ACFL: Ballinagh down depleted Rories

Ballinagh 0-10
Belturbet 0-4

Ballinagh bounced back from their disappointing opening defeat to Killeshandra in the ACFL Division One to claim two points at the expense of a depleted Belturbet side last Sunday afternoon at Rory O\'Moore Park.

Brian Comiskey\'s men were hands down the deserved winners of this encounter as they raced into a seven-point lead at half-time, with Paul Galligan in fine scoring form from wing-forward in the first-half, against the hosts, who were without injured county duo Brendan Fitzpatrick (hamstring) and Eoin McGuigan (ankle) and were also forced to play for 50 minutes without their talisman Jason O\'Reilly after the full-forward pulled up with a hamstring injury in the opening stages.

O\'Reilly had been instrumental in the opening score of the game after shrugging off the attentions of two men and releasing Johnny Higgins down the left side from where the midfielder sent the ball high and between the posts.

From there, Ballinagh took over with Padraic O\'Reilly, who is set to be a big loss to Tommy Carr after withdrawing himself from the Cavan senior set-up recently, superb at centre-field, as well his brother Niall O\'Reilly and Patrick Carroll in the central positions of the defence.

The visitors\' posted their response within a minute when Anthony Gaynor\'s run from wing-back drew Paul Galligan\'s marker and the attacker was given yards to pop the ball over the bar once the tenacious defender released him down the right. A Colin Gumley free steered Ballinagh in front and when Galligan registered his second in as many minutes they were three to the good.

Belturbet worked for a reply, but in doing so they were dealt a massive blow when O\'Reilly pulled up on the ten-minute mark and had to be replaced by Conor Walsh, who was stationed at centre-forward when he came on with Kevin McConnell being moved to the edge of the square.

Meanwhile, Ballinagh stuck to the plan and fired over two more scores to extend their lead to four on 13 minutes. First Niall O\'Reilly pulled off brave work from centre-back to find Kevin Smith, who cut in from the left flank and booted over before Galligan raised his third white flag.

The home side couldn\'t string the same sort of passes together to respond in kind and Ballinagh punished them on the scoreboard for it.

Gumley\'s second accurately placed ball flew over the bar and Galligan again proved the tormentor for the Rories, as good work from Gaynor and Rory Brennan allowed the former county senior to fly on to a pass from the number 15 and boot over another in what was an excellent ten-minute individual spell.

Brennan was again the provider on 20 minutes when he set-up Smith for Ballinagh\'s eighth, as they strolled into a seemingly unassailable lead.

McConnell pulled back a badly needed score for Belturbet a minute afterwards, when he showcased his power by bursting past two opposing defenders to strike a nice point, but it was the men in Saffron that would have the last say on the eve of half-time, as Terry Smith belied his defensive duties to rush forward from wing-back and clip over another score so as Ballinagh would have a 0-9 to 0-2 lead to work with in the second-half.

To no surprise, Belturbet re-jigged for the turn over and brought Damien O\'Reilly to the centre of the field and moved veteran Ollie Donohoe up to full-forward, while Ballinagh introduced Micky Ward for Smith in a straight swap to their defence.

A free from Enda Henry three minutes into the restart brought the difference down to six for Belturbet, but two fine blocks from Niall O\'Reilly and Killian McBride on Gareth Fitzpatrick and Henry, respectively, kept them from making it a four-point game soon afterwards.

Instead the Rories were made settle for a well-struck \'45\' from new goalkeeper David Greene - a native of Donegal - two minutes shy of the final quarter.

However, Ballinagh registered their only score of a dire second-half with 13 minutes to go when Gumley held his nerve for an important free, which sent them back six points in front, after Padraic O\'Reilly had made an excellent run forward from midfield.

The winners were guilty of some carelessness in possession towards the closing stages, but they could almost afford to be with Belturbet unable to punish them in the same way they had been for the majority of the opening 30 minutes, as Ballinagh knew by time the long whistle was sounded that they had caught their opponents on a good day.

Belturbet: David Greene (0-1, \'45\'); Peter Shannon, Damien O\'Reilly, Stuart Murphy; Daryl Dolan, Shane Corby, Gareth McDonald; Johnny Higgins (0-1), Ollie Donohoe; JJ Murphy, Kevin McConnell (0-1), Mark Teevan; Enda Henry (0-1, 1f), Jason O\'Reilly, Gareth Fitzpatrick. Subs: Conor Walsh

Ballinagh: Darragh McCarthy; Killian McBride, Patrick Carroll, Anthony Duffy; Terry Smith (0-1), Niall O\'Reilly, Anthony Gaynor; Alan Durkin, Padraic O\'Reilly; Paul Galligan (0-4), Niall McDermott, Kevin Smith (0-2); Colin Gumley (0-3, 3f), Declan Beard, Rory Brennan. Subs: Micky Ward, Nevin McKiernan.

Referee: Brian Crowe