August 2 2022
Under-15 Division 3 League Semi-final
Breaffy 3-8 Ballintubber 2-13
It’s one more county final appearance for our underage footballers, this time at the expense of our local rivals Breaffy.
Less than a month after our neighbours beat us by four points in a shootout in this very venue, our Under-15s had the last laugh in another Western-style gunfight of a game.
Attack was the order of the day, and in that regard both sides obliged.
With seven unique scorers – including five of the forwards – this was a real fifteen-player effort from Tony Duffy, Ronan Mannion, Michael Prendergast and Ciaran Gavin’s men.
Conor Hoban was way out in front of the scoring charts with 2-5 to his name (including three frees) – no small achievement for the youngest player on the panel.
The lad of thirteen summers had two goals, but we could potentially have had three or four before full-time.
Instead, we remained within a point or two of the opposition for the entire game, which certainly preserved the entertainment value.
Having taken the lead through a Hoban goal in the first minute, our concession of three goals in fifteen minutes was almost calamitous.
A well-saved Tiernan Brady penalty also went against us after wing-forward Tom Murray won the spot kick.
Nonetheless, we regain our composure and were back within a point of the opposition before half-time after five points from Conor and William Hoban and midfielder Sean Feerick.
We were spared a fourth goal towards the very end of the half when Breaffy drove a penalty high and wide of the goal.
Trailing 1-6 to 3-1 at half-time, the second half was equally as testing.
Proceedings began brightly when Conor Hoban found the net for a second time before the hard-working half forwards Sean Mannion and Nathan Heneghan got in on the scoring.
The impressive Heneghan kicked us in front for the fourth time when he landed his second score in the 42nd minute.
However, the opposition still had a lot of fight in them and were in contention right until the final whistle.
We could have ridden off into the sunset but for two fantastic saves from the Breaffy goalie to deny Keith Malone and Tiernan Brady in the final minutes.
Scores from Tom Duffy and Tom Murray in the vital closing stages were enough to see us through by two points.
We meet The Neale in the final, which is currently fixed for Tuesday August 9.
Ballintubber team that lined out: (1)Luke Prendergast (2)Padraig Kilcoyne (3)Jack Diffily (4)Finian Brady (5)Timmy Quinn (6)William Hoban (0-1) (7)Oran Murphy (8)Keith Malone (9)Sean Feerick (0-2, 2f) (10)Sean Mannion (0-1) (11)Nathan Heneghan (0-2) (12)Tom Murray (0-1) (13)Conor Hoban (2-5, 3f) (14)Tom Duffy (0-1) (15)Tiernan Brady
Referee: Jimmy Feeney