Ruthless Wolfe Tones make light work of Ballinabrackey

Wolfe Tones ..............................1-1-17 (22)

Ballinabrackey............................. 0-3-1 (7)

It was every bit as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests for Wolfe Tones as they played a patient game against the stiff breeze before cutting loose in the second-half and over-running Ballinabrackey at Dunganny on Friday evening.

After a promising opening half that saw them kick three two-pointers, Ballinabrackey's evening took an immediate turn for the worse two minutes into the second-half when they lost Sean Coffey to a knee injury that saw the Meath start carried off before being brought to hospital by ambulance.

The horrific sight of Coffey's injury drained the heart from Ballinabrackey as they failed to score in the second period and Wolfe Tones took full advantage with a clinical, ruthless display.

The winners had nine different scorers and they showed their full repertoire with a series of superb scores from all angles, distances and from varying source of attacks.

Without the suspended Dean Pluck Ballinabrackey struggled with the kickouts against the wind and when Wolfe Tones hit their straps they were irrepressible.

Ballinabrackey showed plenty of enterprise themselves in the opening 19 minutes as they opened the scoring with a superb point from Damien Carroll and then added two-pointers from Niall Smullen and Carroll after Caolan Ward had equalised for Tones.

Sean Penny and Saran O Fionnagain closed the gap to 0-3 to 0-5 as Wolfe Tones worked hard to break through the well organised Bracks rearguard and when Smullen added his second two-pointer to make it 0-7 to 0-3, a shock looked possible.

However, that 17th minute orange flag was Ballinabrackey's last score of the game as Adam O'Neill and Tom Gavigan reduced the arrears to two points before a series of fouls gifted frees to Ward (two) and Thomas O'Reilly and boosted Tones to a 0-8 to 0-7 interval lead.

It was always going to be an uphill battle for Ballinabrackey after the break as Wolfe Tones played with a strong breeze into the road end goals, and the loss of Coffey to that knee injury ended any hopes.

O Fionnagain stretched Wolfe Tones lead seconds after play resumed following the lengthy stoppage to treat Coffey's injury and two minutes later it was game, set, match as Gavigan finished a sweeping move from back to front with a fine finish to the net to make it 1-9 to 0-7.

The remaining 27 minutes must have seemed like an eternity for Ballinabrackey as Wolfe Tones pulled further and further clear with Ward (free), O'Reilly (free) and Kyle Moran on target before Eoin Donegan landed a two-pointer to make it 1-14 to 0-7 early in the final quarter.

The onslaught continued with Gavigan, O Fionnagain, Moran and substitutes Shane McKeever and Ben Reilly completing the tally to compound even more heartache on Ballinabrackey's already miserable evening.

Wolfe Tones: Ciaran O Gallachoir; Conor Sheppard, Shane Glynn, Andrew Crawford; Brughach O Fionnagain, Ross Gallagher, Sean Penny (0-1); Adam O'Neill (0-1), Eoin Donegan (0-2 two-pointer); Oisin Martin, Thomas O'Reilly (0-2 frees), Caolan Ward (0-4 three frees); Saran O Fionnagain (0-3), Tom Gavigan (1-2), Kyle Moran (0-2). Subs - Ben Reilly (0-1) for Gavigan 52, Evan Curley for O'Neill 57m, Shane McKeever (0-1) for Penny 62m, Rian Fox for Moran 65m.

Ballinabrackey - Shay Curry; Jason Lynch, Nicky Judge, Adam O'Brien; Richie Coffey, Sean Coffey, Mark Coffey; Simon Finn, Erick Clancy; Danny Quinn, Niall Smullen (0-4 two two-pointer), Chris O'Connor; David Carroll, Damien Carroll (0-3 one two-pointer), Sean Kavanagh. Subs - Conor Ennis for S Coffey 32m, Gavin Quinn for O'Connor 48m, Cathal Monahan for Kavanagh 57m.

Referee: Derek Ryan (Na Fianna).