Juniors v Ballina – Match Report
Davitts entertained Ballina in Div 4 of the Senior League on Sunday with a late injury time goal grabbing a share of the spoils for Ballina. The result leaves Davitts in the relegation zone a point below Ballina in the league table.
After Ballina opened the scoring in the 9th minute, Davitts fired over three points via Ryan McLoughlin (2) and Aidan McTigue in the next four minutes. A sixteenth minute Ballina point was cancelled out by Stephen Nyland four minutes later and this was closely followed by a classy Darragh McGale goal and another Ryan McLoughlin point. Aidan McTigue extended Davitts lead to seven points with three minutes remaining in the first half. Ballina hit the last two scores of the half (after a Davitts point was incorrectly signalled wide) to leave the home side ahead by 1-6 to 0-4 at the break. Davitts had lost three of their forwards to injury at this stage with Ryan McLoughlin, Aidan Macken and Dara O Flaherty having to retire.
Tommy Clarke opened the second half scoring with a fine point and Ballina tagged on two points before an Aidan McTigue point restored Davitts five point lead. Ballina goaled in the 40th minute and shot two points to tie the match as it entered the final quarter.
Davitts dug deep at this stage and points from Kevin Gallagher and Aidan McTigue (2) put them three points ahead with the game heading into injury time. Disaster struck in the second minute of added time with Ballina grabbing a goal to level the match, a score that looked suspiciously like a square ball to most in the attendance, but the referee saw it differently.
Davitts, very unlucky not to win, had great performers in Kevin Gallagher, Ciaran Fahy, Tom Corless, Shane Mitchell, Ryan McLoughlin, Aidan McTigue, Tommy Clarke, Colm Roche and Darragh McGale.
Davitts: Dean Moran, Cathal Moran, Tom Corless, Gary Bourke, Jordan Flanagan, Ciaran Fahy, Kevin Gallagher (0-1), Shane Mitchell, Stephen Nyland (0-1), Ryan McLoughlin (0-3), Aidan McTigue (0-6), Tommy Clarke (0-1), Aidan Macken, Darragh McGale (1-0), Colm Roche. Subs used: Dara O Flaherty, Kelan Cosgrove, Niall Kearns, Lawrence Daly.
