competition this year, hammering most teams and their toughest battle came from Shamrocks in the semi-final. Ballinagar did not play well that day and with a couple of players missing, they could very easily have been gone.

On Saturday, they resumed their undisputed dominance of this grade as they swept aside the challenge of Edenderry. They didn't have it all their own way but looked like winning almost the whole way. They came up against Edenderry's third team but one with some real experience. It included a long time senior stalwart Keith McGuinness while former county player Derek Kelly came on as a first half sub, sparking new life into Edenderry in the second half. Another long time senior Basil Malone came on late on but it was too late to influence anything as a hamstring injury had ruled out greater involvement.

Edenderry's goose was really cooked when Tadgh McBride received a red card just before half time after lashing out at Gary Martin. This competition is 13-a-side and you simply couldn't survive with 12 men.

Even with the full quota on the field, Edenderry were struggling and would have been beaten. Ballinagar took control early on with Jamie Ballesty slotting home a penalty in the first minute, controversially awarded for a foul on Sean Martin Pierce that looked to be outside the area – Ballesty had played despite the death of his granny, Bridie Farrell, Ballinea, Mullingar the previous day and he contributed well to Ballinagar's win. He missed a second half penalty though Ballinagar could afford that miss.

Ballinagar were 2-6 to 0-1 ahead after 18 minutes. The second goal was fin the net by Aaron Dwane after Conor McGuinness's shot was saved and it was really all over as a contest at that stage. Edenderry rallied briefly coming up to half time as errors crept into Ballinagar's game and they got the deficit back to 2-7 to 0-4 at half time.

With a man down, a revival was unlikely and it would have been taken off the table as a possibility had Ballesty converted that 31st minute penalty, awarded for a foul on Gary Martin. Aaron Dwane did punch a goal in the 40th minute after a great break forward by Dean Pierce. Sub Gary Farrell got in for a 44th minute Edenderry goal but a nine point deficit was still way too much to haul in.

Ballinagar finished on the up, adding a further three points while Gary Martin got a fourth goal a minute from time, audaciously tapping home after the ball broke nicely for him in the penalty area.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Jack Gorry (Ballinagar): Jack Gorry had a magnificent game at wing back for Ballinagar. He got on a serious amount of ball, tearing up the wing at every opportunity and linking well with Gary Martin in particular. Gorry injected pace at times and had a serious game. His display had a bit of everything. He gave some ball away but used 80% of it well which is a good return at this level. He kicked a typical junior “C” wide, ballooning a shot the proverbial country mile off target and then finished off his afternoon's work with a beautiful point off the outside of his right foot, one that would be at home at a higher level. Gary Martin and Conor McGuinness also excelled on a day when most of their team did well.

THE SCORERS

Ballinagar: Aaron Dwane 2-2 (1f), Gary Martin 1-5 (2f), Jamie Ballesty 1-1 (goal from a penalty), Aaron Gorman, Jack Gorry and Stephen Dwane (f) 0-1 each.

Edenderry: Gary Farrell 1-0, Keith McGuinness 0-2 (1f), Dean Cummins, Cillian Lawton, Ryan Glynn and Derek Kelly 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

BALLINAGAR: Evan Martin; Eric Martin, Aaron Gorman; Ross Colton, Eoin McGuinness, Jack Gorry; Shane Finneran, Dean Pierce; Gary Martin, Jamie Ballesty, Steven Dwane; Sean Martin Pierce, Aaron Dwane. Subs – Leon Stafford for Steven Dwane (30m), David Dolan for Finneran (59m), Darragh Foley for Colton (60m).

EDENDERRY: Jake Kenny; Jake Connolly, Tom Mangan; Dean Mullally, Darragh Farrell, Ross Blong; Dan Nolan, Dean Cummins; Cillian Lawton, PJ Reynolds, Tadgh McBride; Keith McGuinness, Ryan Glynn. Subs – Gary Farrell for Reynolds (20m), Derek Kelly for Lawton (HT), Eoin O'Reilly for Nolan (56m), Liam Cox for Glynn (57m), Liam Cox for Mullally (59m).

Referee – Chris Joslin (Daingean).

REFEREE WATCH

A mixed bag by Chris Joslin. He was honest and communicated well with his officials but there were a good few debatable frees.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Ballnagar's first minute penalty goal got them off to a flier and they never looked back.

VENUE WATCH

Daingean had their pitch in mighty order and the pride they took in their facilities was obvious. They had loads of stewards and managed the large crowd very efficiently. They were fortunate that the rain stayed away while they were unfortunate that their electronic scoreboard didn't work on the day. Those things can happen and they tried to improvise with chalk – that couldn't be seen in the strong afternoon sun but Daingean hosted this fixture very well.

TALKING POINT

This final showed the value of a competition for this grade of football. There was a huge crowd, packing the sidelines and creating a great atmosphere. The players clearly revelled in the occasion and it had a bit of everything. It was very obviously Offaly's lowest grade of football at times but it also had plenty of good play and it was a real occasion.

WHAT'S NEXT

The year is over for both sides.

STATISTICS

Wides: Ballinagar – 9 (2 in first half); Edenderry – 4 (2 in first half).

Yellow cards: 0.

Black cards: 0.

Red cards: Ballinagar – 0; Edenderry – 1 (Tadgh McBride).