Ballina meet their match in dominant Commercials

GAA: FBD Insurance County Senior Football Championship Quarter Finals

Clonmel Commercials 4-17

Ballina 0-7

Report: Michael Dundon in Templemore

Ballina endured a torrid hour on Saturday as they suffered a twenty-two points loss to reigning champions Clonmel Commercials in the County Senior Football Championship quarter final.

Last year’s intermediate champions went into this game as outsiders but, following impressive showings in the round-robin series, were expected to push the holders all the way.

However, expectations were way off the mark as Commercials took control from the very start and their place in the semi-finals was virtually assured after just eighteen minutes.

In a nutshell, Ballina could not match the hunger, pace, and intensity of the Clonmel boys who on this form will be the hottest of favourites to retain their title. No one could fault Ballina for effort, but Commercials were in a different class and totally dominated the game from start to finish.

The Clonmel lads had four points on the board before Eoghan Power opened Ballina’s account after sixteen minutes but two minutes later came the beginning of the end for the North side as Colman Kennedy profited from a misplaced Ballina kick-out to career through for a goal and a 1-5 to 0-1 lead.

Given the pattern of the game, it was hard to see Ballina extracting themselves from this situation and when they went in at half-time 0-3 to 1-10 down, the writing was on the wall for them. They had started without influential attacker David Kelly (travel) and to add to their woes they lost Paddy O’Donovan (21mins) and Michael Grace (28mins) to injuries. To say they faced an uphill struggle in the second half is something of an understatement.

But Ballina have shown great resilience in their rise from junior champions in 2021, to intermediate champions last year, and when they had two early points from Bernard King and Charlie King at the start of the second half, one wondered if they could cause the champions a few headaches. They didn’t. Commercials picked up where they left off at half-time, and a goal from Sean O’Connor after 44 minutes had them 2-14 to 0-5 ahead.

It got worse for Ballina as two minutes later, O’Connor set up Colman Kennedy for Commercials’ third goal and shortly afterwards Kennedy was provider as Michael Quinlivan netted their fourth.

Battling Ballina finished with points from Teddy Doyle and Josh Egan but by then Commercials were giving game time to their fringe men and Ballina’s campaign was over.

Ballina will be disappointed at having taken such a hammering but can take great encouragement from their first experience of senior football competition. They may not yet be ready to mix it with the big guns, but they are by no means out of their depth at this level in the county.

Clonmel Commercials set the bar high and now Ballina know what they must do if they are to take their situation to another level. They will surely benefit from this years’ experience.

Even at full strength, they would not have matched Commercials. They had Steven O’Brien operating at full forward but with little quality ball coming his way, he got no chance to seriously influence the game and limped off injured near the finish. Tom Lee, in the number eleven shirt, played a deep role to try to shore up the defence but Commercials’ range of options was too extensive to close off all avenues. Teddy Doyle, Eoghan Power, Conor Power and Sam Loughran all did their utmost to stem the unceasing tide surging against them.

Clonmel Commercials have been racking up big scores all through the campaign and, barring a huge upset, look sure to retain their title. There is an energy and hunger about them, which allied to their abundance of talent, makes this a most formidable side with match-winners in plenty.

Colman Kennedy, with two goals and an assist, was their top man but Michael Quinlivan was in the kind of form that made him such an exciting player a few years back. These, along with Tadhg Condon, Rory O’Dowd, Cathal Deely, Kevin Fahey, and Jack Kennedy were the driving forces in this success.

Player of the Match: Colman Kennedy (Clonmel Commercials)

Clonmel Commercials: Michael O’Reilly (6); Rory O’Dowd (7), Tadhg Condon (0-1, 7), James Morris (6); Kevin Fahey (0-2, 7), Seamus Kennedy (6), Padriac Louram (6); Cathal Deely (0-2, 7), Jack Kennedy (0-6, 5f, 7); Peter McGarry (6), Colman Kennedy (2-2, 9), Conal Kennedy (6); Ross Peters (6), Michael Quinlivan (1-3, 8), Sean O’Connor (1-1, 6).

Subs: Jamie Peters (6) for O’Dowd (34); Aldo Matassa (6) for R Peters (43); Ciaran Cannon (6) for Louram (48); Sean Kennedy (6) for McGarry (50), Cian Smith (NR) for Colman Kennedy (54).

Ballina: Jerry O’Brien (6); Sam Loughran (7), James Hanley (6), Terry O’Halloran (6); Paddy O’Donovan (6), Teddy Doyle (0-1f, 7), Conor Power (7); Michael Breen (6), Michael Grace (6); Charlie King (0-1, 6), Tom Lee (7), Eoghan Power (0-1, 7); Bernard King (0-3f, 6), Steven O’Brien (6), Cathal O’Donnell (6).

Subs: David Coughlan (6) for O’Donovan (21 inj); Matthew Power (6) for Grace (28 inj); Harry Byrne (6) for O’Halloran (35); Corey Ryan (6) for O’Brien (46); Josh Egan (0-1, 7) for Ryan (50).

Referee: Sean Everard (Moyne-Templetuohy).