Mayo Super League
By Patrick Hennelly
Ballinrobe Town 0
Iorras Aontaithe 3
BALLINROBE TOWN’S
first home game of the Super League season ended in disappointment, as an
experienced display from Iorras Aontaithe saw Eric Reilly’s charges return
from South Mayo with the full quotation of league points, which were on offer on
Saturday evening.
Aontaithe showed no
sign of the effects of a long journey to The Green and they began the game with
gusto. Gareth O’Malley tested the alertness of Damien Fitzpatrick as early as
the sixth minute, when he forced the Ballinrobe custodian to make a routine
save.
Eric Reilly also
tried his luck during the early exchanges and on 10 minutes his free-kick was
just narrowly over the crossbar.
Ballinrobe were
struggling with their crisp passing and they failed to really trouble the
visitors in the final third of the pitch.
Aontaithe on the
other hand, were comfortable whilst in possession and on 13 minutes they
plundered the lead. A long defence splitting ball from the Iorras back-four,
found Ivan Barrett and the deadly striker made no mistake as he finished with
panache past the despairing dive of Damien Fitzpatrick.
Less then a minute
later, the visitors doubled their goal tally, as the hosts were caught napping.
Again it was route one football but effective nonetheless as Ivan Barrett
pilfered possession before ghosting past the home defence and sliding the
leather to the back of the red and white net.
On 21 minutes,
Ballinrobe created their first chance of note of the game. The ball broke kindly
for Shane Donnellan but he saw his crisp volley fizz agonisingly wide off the
mark.
Ballinrobe’s Enda
Reilly forced Paul Reilly into action less than a minute later, as the
former’s shot was saved at the second attempt by the Iorras net-minder.
Following the
half-time pep-talks, Ballinrobe upped it a notch, however they were caught out
baldy for Iorras’ third goal on 55 minutes. A free-kick from Brendan Nallen
was eagerly won by the unmarked O’Malley and the latter had the simple task of
meeting the ball with a glancing header, which sailed into the top corner of
Damien Fitzpatrick’s net.
Soon after, the red
and white could well have pegged a goal back. An in-swinging corner from
Donnellan, found Shane O’Malley but his cushioned header flew narrowly off the
mark.
For the remainder of
the game, Ballinrobe did create some worthy opportunities; however efforts from
Kevin Keane, Dave McDonnell and O’Malley, failed to find their intended target
and in the end Iorras weathered the late Ballinrobe storm, much to the dismay of
the hosts.
Ballinrobe
Town: Damien Fitzpatrick, Shane
O’Malley, Maurice Walsh, Dave McDonnell, John Fitzpatrick, Kevin Keane, Enda
Reilly, James McTigue, Shane Donnellan, J. P. O’Gorman, Padraig Feerick.
Subs: Pawel Kurleto
for Feerick (half-time), Damien Walsh for J. Fitzpatrick (61).
Iorras
Aontaithe: Paul Reilly, Steven
Nallen, Liam Donohue, David Reilly, John Gaughan, Anthony Padden, Brendan
Nallen, Pat Barrett, Eric Reilly, Ivan Barrett, Gareth O’Malley.
Subs: Seamus
O’Malley for Donohue, Oisin Murphy for Padden (both 68), Anthony Mills for
O’Malley (78).
Referee: Lima McEntee.