Ballinderreen 4-17 Padraig Pearses 2-18
Kevin Egan, Connacht Tribune
A sensational scoring performance from Luke Prendergast was the key ingredient in Ballinderreen enjoying a comfortable victory in their first outing at Senior ‘B’ level since their relegation three years ago, far more comfortable than a final tally of 21 scores to 20 might suggest.
Last year’s intermediate champions led Pádraig Pearses by 13 points early in the second half before a late run of scores for the Bally-mac/Gurteen club undid a chunk of the scoring difference damage and gave them some element of forward momentum, in advance of what now looks like a knockout tie against Beagh next time out.
With 20 minutes played in Loughrea, Jack Barrett had just knocked over a couple of long range dead balls to help cut Ballinderreen’s lead from four points back to two, 0-7 to 0-5, and this game looked to be in the balance.
Much of Ballinderreen’s best play up to that point had been on the defensive side, with Evan Morgan and Kieran Meehan very impressive in contests for possession, while Shane Larkin came up with a vital flick to deny what looked like a goal chance for Conor Fahey. Add in a couple of bad wides for Pearses, most no-tably one disappointing effort from Ronan Bellew, and it was all in the melting pot.
Then, in the space of a quar-ter of an hour after half-time, the South Galway side outscored Pearses by 3-7 to 0-3, and this one was done and dusted.
Seán and Robbie Meehan’s control of the midfield sector was a key building block as the flow of good deliveries into the full-forward line increased, with Niall Coen popping over one from a tight angle and David O’Connor drawing a foul from Enda Cunniffe that in the inter-county game, would have yielded a black card and a penalty.
There was no mistaking the real star of the show though, and that was Luke Prender-gast. In his first year out of U-20, the injection of energy and pure attacking instinct he has brought to the team this year was noticeable, and the composure he showed to capitalise on Pádraig Lafferty’s strong run to pull the ball down onto his left and place it under-neath Fearghal Flannery was worthy of a hurler ten years older.
His finish for the next one was all about accuracy, rifled into the bottom right corner on the run, and another point before half-time, struck on the turn with all the confidence of a corner forward that had two goals in the bag on his last two possessions, helped to make it 2-11 to 0-7 at the break.
Cillian Fahey picked off the first point of the second half and Pearses had a massive chance to follow that up with a goal, but after Conor Fahey ran through, he chose to go out left to Dean Reilly instead of right to an unmarked Luke Mitchell, and Reilly had to shoot off his left from a narrow angle, allowing Michael Kelly to make a save.
Ronan Bellew missed the 65, Shane Larkin whipped over the next point, and once a Kevin Lane free went all the way to the Pearses net, Ballinderreen had the back broken on their task.
Pearses will take heart from their final quarter in which they scored 2-6. Ronan Bellew swept home a goal from a rebound and Dean Reilly filled his boots with 1-3 as he thrived after being switched to the in-side forward line, but a clever flicked goal from Niall Coen in between was enough to ensure Ballinderreen never looked like losing their lead.
Pádraig Pearses: F Flannery; E Cunniffe, E Lally, M Hennelly; T McDonagh, O Flannery, J Barrett (0-3, 0-2f, 0-1 65); C Fahey, C Raftery; R Bellew (1-5, 0-4f), D Reilly (1-6), L Mitchell (0-3); D Fahey, T Flannery, C Fahey (0-1). Subs: E Ward for D Fahey (half-time), A Bellew for McDonagh (36), J Gelston for Cillian Fahey (55).
Ballinderreen: M Kelly; H Moylan, E Moran, K Meehan; M O’Connor, A Organ, S Collins; R Meehan (0-2), S Meehan; S Larkin (0-2), K Lane (1-3, 1-1f), P Lafferty (0-3); L Prendergast (2-5), N Coen (1-1), D O’Connor (0-1). Sub: N Delaney for D O’Connor (57).
Referee: Paul Fahy.