Ballaghaderreen too hot for Curry

AIB Connacht SFC Club Semi-Final

Ballaghaderreen (Mayo) 1-15 Curry (Sligo) 1-7

A storming second-half display – which saw Ballaghaderreen out-score their Sligo opponents by 1-9 to 0-2 – was the key to this comprehensive win for Mark Dowd’s side and a first Connacht senior final appearance beckons on Sunday week against the defending champions, St Brigids.

  It was a well contested encounter in the first half and Curry were on top for long periods. However the Sligo champions missed a very easy goal chance just before half-time and had their centre-half back John Feeney red-carded with 15 minutes left

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AIB Connacht SFC Club Semi-Final

Ballaghaderreen (Mayo) 1-15 Curry (Sligo) 1-7

A storming second-half display – which saw Ballaghaderreen out-score their Sligo opponents by 1-9 to 0-2 – was the key to this comprehensive win for Mark Dowd’s side and a first Connacht senior final appearance beckons on Sunday week against the defending champions, St Brigids.

  It was a well contested encounter in the first half and Curry were on top for long periods. However the Sligo champions missed a very easy goal chance just before half-time and had their centre-half back John Feeney red-carded with 15 minutes left in the game – and those were crucial incidents in the overall context of the game.

  The sides traded points early on from Joe Dillon and David Maye before Barry Kelly put Ballagh’ into the lead with a point. Then Curry scored a peach of a goal after seven minutes when David Maye fired to the bottom corner after a good pass from Cathal Brennan.

  Barry Regan then got two points for Ballaghaderreen (one a free) to level the scores. Then the sides scored two points each through Jason and Adrian Marren (Curry) and Barry Regan and Michael Tyrrell for Ballaghaderreen.

Curry got the final two scores of the half from Cathal Brennan and Adrian Marren. However Curry missed a golden chance to be five ahead at the break when Jason Marren was put through on goal by a Sean Davey pass but just when it seemed that a goal was a certainty Peter Kelly somehow blocked the shot and it spun away for what was a massive let-off for Ballaghaderreen. Half-time score: Curry 1-5 Ballaghaderreen 0-6.

  Ballagh were a much more assured outfit on the resumption. A point from Barry Kelly and a super goal from James Kilcullen had the home side ahead by two after 37 minutes. Then a string of six unanswered points from Ballaghaderreen sealed a great win for them. The points were scored by  Peter Kelly, four from Barry Regan (three frees) and Barry Kelly.

  In between those scores Curry’s chances all but disappeared when the centre-half-back John Feeney was red-carded for a needless foul on David Drake on 45 minutes. Curry got their first point of the second half when Adrian Marren scored a free in the 54th minute, but Ballaghaderreen were rampant and Keith Rogers and Barry Regan completed the scoring with points in the final three minutes of play. Now Ballaghaderreen will turn their attention to a mouth-watering Connacht final clash with St Brigids at McHale Park on Sunday week.

Ballaghaderreen: O Flanagan; S Drake, P Rogers, T Regan; P Kelly (0-1), K Rogers (0-1), D Drake; B Kelly (0-2), J Kilcullen; M Tyrrell (0-1), A Hanley, S Finn; O Jordan, B Regan (0-8), J Dillon (0-1). Subs: R Conway for P Rogers, C Doohan for Tyrrell, B Solan for Dillon.

Curry: J O’Hora; K Morley, S Marren, A Brennan; S Maher, J Feeney, D McDonagh; B McDonagh, S Davey; C Brennan, A Marren (0-4), N McDonagh; C Brennan (0-1), D Maye (1-1), J Marren (0-1). Subs: E Marren for Maher, M Gordon for Brennan, G Maye for McDonagh.

Referee: E O’Grady (Leitrim). 

Roscommon People

Issue: 16th November 2012