Ballinlough advance in leinster offaly champs next target
Ballinlough manager Tom Shine concocted a debut Leinster Club IFC victory this afternoon at O'Moore Park Portlaoise where the Meath intermediate champions out-scored their Laois counterparts Ballyfin by 0-11 to 0-8 in an absorbing game.
Against the first-half elements Ballinlough adopted a rearguard action and only trailed by 0-2 to 0-4 at the interval with Colm Mallen and Peadar Byrne on the mark from frees.
Ballyfin won the Laois title six days ago (last Sunday) and certainly didn't benefit from the six-day turnaround, but Ballinlough still had to work hard for this victory.
It didn't look good for Ballinlough when Ballyfin managed a quick brace of second-half points, but by the the three-quarter stage it was tied at 0-7 apiece.
Ballinlough then made a bid for victory with some excellent attack and defensive play and gradually opened a gap with substitutes Ken Rothwell and Simon Deevey adding late points to secure a place in the next round.
Ballinlough will be busy over the next few weeks with a football league final, hurling league final for Kilskyre and the next round of Leinster.
Ballinlough will now have home advantage against Raheen in the quarter-final next Sunday at 2.30pm. Raheen won the Offaly IFC title last week with a 3-7 to 0-10 replay win over Shamrocks. The goalscorers were Richie Reynolds (two) and Padraig Bracken.
See next edition of Chronicle for report and reaction from manager Tom Shine.