Carrigaline 1-17

Ballinhassig 1-15

JJ HURLEY REPORTS

CARRIGALINE held firm to take the South East Junior A Football League title as Ballinhassig’s late charge just fell short in the dying embers of an intriguing encounter in Belgooly on Monday night.

With time almost up, Ballinhassig had a glorious chance to snatch the contest as they trailed by two points, but Donnacha Deasy couldn’t direct Patrick O’Regan’s pass to the net.

The game opened with a minute’s silence for the late Tim Lynch before Ben Delaney opened the scoring. Ballinhassig were more than competitive in the opening few minutes as Evan Cullinane registered his side’s first score.

However, by the tenth minute, Carrigaline had put some distance between the teams as they led 1-3 to 0-1 after Jack Connolly rattled the Ballinhassig net.

Points from Gearoid Connolly and Ronan Casey left just a goal between the teams as they approached the halfway stage. A flurry of scores followed. Both teams were taking their chances, including a beauty from Hassig’s Charlie Grainger, leaving the score at 1-5 to 0-6.

A fine two-point free from Delaney was a welcome relief for Carrig, but Ballinhassig responded with a Gearoid Daly point.

Connolly should have added a second goal, but Arthur O’Leary did enough to put him off. The final score of the opening half came from the boot of Tim Vaughan as Carrigaline led 1-8 to 1-7 at the interval.

Patrick O’Leary combined well with Deasy for the first score early in the second half, while the introduction of man-of-the-match Tim Cronin produced the first of his three points for Carrigaline.

A game that had ebbed and flowed throughout drew level on 42 minutes, 0-13 to 1-10, thanks to two fine two-point scores from Ballinhassig’s O’Sullivan. Entering the final ten minutes, Carrigaline had retaken their lead, helped by another two-point score from Delaney.

Sean Turner’s two-point effort looked to have given Carrigaline a sizable advantage, but O’Sullivan reduced the deficit to four points.

When referee Alan O’Connor pointed to the spot on 58 minutes for a foul on the Ballinhassig forward, O’Sullivan made no mistake.

A one-point game shortly became a two-point advantage for Carrigaline as Delaney fired over but the drama wasn’t over as Ballinhassig had a glorious chance at the death, only for Deasy’s effort to drift wide.

Scorers 

Carrigaline: B Delaney 0-9 (3 2ptf); J Connolly 1-1; T Cronin 0-3; S Turner 0-2 (2pt); S Horan, T Vaughan 0-1 each.

Ballinhassig: D O’Sullivan 1-8 (1-0 pen, 1f, 1 2pt, 1 2ptf); G Daly 0-2; C Grainger, E Cullinane, D Deasy, B Lynch, R Casey 0-1.

Carrigaline: C Cloherty; S Browne, S Kidney, S Connolly; J Kelly, S Collins, R Kelleher; T Foley, O Barry; S Turner, T Vaughan, C Kingston; Z Connolly, S Horan, B Delaney.

Subs: T Cronin for O Barry (ht); L Ahearn for S Kidney (44); N O’Keeffe for C Kingston (49)

Ballinhassig: A O’Leary; C Kirby, K Maguire, S Grainger; C Grainger, C Desmond, P O’Leary; D O’Donovan, G Daly; E Lombard, R Casey, D O’Sullivan; D Deasy, E Cullinane, D Delea.

Subs: B Lynch for D Dulea; P O’Regan for R Casey (40).

Referee: A O’Connor.