Ballinlough’s disappointing run of results continued, with their third defeat in row, against Seneschalstown in Division 2 A-League in Ballinlough on Wednesday evening.
The home side will once again be disappointed with the result as their chances of promotion have petered out after a promising start to their league campaign. However they will be somewhat encouraged by their second half performance where they outscored the senior team; 0-4 to 0-3, and if Cian Mallen’s 40th minute penalty had went the other side of the goalpost they could have been right back in contention.
The difference between senior and intermediate football was clear to see in the first half as Seneschalstown moved the ball faster and found their scores far easier to come by. Ciaran Macken roamed deep on numerous occasions to collect possession and he caused the Ballinlough defence plenty of problems, his accurate passing was the catalyst for many of their scores while Robert Ruddy was also influential as midfield.
Brian Sherdian (2, 1f), Shane Clarke, Macken and Ruddy were all on target in the first 17 minutes as Seneschalstown went ahead; 0-5 to 0-0. Ken Rothwell was Ballinlough’s only real scoring threat and he kicked five of their six points, he got their first score from a free and Kevin Mallen worked hard to get another point for the home side in the 30th minute but Seneschalstown had moved well clear at this stage and were ahead; 0-8 to 0-2, at half-time.
Seneschalstown struggled to play with the same intensity in the second-half as Ballinlough enjoyed much more possession, Mark Mc Cullen was hauled down close to goal in the 40th minute and Cian Mallen had the opportunity to give his team a major boost but his penalty went the wrong side of the post. Seneschalstown punished a couple of bad misses from Ballinlough as they pulled further clear with scores from Brian Clarke and Brian Sherdian, but the home side didn’t throw in the towel. Rothwell was proving a real handful and he hit four points in quick succession (2f) to leave the home side a glimmer of hope approaching the final whistle.
Padraig Muldoon did a good man marking job on Brian Sherdian throughout; the big full-forward moved further out the field in the second half and he kicked the last score of the game from a 35 meter free for his team to run out comfortable winners.
Ballinlough: K. Mc Guinness, E. Smith, P. Muldoon, R. Farrell, B. Smith, K. Devine, G. Reilly, C. Mallen, T. Mc Cullen, S. Geraghty, M. Mc Cullen, J. O’ Higgins, S. Deevy, K. Rothwell (0-5, 3f), K. Mallen (0-1)