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*David McNamara picks out a pass as Mossy Gavin tries to get a block in. Photograph: Ruth Griffin
TO EMERGE from the ‘Group of Death’ unscathed was no mean achievement as Éire Óg completed a flawless group campaign in a far from flawless war of attrition with Ballyea in Cusack Park.
Éire Óg 0-19
Ballyea 0-17
Venue: Cusack Park
Following back-to-back victories over Clooney-Quin and Clonlara, the Ennis side were firmly in control of their own destiny but that didn’t manifest itself in terms of game management for long periods for the first half at least as aside from the unerring consistency of Danny Russell, they appeared quite rudderless, particularly up front in the absence of chief target and threat Shane O’Donnell.
The Townies did rally sufficiently for the new half, with Darren O’Brien and David Reidy adding more bite to their attack before having to spring the aforementioned National Player of the Year in waiting to finally shake off an obstinate Ballyea, scoring one before teeing up Russell for their final score.
Inevitably, in a repeat of the 2022 decider, Ballyea made this a battle and considering that they were essentially down to bare bones, it was an admirable accomplishment in itself as main protagonists Niall Deasy and Tony Kelly took the game to their opponents in the opening period to soar as much as four clear while it was their inspirational defensive cavalry of Gearoid O’Connell and Jack Browne that kept them within striking distance.
It was far from a straight forward contest but overall, having dug out three successive victories by a puck of a ball with a hatful of newcomers, this has been a major shot-in-the-arm for Éire Óg’s bid to finally end their seemingly interminable Canon Hamilton famine that is now in its 34 year.
With Deasy (4), Kelly and Gearoid O’Connell (2) leading the charge, Ballyea opened up an 0-8 to 0-4 advantage by the midway mark of the opening half and maintained that margin for the bulk of the second quarter at 0-10 to 0-06.
Crucially however, Éire Óg picked off the last two points of the half, both from the stick of chief architect Danny Russell (0-10 to 0-08) while they had wiped out the deficit within the opening minutes of the new half when Darren O’Brien and Oran Cahill fired over points to level matters for only the third time.
Ballyea initially resisted through Deasy but as the third quarter developed, Éire Óg began to incrementally turn the screw as four unanswered points through Russell (2), David Reidy and substitute Eoin O’Regan catapulted the Ennis side into the ascendency for the first time at 0-14 to 0-11.
True to form and character, Ballyea refused to yield and got the gap down to the minimum on three occasions in the final quarter. Needing nothing short of a six point victory to seal a quarter-final spot at the expense of their neighbours, Tony Kelly went for broke with a 20 metre free but found marker Aaron Fitzgerald in stubborn mood to repel the powerful effort.
The introduction of O’Donnell did provide some much-needed assurance as he along with Danny Russell restored a three point cushion entering injury-time, with Ballyea failing to trouble Darragh Stack’s goal for the remainder before Fergal Ginnane’s last gasp delivery towards the square just inching over the bar for a consolation point.
Éire Óg go into Monday’s quarter-final draw as the seeded team which means that they will avoid the other group winners in the last eight but equally no-one will want to face a resurgent Clonlara who are clearly smarting from the defeat to the Townies.
Scorers for Éire Óg: Danny Russell 0-9 (6f, 1sl), Oran Cahill 0-3, Darren O’Brien 0-2, David Reidy 0-2, Liam Corry 0-1, Eoin O’Regan 0-1, Shane O’Donnell 0-1
Scorers for Ballyea: Niall Deasy 0-6 (5f), Tony Kelly 0-3 (1f), Gearoid O’Connell 0-3, Cian Kirby 0-2, Jack Browne 0-2 (2f), Fergal Ginnane 0-1
Éire Óg
1: Darragh Stack
2: Liam Corry
3: Aaron Fitzgerald
4: Niall McMahon
7: Oran Cahill
6: Ciaran Russell
5: Robert Loftus
8: Jarlath Collins
9: David McNamara
10: David Reidy
12: Darren O’Brien
19: Fionan Treacy
15: James O’Dwyer
11: Danny Russell
13: Conor Perrill
Subs
17: Eoin O’Regan for O’Dwyer (HT)
18: Luca Cleary for Perrill (38)
14: Shane O’Donnell for Treacy (50)
27: Gavin Cooney for C. Russell (55, inj)
25: Luke Malice for McMahon (59)
Ballyea
1: Barry Coote
3: Peter Casey
2: Paul Flanagan
9: Cillan Gavin
5: Gearoid O’Connell
6: Jack Browne
10: Cathal O’Connor
8: Thomas Kelly
11: Tony Kelly
14: Niall Deasy
15: Mossy Gavin
12: Tadhg Ó hUallacháin
13: Cian Kirby
23: Aonghus Keane
7: Aaron Griffin
Subs
4: Fergal Ginnane for O’Connor (19, inj)
21: Eoghan Donnellan for Keane (HT)
26: Kieran McDonnell for Griffin (HT)
19: Cian Meaney for Ó hUallacháin (43)
Referee: Eoghan O’Leary (Whitegate)
