Ballinlough made the long journey to Ratoath on Sunday with high hopes but failed to leave with any points. Ballinlough fielded a team which had a mix of youth and experience.
Ratoath…………...0-11 Ballinlough….…..1-04
Ratoath made a bright start aided by a strong wind and kicked three early points. A well worked point by centre forward Conor Briody got the scoreboard moving for the Reds. Ballinlough had a lion share of the possession in the first half but failed to make it show on the scoreboard. A late James O’Keeffe point made the half-time score read 0-5 to 0-2 to the hosts.
Ratoath made a positive start to the second half and reeled off two early scores to leave them in a comfortable position. Ballinlough responded well kicking the next two scores of the game from Seamus Fagan and Simon Deevy. A fisted David Lynch goal gave Ballinlough some hope however Ratoath got the last two scores of the game to win by four.
Best for Ballinlough on the day were; James O’Keefe, Gerard Smith, Seamus Fagan and Joey Byrne.
Ballinlough: K Mc Guinness, D Lynch (1-0), J O’Keeffe (0-1), J Higgins, J Farrelly, J Bryne, G Smith, S Fagan (0-1), K Mallon, P Briody, C Briody(0-1), B Smyth, D McNamee, S Deevy (0-1), A. Lynch. Subs: N Farrelly