Ballyskenach 4-9 ……. Kinnitty 1-12
By John Horan
AN HISTORIC first appearance in a Senior Hurling Championship final beckons for Ballyskenach after they came from behind to defeat Kinnitty at St. Brendan’s Park, Birr, last Saturday evening.
With eight minutes remaining, Kinnitty led by two points, but Ballyskenach dug deep to outscore their opponents by 2-5 to 0-2 in the closing stages, aided by key goals from Brendan Murphy and Eoghan Franks.
The ability to raise green flags has been one of Ballyskenach’s strengths this season, and they are now looking forward to a clash with Birr or Kilcormac/Killoughey on the 5th of October.
Kinnitty, though, played extremely well for over 50 minutes and almost repeated K/K’s feat of 12 months ago by progressing from the “weak” group to the decider.
It was a dogged and uncompromising semi-final throughout, affected only by the large number of wides by both teams.
Kinnitty will naturally be disappointed with the outcome of the match, particularly as they were the better team for a sizeable chunk of the match, before Ballyskenach upped the tempo.
Following a useful first half by Kinnitty, they led by five points at the interval – 1-7 to 1-2. Remarkably, Ballyskenach overturned this advantage in the second half outscoring their opponents by a big tally of 3-7 to 0-5.
When it came to the crunch, Kinnitty could only managed two points in the last 14 minutes, while Ballyskenach took control.
But for Ger Coughlan’s side, Liam Bergin made a couple of good stops, while Fergal Kealey, Liam Brewer and Michael Cleere tried hard. The pick of the forwards were Richie McRedmond, who finished with 1-5 and netted a superb first half goal, and Justin Kinsella.
Kinnitty made a change on the steam at the start with Matthew McRedmond starting in place of John Clendennen, who tried hard when introduced.
There were some useful displays for Ballyskenach by Cathal Murphy, Brendan Franks and Mick O’Hara at the back. At midfield, David Franks hit two points and the key forwards who turned the match for Ballyskenach were Brendan Murphy, Eoghan Franks and David Carney.
In terms of the scoring, Kinnitty went in front a minute in when Richie McRedmond pointed. The lead was shoftlived and David Franks equalized for the Ballyskenach men.
Following good work, Kinnitty almost got in for a goal moments later, but were denied.
They did extend their lead in the 10th minutes when Michael Corrigan sent a free over the bar. Then, Ballyskenach equalized for a second time when David Franks linked with Brendan Murphy to point.
Justin Kinsella edged Kinnitty ahead again, but their defence found themselves stretched near the end of the first quarter and Ballyskenach almost got the first goal of the match when David Carney passed to John Dooley and Kinnitty netminder Liam Bergin pulled off a great save to turn it aside for a ’65.
Ballyskenach created some useful scoring chances during this tie and came close on a few occasions to getting a goal. Captain David Franks made tracks in on goal following a useful solo run, but was denied.
In contrast, it was Kinnitty who were able to register the scores in the early stages and Richie McRedmond found the range with a point, leaving it 0-4 to 0-1 in the 17th minute.
Kinnitty caught the Ballyskenach rearguard napping on a few occasions as they increased their lead with a free. Then a turning point came three minutes before half time following a move that started in Kinnitty’s half back line and moved down field where the ball was quickly distributed into the path of Richie McRedmond, who have the keeper no chance, firing it low and hard to the net for a superb goal. It gave Kinnitty a lead of 1-5 to 0-2 coming up to the half time interval.
In first half injury time, Ballyskenach got back into the match when the ball broke for David Carney who steered it to the net. Kinnitty responded with two points courtesy of Justin Kinsella and Richie McRedmond and at half time they led by 1-7 to 1-2.
Ballyskenach should have cut the gap further in the first minute of the second half, but Eoghan Franks sent a close range free wide. The same player made no mistake a minute later, when sending over a free to cut the gap to four points.
However, Kinnitty’s Eoin McGuinness extended it again with a point from about 40 metres.
The sides exchanged scores again with Eoin Franks pointing a free before Justin Kinsella found the range from play.
Ballyskenach, who never looked like being out of contention, then struck with a second goal, when Derek Middleton found Brendan Murphy with a pass and fired it beyond Kinnitty keeper Liam Bergin. The goal put two points between them as Kinnitty led by 1-9 to 2-4 at the end of the third quarter.
Kinnitty’s lead was extended to a goal a minute later when Justin Kinsella pointed. They put the Ballyskenach backs under pressure again with a chance, but it went wide.
Nine minutes from time, Ballyskenach almost leveled the match when Brendan Murphy got around his marker but fired his shot straight at the goalkeeper. The same player then cut Kinnitty’s advantage to just two moments later with a point from play.
The match picked up in momentum in the final eight minutes then dramatically and to the delight of the Ballyskenach fans, they struck with a third goal when Eoghan Franks lashed his shot to the net to level the sides.
Kinnitty edged ahead again through a Richie McRedmond point before Ballyskenach leveled proceedings for the fourth time with five minutes left.
Remarkably, Kinnitty’s earlier thrust in the match began to fade and Ballyskenach took a stranglehold at a most critical time.
Captain David Franks edged them ahead by a point and with a minute left Ballyskenach put some daylight between then when Brendan Murphy struck with a decisive fourth goal for his team. With the wind taken out of the Kinnitty sails, Ballyskenach finished the match with two further points in injury time by Noel Murphy and Mick O’Hara to see them into the county final, much to the delight of manager, Paddy Kirwan and their supporters.
Ballyskenach: Tomas O’Toole; Mark Kirwan, Cathal Murphy, Brendan Franks;
Bill Lalor, Mick O’Hara (0-1 ’65), Aidan Franks; David Franks (Capt)
(0-2), Alan Middleton; Derek Middleton, Noel Murphy (0-2), Brendan Murphy (2-2);
John Dooley, David Carney (1-0), Eoghan Franks (1-2, 0-2 frees)
Subs: Barry Keeshan (for Bill Lalor); Tadhg Maher (for John Dooley)
Kinnitty: Liam Bergin; Liam Bergin, Fergal Kealey, Paul O’Donnell; Liam
Brewer, Paddy Whelan, Michael Cleere; Eoin McGuinness (0-1), Michael Corrigan
(0-6 ’65); Mark Robinson, Enda Grimes, Justin Kinsella (0-4); Mick Molloy,
Richie McRedmond (1-5, 0-2 frees), Matthew McRedmond.
Subs: John Clendennen (for Matthew McREdmond); Mick O’Shea (0-1) (for
Enda Grimes); Andrew Tooher (for Michael Corrigan); Brendan Molloy (for Mick
Molloy).
Referee: Noel Flynn