Ballina power to first North Premier Intermediate title

GAA: Munster Solar North Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Final

Ballina 1-24

Burgess 1-15

Report: Liam Hogan at MacDonagh Park, Nenagh

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Jack Collins (Ballina)

SCORERS - Ballina: Matthew Power 0-10 (7 frees); Billy Collins 0-3; Brian Bourke 1-0; David Kelly, Charlie King, Cathal O’Donnell 0-2 each; Josh Egan, Michael Breen, Paddy Bradley 0-1 each.

Burgess: Stephen Murray 0-10 (7 frees, 1’65); Stephen Kirwan 1-0; Bill O’Flaherty, David Nealon 0-2 each; Eoin Grace 0-1.

Playing with great zest and fervour, Ballina crushed neighbours Burgess with a scintillating display of hurling to win their first North Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling title on Sunday.

There was nothing left to chance by the Shannonsiders who, despite falling three points behind after eight minutes, took control going five in front after 23 minutes before settling for a 1-11 to 0-10 lead at half time.

The margin remained between two and four points throughout the opening ten minutes of the second half, but a gap began to appear with the winners grabbing four unanswered points between the 42nd & 52nd minutes. The concession of a Stephen Kirwan goal in the 58th minute gave Burgess hope but there was no holding Ballina as they were winners from far out.

The final whistle gave their supporters, both young and old, good reason to celebrate. The club don’t win adult hurling competitions too often. Their last time was capturing the North and County Intermediate double in 2013. Based on the evidence of this success, their supporters could well see a county title in the offing later on in the season.

It was a complete team performance, to be exact, an eighteen man one including the subs bench, with Simon Grace excellent in goals. David Kelly covered acres of ground in the middle of the field while Matthew Power was unerring from frees and play. That’s not forget the great displays of their winning captain Michael Breen who was lord and master at full back, while Jack Collins, as sweeper, was simply brilliant and deserving of the man of the match award.

So, what happened Burgess? They entered the game as strong favourites. Then again, it’s not the year for favourites! Very few answered the call, with the exception of Ronan Tucker, Johnny Mulqueen, Eoin Grace and David Nealon. Losing Keith Nealon through injury mid-way through the first half didn’t help either. He was a major loss.

In addition, Burgess failed in front of the posts with their wides tally reaching twelve by hours end with the normally brilliant Stephen Murray missing three from placed balls. Put simply, the Burgess attack met a very resilient Ballina backline and could never find a way of breaking down a well organised defence.

The game was fourteen seconds old when Bill O’Flaherty had Burgess on the scoreboard quickly followed by two Stephen Murray scores, the second from play.

Simon Grace found great length and accuracy with his puckouts, and Billy Collins scored Ballina’s opener thirty seconds later before Murray quickly replied with a brilliant delivery from the left wing.

Play continued at pace as Burgess looked every bit the side that easily defeated Moneygall in the semi-final with Stephen Kirwan availing of a breaking ball before forcing Simon Grace to save brilliantly from close range. Ballina cleared their lines and continued to curb the early deficit as David Kelly and Billy Collins added points by the sixth minute.

From there, the sign of what was to come became more obvious as Zak Egan, Michael Breen, Terry O’Halloran, and Jack Collins were very much gaining prominence over their opponents, and at the other end, Michael Power brought the sides level on eight minutes.

Three minutes later, David Kelly gave Ballina the lead after good work by Billy Collins, but Burgess drew level after Tony Dunne linked up with Bill O’Flaherty to score in the 12th minute. One minute later, Josh Egan had Ballina in front with the corner forward showing good footwork before the equally proficient Matthew Power doubled the Ballina lead.

Murray missed the target with a long distance free before Power forced Ronan Tucker to make a very good save at the expense of a 65 which Power hit wide.

A Kieran Grace point narrowed the gap, but Power increased the margin. Murray replied with a free after David Nealon was fouled once again as the corner forward was trouble for the Ballina defence.

One of the critical advantages Ballina enjoyed was winning the fifty-fifty battles and Brian Bourke impressed with his aerial ability and he had much more to his bow as an attack led by David Kelly saw the midfielder link with Bourke who found the back of the net in the 21st minute, 1-8 to 0-7.

Matthew Power increased the lead to five. Murray replied after Nealon was fouled again before the lead was back to five after Power’s free from the wing before the half drew to a close with both Murray and Power successful from frees.

The second half began with a David Nealon point in the 32nd minute. Another Burgess attack yielded a 65 when Bill O’Flaherty was denied by a close marking defender allowing Murray to convert.

Points by Michael Breen and Paddy Bradley had Ballina back four in front but another Murray free reduced the margin following a Stephen Kirwan run through the middle. However, Ballina never panicked as the lengthy puckout by Simon Grace found Charlie King free to score in the 39th minute.

Ballina decided to introduce fresh blood with Cathal O’Donnell replacing the hard-working Paddy Bradley and after Stephen Murray pointed a free for a foul on Kirwan it was O’Donnell waiting to respond with his first touch of the ball.

Burgess replied but Eoin Grace was off target with his team’s eleventh wide before Ballina hit top gear to see their lead increase to eight after Matthew Power pointed two frees either side of a Billy Collins score from play, 1-19 to 0-14.

Burgess staged a mini comeback, starting with O’Flaherty driving wide before Donal Nealon fired over his second point in the 57th minute. One minute later, Burgess were back in the game when Kirwan raced on to a through ball before batting the ball to the net after as the Ballina defence had gone asleep.

However, the champions-in-waiting didn’t wait too long for an answer as Cathal O’Donnell continued to make his mark on the game, firstly by scoring his second point, before winning a free, allowing Matthew Power to convert.

With the game deep in added time, Ballina were hungry for more as Burgess could do nothing to stem the tide except concede two more frees which Matthew Power delighted in bisecting the posts each time.

Ballina were the champions and deservedly so but they celebrations will be short lived as they take on Burgees again next Friday in the opening round of the County Championship. A mouth-watering prospect!

TEAMS - Ballina: Simon Grace (8); Paul McKeogh (7), Michael Breen (8), David Coughlan (7); Zak Egan (8), Jack Collins (8), Terry O’Halloran (7); David Kelly (8), Thomas Shanahan (7); Charlie King (7), Billy Collins (8), Brian Bourke (8); Josh Egan (7), Paddy Bradley (7), Matthew Power (8).

Subs: Cathal O’ Donnell (8) for Bradley (41); Steven O’Brien (6) for Bourke (50); Michael Grace (6) for Shanahan (56); JP MBokha Tansia (6) for J Egan (59).

Burgess: Ronan Tucker (7); Daire Hogan (6), Kieran Ryan (7), Willie Ryan (6); Keith Nealon (7), Michael Ryan (6), Johnny Mulqueen (7); Eoin Grace (6), Stephen Murray (6); Stephen Kirwan (7), Tony Dunne (6), Diarmuid O’Donoghue (6); David Nealon (7), Bill O’Flaherty (6), Kieran Grace (6).

Subs: Sean Dunne (6) for K Nealon (15 inj); Aidan O’Dwyer (6) for W Ryan (46); Eoin Hogan (7) for E Grace (53).

Referee: Ger Fitzpatrick (Roscrea).