Report by Oisin McGovern

Mayo Senior League Division 4 08/04/18 Ray Prendergast Memorial Park

Ballintubber 2-6 Charlestown 1-11

Our juniors failed to replicate their good showing against Ballina last week as we dropped two points to Charlestown today in a match which had been re-fixed to give us home advantage. In truth, the two-point losing margin could’ve been greater considering the lack of fluidity in our play and the goal chances that both teams failed to convert in either half.

The encounter began in the worst possible manner when sweeper John Drewdy charged forward before taking a pass and finishing assuredly past Tom McGing in the ‘Tubber goal. At the other end a chance was spurned when sublime long kick-pass David McHale sailed straight in to the grasp of James McGing, who had his shot then smothered by the Charlestown goalie. Ciaran Gavin, arguably our best player on the day, eventually pointed a free in the tenth minute to chalk up our first score. He was then unlucky to see a goal bound shot of his own blocked by the Charlestown ‘keeper.

With neither team were particularly dominant Tom McGing produced a heroic goal save to prevent corner-forward Richie Hearne from landing a killer blow on the stroke of half-time. With only two frees on the scoreboard at half-time, a serious improvement would be needed if we were to have any chance of winning on home soil. A second half goal from substitute Ray Geraghty after a David McHale assist against the run of play did provide a glimmer of hope but, in truth, we simply weren’t performing well enough as a unit to take the game to the visitors.

Despite points from brothers Hugh and Noel Geraghty, we nonetheless found ourselves trailing by six points at one stage. Indeed, the contest could easily have been put to bed when David McHale blocked a Charlestown shot on the line in the last ten minutes.

We were then handed a lifeline when Ciaran Gavin soccer-syled a rebound from Ray Geraghty into the Charlestown net to bring the deficit back to three. Incredibly, we came within inches of snatching a draw right at the death when David McHale’s fisted effort bounced over the bar after he latched onto a searching ball from Eoin Vahey into a crowded square. In truth, our performance simply didn’t suffice and Charlestown came away from Clogher with both points.

Ballintubber team that line out: (1)Tom McGing (2)Oran Scully (3)Kevin Shannon (4)Michael Conway (5)Aaron Lally (6)Keith Coleman (7)John Kerrigan (8)Eoin Vahey (9)David McHale (0-1) (10)Ciaran Gavin (1-1, 1f) (11)Darragh McGovern (12)Damien McGing (13)James McGing (14)Hugh Geraghty (0-3, 2f) (15)Eoin Heneghan

Substitutions used: Ray Geraghty (1-0) for Eoin Heneghan, Noel Geraghty (0-1) for James McGing, Seamus Thomas for Darragh McGovern, Finian Bourke for Oran Scully, Gavin Roache for Oran Scully