Ballyskenach 2-12 ....... St Rynagh's 2-9
Last year’s beaten finalists, St Rynagh’s face an uncertain future in this year's SHC following their defeat to a spirited Ballyskenach side at Kilcormac last Sunday morning.N0t only did they trail from start to finish, but had to depend on two penalties to stay in touch in the second half as Ballyskenach built up a seven point lead at one stage.
With the self-imposed absence of brothers Hubert and Michael Rigney and the dismissal of goalkeeper Damien McDermott 17 minutes from full time, St Rynagh will have it all to do in their forthcoming games to achieve qualification which, of course, is still well within their grasp.
But Ballyskenach looked the better side from the early exchanges and it was no surprise that they picked off scores to lead by 1-6 to 0-4 at the interval. Even without the injured Mick O'Hara and David Carney, they enjoyed the majority of possession and should have had a little more to spare at the finish.
However, they were ahead by seven points entering injury time, before a pointed free by Michael Duignan and Fintan Dolan's second goal from a penalty brought St Rynagh's deficit down to a more respectable level.
Earlier, they could ill afford to lose netminder Damien McDermott, who was shown the red card by referee Martin Ryan after a foul on Ciaran Kirwan, who was forced to leave the field injured.
Corner back Adrian Clancy took over between the posts and while the extra man wasn't always noticeable, St. Rynagh’s attempts to recover were hindered as a result.
Nevertheless, they also struggled in the first half, as Ballyskenach broke through for early scores, the most important of which was an expertly executed eighth minute goal by Brendan Murphy.
Sixty sec0nds earlier, they had opened the scoring with the first of Bill Lalor’s five frees, but almost saw their lead wiped out in the next ten minutes and St Rynagh’s settled down.
Only a good save from Alan Franks prevented a goal from Enda Mulhare, but Michael Duignan converted the resultant ’65 and Noel Hogan (free) and Enda Mulhare brought them to within a point.
Eugene Hannon and Ray Devery traded scores to leave Ballyskenach ahead by 1-3 to 0-4, but they extended that lead in the second quarter through two further Bill Lalor frees and nice efforts from play by Tom O'Toole and Derek Middleton.
In the early stages of the sec-ond half, there was little or nothing between the sides, as they each added three points to their tally. Most of the scores were from frees, however, with Fintan Dolan floating over two for St Rynagh’s before fellow substitute Kevin McGee added one from play.
But those scores were each replied to by Ballyskenach, through David Franks ('65), Bill Lalor (free) and Lalor from play, respectively.
Then immediately after St Rynagh's were reduced to 14 men, Ballyskenach capitalized with a Bill Lalor free to give them a 1-10 to 0-7 advantage.
After 50 minutes, St Rynagh’s were thrown a life-line when John Ryan was fouled in the large parallelogram and Fintan Dolan crashed the penalty to the roof of the net.
Tony O'Toole and Kevin McGee traded scores as time ticked away and David Franks found the range with another long range free for the winners.
Disaster then struck for St Rynagh’s as a quick puck-out following Franks' free fell to Brendan Murphy who passed inside to Derek Middleton, and he slotted home their second goal.
Even though St Rynagh’s finished with the last two scores, it was too little, too late and time ran out before they had a chance to try for an equaliser.
They could have no excuses, however. Their forward line made very little impact, with Darragh Kelly substituted and John Ryan eventually moved to a defensive role. Indeed, only one of their starting forwards scored from play.
Kevin McGee and Fintan Dolan contributed positively when introduced, while Paudie Mulhare was prominent at midfield and Michael Duignan at centre back and Martin Hanamy behind him gave whole-hearted displays, as did Ray Devery who was particu-larly impressive in the first half.
But without the Rigney brothers - who were according to reports unhappy with Hubert's omission from the 24 strong Offaly panel for the All-Ireland final and their club stance on the matter - they could struggle.
While Mick O'Hara is a huge loss for Ballyskenach, they could be capable of repeating last year's heroics by reaching the semi-final. Cathal Murphy, David Franks and Mark Kirwan were steady in defence, Brendan Murphy stood out when moved to midfield, while Tom O'Toole - who had a good duel with Martin Hanamy - and Bill Lalor were among their best forwards.
The Scorers
Ballyskenach: Bill Lalor (five frees) 0-6; Derek Middleton 1-1; Brendan Murphy
1-0; Tony O'Toole and David Franks (’65 and free) 0-2 each; Eugene Hannon
0-1.
St Rynagh's: Fintan Dolan (goals from penalties, points from frees) 2-2: Michael
Duignan ('65 and free) and Kevin McGee 0-2 each; Noel Hogan (free), Enda Mulhare
and Ray Devery 0-1 each.
BALLYSKENACH: Alan Franks; Eugene Kirwan, Cathal Murphy, Ollie Ryan; David
Franks. Mark Kirwan; Barry Keeshan; Peter Murphy, Eugene Hannon; Derek Middleton,
Noel Murphy, Brendan Murphy; Ciaran Kirwan, Tom O'Toole, Bill Lalor.
Sub: Liam O'Toole for C Kirwan.
ST RYNAGH’S: Damien McDermott; Adrian Clancy, Martin Hanamy, Enda McHugh;
Shane Horan, Michael Duignan, Ray Devery; Paudie Mulhare, Emmet Broderick;
Noel Hogan, John Malone, Gary O'Connor; Enda Mulhare, John Ryan, Darragh Kelly.
Subs: Fintan Dolan for N Hogan; Kevin McGee for D Kelly; Ger Rafferty for
J Malone.
Referee: Martin Walsh (Birr).