Gaels clinch quarter-final spot
Masonite
Senior Championship Group Four
Unfortunately for all those who like drama, there was precious little of it last Saturday evening as Melvin Gaels easy nine point Group Four win over Ballinaglera secured a place in the Masonite Senior Championship Quarter-Finals.
Melvin Gaels 0-11 Ballinagleara 0-3
All the Kinlough men needed was a point but they made doubly sure of victory, taking top spot in the Group with a comfortable and comprehensive victory over north Leitrim rivals Ballinaglera. Last year Ballinaglera had upset Glencar/Manorhamilton in the last group game, denying them a playoff. This time it was Annaduff who were praying that Glera would prove victorious but unfortunately for the County Champions, Melvin Gaels proved far too strong on the day. Now the Gaels are back into the quarter-finals after an absence of one year. The victory also secures their Senior status for 2006 and sets them up nicely for a quarter-final clash with Aughawillan next weekend.
However, the Gaels will be worried by their inability to convert possession into scores. At the interval, the Kinlough men led by just three points but kicked six wides, wides that could have proved very costly had a Colm Maguire fisted effort gone into the net, rather than hitting the bar. Typical of their performances of late, Melvin Gaels are winning plenty of possession but are not putting the scores on the board. They average just over ten points a game but, at the same time, their defence is one of the meanest, conceding less than seven points a game. The clash with a free scoring Aughawillan will be interesting but the vast experience in the Kinlough ranks means that Melvin Gaels will fear nobody.
For Ballinaglera, the game was a disappointment and they have only a victory over Carrigallen to show for their championship campaign. They now face a difficult task to lift themselves ahead of the B Championship. The game was slow to get going and it took seven minutes for freetaker David McSharry to open the scoring from a 30 metre free. Two minutes later and another McSharry placed ball extended the lead.
Ballinaglera’s Rory Gilmartin was unlucky with a free as the game entered a long period of stalemate without a scoring for 21 minutes. The drought was finally ended when former County player Brendan Brennan pointed on 30 minutes. After such a poor opening half of football, injury time saw loads of action as Colm Maguire saw a fisted effort come off the Melvin Gaels crossbar. David McSharry added a point as the Kinlough men went four clear. But with five minutes of added time played, Ballinaglera finally got their first score when Frankie Reynolds pointed from play, leaving Melvin Gaels 0-4 to 0-1 ahead at the break.
A point from former County panelist Michael John McCawley in the first minute raised the possibility that Melvin Gaels would pay for the their six first half wides. But Brennan immediately hit back with a score from open play to restore the three point gap and from then on, it was all Melvin Gaels.
David McSharry hit three points, two frees (one of which came from 40 yards), in the next nine minutes to open a five point gap. Ballinaglera got their last score of the game when Colm Maguire pointed a 20 metre free on 13 minutes.
However, McSharry immediately responded with a successful 45 metre free and sub Stephen Clancy, on for James Phelan, got on the scoresheet with 11 minutes to go.
That left Melvin Gaels seven points clear and they made sure of victory with two late points from McSharry, another long range free, and sub Gareth Foley.
Melvin
Gaels: Gareth Phelan, Padraig McGloin, James Phelan, Adam Regan, Colm McGowan, Joe Tiffoney, Colin Regan, Brendan Brennan (0-2), David McNulty, David McSharry (0-8), Martin McCarron, Paul McGurrin, Thomas Lipsett, Shane McCarron, Paul Brennan.
Subs: Fergal Gallagher for Lipsett, Gareth Foley (0-1) for S. McCarron, Damien Sheridan for P. Brennan, Stephen Clancy (0-1) for J. Phelan, Peter McGloin for M. McCarron.
Copyright © The Leitrim Observer 2005.