Killererin 0-9 Ballintubber 1-05:KILLERERIN WILL contest the Connacht club final after their goalkeeper Alan Keane converted a late second half 45 on a wild afternoon in Tuam.
That score helped to sink a Ballintubber team who, after a splendid opening quarter, suffered an inexplicable scoring slump and failed to take advantage of a strong second-half gale.
Alan Dillon’s 57th-minute free marked the first score for the Mayo champions for 35 minutes and although two late and almost impossible chances fell to Damien McGing and Cillian O’Connor – from a 55 metre-plus free – they left themselves with too much to do. You can bet that news travelled quickly from Tuam to wherever Pádraic Joyce is honeymooning.
Spectators scanned the programmes to quickly confirm what they already knew. Pádraic Joyce was not named in the programme and, despite rumours to the contrary, he was not in the stadium either.
Joyce has given enough to club and county to stop anyone preventing him enjoying a honeymoon but as the storm clouds gathered over Tuam and the light began to fade, one could not but think of the famous Galway forward anxiously pacing some white sand beach or tinkering around on the web in the hope of catching some of the radio reports.
Killererin could have used him here but they started in a fashion which suggested they were determined to atone for his absence.
Nicky Joyce landed two fabulous frees from in around the 50-metre line in the opening four minutes which settled the Galway champions down. They had their moments in the first half.
After a bright start by Jason Gibbons, Killererin’s Thomas Hughes became the dominant figure at midfield, hauling down plenty of ball and setting up Nicky Joyce for point number four with a huge hand pass.
Tommie Joyce – or ‘Tom the Bomb’ – slotted alongside him at midfield, another veteran of the marvel years for Galway football. Although his brother is the more heralded footballer in the family, Tommie’s contribution has been significant. Astute passing and well-timed runs showed the football brain is as sharp as ever and, in addition to his on-field duties, Joyce manages the club. Whatever he said at half-time worked a treat.
Killererin’s second half was a masterclass in organised defending and ball retention and knowing how to win a game of football that became a battle with the elements as much as anything else.
It might have been expected that Killererin would fall into siege mentality after the break but Thomas Hughes’s early point was a huge boost to their hopes. The smart money was on Ballintubber at half-time because they had looked sharp and imaginative throughout the first half, with Pádraig O’Connor curling a brilliant point from play in addition to adding 1-1 form placed balls, the goal coming from a penalty.
The move that led to that penalty illuminated the best of Ballintubber; swift, clever ball movement through Alan Plunkett, Danny Geraghty and Gary Dillon which Killererin could not live with.
Dillon was bundled to the ground and O’Connor’s strike was low and perfectly hit. With a 1-4 to 0-6 lead at half-time, they must have felt the hard work was done.
If this semi-final proved anything, it is that winter football is different. It was never a day for forwards and the sheer intensity of the Killererin back six, with Tomás Fahy exceptional, was impressive. Tommie Wilson, who has a lot of road travelled with Killererin, came in and added to the experience Ballintubber couldn’t match.
“We focused hard,” Tommie Joyce said afterwards, adding that he had been in long-distance contact with his brother for most of the week.
“He has been on the phone so many times ‘do this and do that’. But he was there in spirit and we got over the line.”
Ballintubber allowed themselves to become distracted by the sheer wildness of the day and the match. Three poor wides drained their confidence. Even so, they had a credible second-half penalty claim ignored when Ruairí O’Connor seemed to have been dragged down after he took possession of a crossfield ball from Dillon. That came two minutes after the dagger of Keane’s 45.
“We needed a score badly there and Alan really drilled it,” Joyce said afterwards.
The last minutes were furious: six minutes of added time, full-blooded tackles, plenty of frees. Killererin fouled cleverly: only once did the Mayo men have a free from a decent scoring distance.
And so a remarkable run of form and achievement comes to an end for Ballintubber, who have risen from the junior ranks of Mayo to having plenty of regrets last night about not making it to this year’s Connacht final.
It has been a remarkable few years for them and they should learn from this match. Killererin will play Roscommon champions St Brigid’s in a fortnight’s time. The senior Joyce will be back on his native shore by then.
“Oh, he will be back for that one,” his brother confirmed.
KILLERERIN: A Keane (0-1 a 45); D Flaherty, C Forde, D Kelly; I Reddington, D Manion, T Fahy; T Joyce, T Hughes (0-2); T Flynn, N Joyce (0-5, four frees), J Keane; M Boyle, J Hughes, G Butler (0-1). Subs: T Wilson for J Hughes (37 mins).
BALLINTUBBER: B Walsh; G Loftus, G Hallinan, P Earley; D Larkin, T Earley, R O’Connor; D Geraghty, J Gibbons (0-1); G Dillon, A Dillon (0-2 frees), A Plunkett; M Nestor, P O’Connor (1-2, pen one free), C O’Connor. Substitutes: D Coleman for G Dillon (45 mins), D McGing for A Plunkett (53 mins)
Referee: H Beirne.
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