Gaels Minors win against neighbours Ballymote

Back 20/08/2015 @ 16:41 | mainnews | Gaels Minors win against neighbours Ballymote

Ballymote Round Towers 1-11

Shamrock Gaels                 5-17

The Expert Electrical Sligo Minor Club Championship returned last week with Shamrock Gaels making the journey to Corran Park to try and claim the first points in their group campaign but were facing one of the form teams of the league in Ballymote who were rebuilding after their league final defeat.

The Gaels started brightly with points from the Darragh Hailstones and Daire Kearns after some good passages of play. Then the Gaels struck again when Kearns looping ball which looked to be going over the bar landed into the net to give them a lead of 1-2 to no score. But Ballymote started to come into the game more with Michael Rafferty and Keith Golden winning primary possession and then converting scores through the boot of Adam Cunnane, Malachy Healy and Ciaran Anderson to make it 1-2 to 0-3. But Ballymote were guilty of missing some good opportunities while on top and Shamrock Gaels punished after some two turnovers resulted in  another goal and point in the space of the minute which put a halt to Ballymotes  momentum . Shamrock Gaels then went on  a scoring spree with the next  ten points through Hailstones,Kearns  Karl McKenna, Daniel Murphy and Darragh Lyons to leave it 2-14 to 0-3 at half time.

 

The second half was a much different affair with Ballymote playing with a much higher intensity and started to control the game. The introduction of Gareth Healy at half time helped to tighten up the full back line for the home side which allowed Oisin Conlon to attack more in the second half. Rafferty,Malachy Healy and Anderson started to win  a lot of ball around the middle through breaks. This was key for Ballymote as they scored 0-8 to Shamrock Gaels  1-3 in the first 20 minutes of the second half. However with Ballymote chasing the game they left themselves vulnerable to counter attacks and the Gaels scored two late goals the latter a fine finish from Karl McKenna. Ballymote were awarded a penalty in the end after Conlon was brought down after his darting run up field. Up stepped Malachy Healy to send the ball into the back of the net. 

A better second half from Ballymote but they had too much of a lead to chase in the end. Shamrock Gaels were impressive in their attacking play and were very clinical in front of the posts.  The next game in the group takes place this Thursday with Shamrock Gaels home to Coolera Strandhill.