Ballon show their class to reach JFC 'A' final
Liam Brennan from Ballon tries to stop the advance of Kilbride's Sean Foley Photo: Pat Ahern
Ballon made it through to the Carlow junior football championship A final with an emphatic win on Friday in Netwatch Cullen Park.
Kilbride got off to a great start with Darragh Foley finding the posts from 40 metres out on the right-hand side of the field at the O’Hanrahan end of the ground. With Stephen Carroll doubling the Kilbride lead it was looking good for the outsiders.
Ballon warmed to the task. They did shoot two wides in succession but they were getting close. Captain, Brendan Fanning, showed the way with a point from play which was followed by two further points through Conor Bolger and Jim Nolan.
Peter Zerafa scored the first goal when he took a pass from Bolger to hit the net from close range on 16 minutes. Six minutes later, the full-forward goaled again with the assist coming from Bolger.
The two-goal scorer changed roles setting up two points for Bolger and another for Liam Brennan to leave the eventual winners 2-7 to 0-4 ahead at the break.
Five minutes into the second half, Kilbride had a chance to get back into the game when they were awarded a penalty but Darragh Foley pulled his shot wide of the left-hand upright. It was a three-pointer badly needed and Ballon made it a four-point turnaround when Evan Corr converted a free at the other end.
There was further misfortune for Kilbride when Daniel Bolger’s close-range shot came back of the left-hand upright with goal written all over it. Kilbride continued to enjoy their short period of dominance scoring three points on the trot from Bolger, Foley and Jack Fitzgerald.
Ballon weathered the attempted comeback and while they didn’t bother the scoreboard too much they had the majority of the possession to make sure of their place in the final. A late Kevin Maher goal for the red and whites just emphasised their dominance.
P Zerafa 2-0, C Bolger 0-3, K Maher 1-0, M O’Leary, B Fanning, E Corr, L Brennan 0-2 each, J Nolan 0-1.
D Foley 0-4 (1f), J Fitzgerald 0-2, M O’Brien, S Carroll D Bolger 0-1 each
: Colm Barry; Joshua Fernandez, Lorcan Doyle, Johnny Maher; Jimmy Carroll, Fionn McCaffrey, Brendan Fanning; Jim Nolan, Conor Bolger; Myles Hutton, Evan Corr, Dan O’Connor; Liam Brennan, Peter Zerafa, Shane Duffy. Subs: Corey Kelleher for Carroll (35), Kevin Maher for Zerafa (37), Michael O’Leary for Brennan (47), David Wilson for Hutton (47), Paddy Byrne for O’Connor (58).
Michael Brown; Sean Foley, Mark Curry, Michael O’Brien; Brendan Butler, Tom Donald, Jack Ryan; Joe Waters, Darragh Foley; Pierce Deane, Eoin Nolan, Stephen Curry; Daniel Bolger, Stephen Carroll, Griffin Kennedy. Subs: Jack Fitzgerald for S Curry (16), Alan Curry for Kennedy (33), James Foley For Butler (37), Jack Cranny for Deane (58), Chris Buckley for Ryan (58).
Brian Deering (Rathvilly).
