Ballyskenach booked their place in the county semi-final when four goals from John Dooley and a fine performance by David Carney helped ensure victory over Tullamore in the final game of the group on Saturday 16th August in Birr.
Tullamore started stronger and notched up two points in the opening two minutes before David Carney put 'Skenach's first point on the board. Tullamore added two more points and were leading by 0-4 to 0-1 with nine minutes gone when Carney's cross found John Dooley who rattled the net to level the game. An Eoghan Franks point from a free put 'Skenach's noses in front in the 10th minute and soon afterwards Carney again sent a great ball across to Dooley who duly scored 'Skenach's second goal. Tullamore then pointed a free and mid-way through the half Carney found Noel Murphy who pointed to give Ballyskenach a 2-3 to 0-5 advantage. Tullamore added two more points before the break, while 'Skenach added four, courtesy of Brendan Murphy, Alan Middleton and Eoghan Franks twice (one from a placed ball), to leave the half time score 2-7 to 0-7.
'Skenach came out with all guns blazing for the second half and went on a scoring spree for the first ten minutes, with Carney opening the scores with a point, followed quickly by a goal and a point, both from Derek Middleton. John Dooley's third goal came in the 7th minute, with Eoghan Franks also rattling the next just over a minute later. Dooley then found the net again after a pass from Brendan Murphy to increase the lead to an impressive 6-9 to 0-7 with ten minutes gone on the clock. 'Skenach added just one more point to their total in the remaining 20 minutes when Aidan Franks and his brother Eoghan combined before Eoghan slotted the ball over the bar in the 20th minute to put the score at 6-10 to 1-7. The remaining ten minutes belonged to Tullamore, as they banged home two goals and a point, to leave the final score 6-10 to 3-8.
Team and Scorers: Tomas O’Toole; Eugie Hannon, Cathal Murphy, Brendan Franks; Bill Lalor, Mick O’Hara, Mark Kirwan; Alan Middleton (0-1), David Franks; Brendan Murphy (0-1), Noel Murphy (0-1), Derek Middleton (1-1); John Dooley (4-0), David Carney (0-2), Eoghan Franks (1-4, 0-2 frees).
Subs: Aidan Franks for David Carney, Tadhg Maher for Derek Middleton, Barry Keeshan for Cathal Murphy.
Ref. Pat Horan