Second-half Gortnahoe goal blitz sinks Ballina

GAA: FBD Insurance Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Quarter Final

Gortnahoe-Glengoole 2-24

Ballina 2-19

Report: James Hayden

at Fr. Kenyon Park, Templederry

Two quick-fire goals inside ninety seconds provided the platform for a fully deserved Gortnahoe-Glengoole victory over Ballina in what proved an absorbing County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship quarter-final on Saturday afternoon.

Trailing by just a point at the break, the Mid champions took the game to Ballina in the second half with two quick-fire Ronan Teehan goals in the 39th & 40th minutes providing Keith Corbett’s charges with the necessary impetus to push on and register a fully deserved five-point victory.

Ballina came into this encounter on the back of a preliminary quarter-final victory over Thurles Sarsfields, but the North champions came up against a far more nuanced outfit on this occasion in the guise of a well-drilled, pacy and skilful Gortnahoe/Glengoole side.

Credit to Adrian Hurley’s side they matched Gortnahoe throughout a nip and tuck opening half which saw Ballina establish a deserved early lead following three unanswered points from Matthew Power, with two coming from frees and the third a sublime effort from play.

Keane Hayes, who proved a constant thorn in Ballina’s side, opened his account with a seventh minute free before the outstanding Ronan Teehan chipped with the first point of a 2-6 haul from play.

Teehan was on hand minutes later to rattle the Ballina crossbar with a driving shot before they eventually cleared their lines with Simon Grace’s long-range free out of defence breaking kindly for Charlie King. Ballina's pacy corner-forward gathered well and finished low into the right-hand corner of the Gortnahoe net to fire his side into a 1-3 to 0-2 lead with twelve minutes elapsed.

Gortnahoe settled however, and with the aid of a slight breeze, points from Ronan Teehan, Adrian Maher, and a booming long-range effort from full-back Davy Nolan they were back on terms by the 19th minute.

Matthew Power (free) and Teehan exchanged points before three on the bounce from Ballina captain, Steven O’Brien, corner-forward Josh Egan and midfielder Thomas Shanahan fired the lake-siders three clear by the 24th minute.

The momentum quickly swung back in the favour of Mid champions however with four unanswered points firing the men in red back into the lead once more with Ronan Teehan, Conor Gleeson, Fionn Cleary, and Adrian Maher all firing over impressive efforts from all sectors of the pitch.

Midfielder Billy Collins landed a well-struck riposte to bring Ballina level for the fourth time before Simon Grace departed from his netminding duties to fire over a long-range free deep in time added on to ensure the North champions took a slender 1-11 to 1-13 advantage to the dressing rooms.

Charlie King doubled that advantage straight from the re-start with a sweetly arrowed effort but Gortnahoe were back on terms once more thanks to points from Bryan Maher and Aidan Guilfoyle.

Successive Keane Hayes (free) and Ronan Teehan points edged Gortnahoe into 36th minute lead before Hayes added a 39th minute effort as the Mid men began to really turn the screw.

With Ronan Teehan now operating at full-forward, Gortnahoe seized their opportunity on 38 minutes when he tore straight through the heart of the Ballina defence, leaving both Michael Breen and Zak Egan in his wake before unleashing an unstoppable shot straight to the back of the net.

Less than sixty seconds later, Ballina were rocked once more by another Teehan major, yet another cracking finish from the former U-21 county hurler firing Gortnahoe into a commanding 2-18 to 1-13 lead.

The two quick-fire goals served to totally knock the wind out of Ballina’s sails and despite their best efforts they were chasing the game entirely from this juncture on.

A trio of efforts from David Kelly, Eoghan Power and Billy Collins in and around the 50-minute mark served to reduce the deficit to four but Gortnahoe responded once again with three points without reply from Kean Hayes (free), Damien Corbett and Ronan Teehan.

With time ticking away, Gortnahoe kept the scoreboard moving as Ballina went in search of goals in a bid to close a yawning eight-point chasm. It wasn’t to be for the North champions though and despite a late consolation goal from the stick of Eoghan Power deep in injury time Ballina bowed out of the championship with a polished Gortnahoe/Glengoole side deservedly progressing to this year’s county semi-finals.

Impressive for Ballina were Simon Grace, David Kelly, Jack Collins, Charlie King, Matthew Power and Eoghan Power while Rona Teehan, Keane Hayes, Adrian Maher, Davy Nolan and Brian Maher were very much to the fore for Gortnahoe-Glengoole.

Player of the Match: Ronan Teehan (Gortnahoe/Glengoole)

Gortnahoe/Glengoole: Timmy Dunne (7); Philly Purcell (6), Davy Nolan (0-1, 7), Davy Lanigan (7); Karl Campion (7), Brian Maher (0-1, 7), Fionn Cleary (0-1, 7); Jack Moore (0-1, 7); Conor Gleeson (0-1, 7); Adrian Maher (0-3, 8), Ronan Teehan (2-6, 9), Aidan Guilfoyle (0-1, 7); Damien Corbett (0-1, 7), Darragh Maher (6), Kean Hayes (0-8, 5f, 8).

Subs: Billy Hogan (6) for D Maher (52); Liam Hayes (NR) for Corbett (57); Gearoid Fahey (NR) for Guilfoyle (60); Bobby Doheny (NR) for Moore (60+3).

Ballina: Simon Grace (0-1f, 7); Paul McKeogh (7), Zak Egan (7), David Coughlan (7); David Kelly (0-2, 1f, 7), Michael Breen (7), Terry O’Halloran (7); Thomas Shanahan (0-1, 7), Jack Collins (7); Charlie King (1-2, 8), Billy Collins (0-2, 7), Eoghan Power (1-3, 8); Josh Egan (0-1, 7), Steven O’Brien (0-1, 7), Matthew Power (0-6, 5f, 7).

Subs: Cathal O’Donnell (6) for M Power (43); Paddy Bradely (6) for Shanahan (52).

Referee: Shane O’Neill (St. Mary’s).