The north Meath men got off to a good start when Derek Muldoon split the posts in the opening minute, but the lead was short lived as Simonstown opened their account with a well taken goal. The home side went on to dominate the opening half, finding the net on another two occasions. They could have found themselves even further in front, but for a fantastic penalty save by Lorcan Gibney in the Ballinlough goal. Ken Rothwell and Daire Farrelly added points for the Reds before the change of ends, to leave eight points between the sides.
Any hope of a second half comeback were quickly dashed, when Simonstown scored a fourth goal shortly after the restart. The Lough continued to fight to the end though, with Kevin Beirne and Johnny Reilly finding the back of the net to reduce the deficit.
Gibney also managed to expertly keep out a second penalty before the final whistle, showing great potential for his age.
With many regulars to come back to this Ballinlough side, they can hope to achieve better results going forward.
Ballinlough: L. Gibney, J. O’ Higgins, J. O’Reilly, M. Farrell, O. Brady, N. Farrelly, P. Farrelly, K. Beirne, D. Muldoon, N. Finlay, J. Reilly, D. Farrelly, J. Tunney, K. Rothwell, D. Lynch.