Fighting Cocks at their ease against brave Ballinabrana
A battle between the two full forwards as Glenn O'Rourke and David Cox vie for possession. Photos: Pat Ahern.
The Fighting Cocks survived a shaky start but recovered well to record an easy win in this intermediate football championship fourth round game at The Training Centre on Saturday.
With three defeats in as many games Ballinabranna have had a miserable championship so far but they seemed to have put that all behind them when accelerating into a 1-2 to 0-0 lead after only four minutes.
Ceilum Darcy and Bobby Daly raised white flags for the outsiders and it got better for them when Liam Ryan converted a penalty after Cormac O’Hara was upended just inside the big square.
An Aaron Dowling free got last year’s junior champions off the mark and Alex Gordon was rewarded for his enterprise when coming from deep he was involved in a move which saw him punch over from a difficult angle on the left at the Fenagh end of the ground.
Liam Sheppard had a goal chance but the Cocks midfielder was unable to pull the trigger against a wide awake defence. Instead another passing movement ended with Glen O’Rourke raising a white flag.
Ballinabranna then swooped for another goal when Daly managed to squeeze the ball inside the left-hand post for what could be described as an opportunist moment. Unfortunately for Ballinabranna the strike did more to waken the Cocks then giving momentum to themselves.
Emmet Moran flashed over two points in as many minutes at the start of the second quarter. Sheppard had another goal chance but his rocket came back off the upright. Again, The Cocks ability to get defenders forward paid dividends when Dylan Ruane latched onto the loose ball and scored from close range.
At the interval the Cocks led 1-8 to 2-2. Ballinabranna supporters were surely wondering how their bright start still saw them trailing by those three points at the change of ends.
The Cocks turned the screw within minutes of the restart when Moling English Hayden was on hand to score a second Cocks goal. It won’t be lost on future opposition analysts that once again it was a defender who raised that green flag. Moran and Dowling tacked on further points for the eventual winners.
Ballinabranna persisted and were rewarded when Paul Fitzgerald scored a third Ballinabranna goal to leave the score at 2-10 to 3-2 in favour of The Cocks. It was reminder that nothing is over until it’s over. The winners had further points through Fagan and Dowling which meant they did not have a nervy ending.
Daly did score another Ballinabranna point but it was window dressing and nothing else.
After the slow start, The Cocks were impressive. They are building up a nice bit of momentum at this stage and will be a match for any side who has intermediate championship ambitions.
A Dowling 0-5, E Moran 0-3, D Ruane, M E Hayden 1-0 each, C Fagan 0-2, A Gordon, G O’Rourke 0-1 each.
B Daly 1-2, P Fitzgerald 1-0, C Darcy 0-1.
Seamus Hogan; Sean McGrath, Conor Ruane, Dylan Ruane; Alex Gordon, William Kelly, Moling English Hayden; Cormac McElligott, Liam Sheppard; Mattie Dowling, Jack McDonald, Emmet Moran; Cillian Fagan, Glen O’Rourke, Aaron Dowling.
Padraig Eustace for D Ruane (40), Sam Meyler for Gordon (40), Michael Shanahan for McGrath (40), Cian O’Byrne for McDonald (53), Niall Fitzpatrick for Fagan (57).
Cian McDonald; Tom McDonald, Brian Cox, Jake Gorman; Ceilum Darcy, Jimmy Cahill, Andy Mulleney; Ben Kavanagh, Bobby Daly (junior); Paddy Meaney, Colin Byrne, Cormac O’Hara; Paul Fitzgerald, David Cox, Liam Ryan.
Jack Dunne for T McDonald (37), Daniel Dunne for Meaney (38), Robert Sansom for Byrne (52), Colm McAllister for Darcy (58).
Brian Deering (Rathvilly).
