Garrymore vs Ballina (CT)

 Ballina 0-11

Garrymore 1-12

James Stephens Park

Eoin Horkan 

A late goal from Caolan Crowe condemned the county champions to defeat on home soil in their opening championship outing.

After a cagey opening seven minutes, during which both sides were wasteful in front of goal, the game burst into life when Evan Regan raised the first orange flag of the afternoon.

Darren Quinn replied with a score ten minutes in to reduce the deficit, but playing against the breeze did little to unsettle the South Mayo outfit as they began to exert increasing pressure on the home side.

They moved in front shortly after the quarter-hour mark, with Quinn and Trevor Nally raising white flags in quick succession.

The visitors were proving dominant around the middle third and, from one such break, came arguably the score of the game. Andy Glennon produced a fine piece of skill to fire over a dead ball with the outside of his boot.

Quinn then added his third score of the half to leave the visitors in a commanding position.

Ballina threatened the Garrymore rearguard in the closing stages of the half, but some tenacious defending from the south Mayo side kept the home attack at bay.

At the interval, there were four points between the sides.

The county champions came flying out of the traps after the restart, with Evan Regan immediately adding to his tally from a dead ball before following up with another score from play.

Garrymore responded five minutes into the half when Darren Quinn made full use of the favourable breeze to raise the first orange flag of the second period.

Ballina, though, refused to let the visitors dictate the contest and enjoyed their best spell of the game midway through the half. Niall Feeney and Frank Irwin both found the target as the champions fought their way back to parity.

With the momentum seemingly swinging firmly in favour of the home side, Quinn once again proved crucial for Garrymore. A free from the edge of the small arc was calmly converted to put the visitors back in front.

The home side continued to press, with their midfielders driving them forward, and Mikey Murray levelled matters once more with twelve  minutes remaining, producing an excellent score from a tight angle.

With the game now finely poised, Liam Óg Horkan showed composure to fire over a fine effort from his left foot and edge Garrymore back in front.

Then came the decisive moment. Quinn found space on the wing before picking out Caolan Crowe, who made no mistake as he buried the ball beyond the advancing David Clake.

Ballina refused to throw in the towel and continued to search for a route back into the contest. Luke Feeney and substitute Patrick Carr both found the target, leaving just a single score between the sides.

However, Garrymore were not to be denied. Eoin McGreal provided the insurance score when he surged forward from wing-back and split the posts to finally put the result beyond doubt.

Ballina Stephenites;David Clarke;Liam Golden,Luke Jordan,David Tighe;Sam Callinan,Sean Regan,Barry Walsh;Mikey Murray (0-1),Frank Irwin(0-2);Luke Feeney(0-1),Ben Thornton,Niall Feeney(0-1);Evan Regan (0-5 1 2pf),Brendan Collins,Matthew Leonard.

Subs Used:Conor McStay for Matthew Leonard,Ciaran Boland for Sean Regan,Ciaran Treacy for Evan Regan, Patrick Carr (0-1) for Brendan Collins.

Garrymore:Brian Lynsey;Enda Hession,Jamie Oates,Justin Commins,Patrick Hession,Liam Óg Horkan (0-1),Eoin McGreal(0-1);Gary Golden,David Dolan;Darren Quinn(0-6),Andy Glennon(0-2 1 2pf,Shane Nally;Michael Connolly, Trevor Nally (0-2),Caolan Crowe (1-0)

Subs Used:Jamie Hession for Shane Nally,Colin Commins for David Dolan,Aaron Hughes for Justin Commins

Referee Jerome Henry