Eastern Harps 1-17 Ballymote 2-8.

These two neighbouring clubs produced a well contested encounter in excellent conditions in Ballinalack Community Park on Saturday evening.

The winners dominated the opening exchanges to take a 0-6 to 0-1 lead after the opening quarter.Ballymote recovered well, assisted by an opportunist goal from Stephen Ross.Yet Harps looked comfortable leading by 0-11 to 1-3 by the interval.A flurry of scores from Ballymote,including a well taken goal from Zac O’Dowd gave them the lead for the first time after 13 minutes of the second half.This was as good as it got for the losers however , as Harps upped the tempo to close out the game with a string of points and a goal finished by Matt Henry.Both sides were guilty of some poor shooting ,with the losers kicking twelve wides including at least one open goal opportunity.Harps too, had at least one glaring miss in front of goal and sometimes took poor options when scores were on.Yet they will be happy enough with the result which keeps them in contention for a place in the knockout stages of the competition.

Harps took an early lead with a Kyle Cosgrove point before veteran Daniel Clarke equalised.Two points from the impressive James Kiernan were followed by a point from a 45m.free from Dylan Walsh.Ronan Mulligan added another point from play before Dylan converted a 45 to give his side a 0-6 to 0-1 lead after 15 minutes.Shawn O’Hara availed of a poor kickout to increase the Harps advantage and Dylan Walsh added another point from. a 20m.free.

At this stage Ballymote were struggling but they recovered well.An Oisin Brennan point effort came off the post but the subsequent attempt on goal was smothered by the Harps defence at the expense of a 45.Goalkeeper Cian Kilcoyne came forward to take the 45 but the former Co. under -17 keeper was off target. Stephen Ross was quickly on target for Ballymote from a 30m free.He soon raised a green flag after a quick free from Jack Lavin released him behind the Harps defence.

Caelan Hunt pointed a 20m free after the Ballymote ‘keeper was penalised for an infringement.In a swift counter attack Shawn O’Hara set up Matt henry for

a point.Tony Taylor and Zac O’Dowd exchanged points to leave Harps ahead by 0-11 to 1-3 at the interval.

Ballymote began the second half in determined fashion and quickly reduced the Harps five points lead.Zac O’Dowd pointed two frees and Michael Doddy drove forward from defence to add a point.They jumped into the lead for the first time when a high delivery wasn’nt dealt with by a hesitant Harps defence and Zac O’Dowd finished to the Harps net.

Dylan Walsh restored parity with a point but again Zac O’Dowd pointed after a penetrating run by Michael Lavin.Points from Shawn O’Hara and Matt Henry restored the Harps lead and Kyle Cosgrove hit his second point as Harps began to dominate.A sweeping move ,involving four players saw Matt Henry finish to the Ballymote net from close range.Tony Taylor tacked on another point but Stephen Ross replied with a similar effort.

A foul on Shawn O’Hara allowed Dylan Walsh to kick a 45m.free ;the closing point which saw Harps progress on a 1-17 to 2-8 scoreline.

Scorers: E.Harps : D.Walsh 0-5 (0-3f,0-1(45),M.Henry 1-2,K.Cosgrove 0-2, J.Kiernan 0-2,S.O’Hara 0-2,T.Taylor 0-2,R.Mulligan 0-1,C.Hunt 0-1(f.)

Ballymote:Zac O’Dowd 1-4( 0-3f.), S.Ross 1-2(0-1f.),D.Clarke,M.Doddy 0-1 each.

Team lineout: E.Harps: A.Davey;D.Mitchell,B.Molloy(capt.).D.Madden;C.Higgins,T.Taheny,R.Mulligan;D.Walsh,T.Taylor;S.O’Hara,C.Hunt,J.Kiernan;C.Dorrian,K.Cosgrove,M.Henry.

Subs used:C.Coyle and S.Bruen.

Ballymote:C.Kilcoyne;S.Rafferty,M.Doddy,R.Keenan;J.Lavin,S.Langton,C.Byrne(capt.),M.Rafferty,D.Clarke;S.Ross,J.Hever,M.Lavin;Z.O’Dowd,O.Brennan,J.Sweeney. Subs used: T.Regan,D.Martin,C.Anderson.

Referee: Ronan Hynes.