PIHC: Early red cards don't stop Ballinhassig from brushing Ballincollig aside
Ballinhassig's Shane McCarthy about to handpass the sliotar away from Ballincollig's Conor Sexton during the PIHC match in Ballymaw. Picture: Howard Crowdy
Ballinhassig 1-19 Ballincollig 1-9
BALLINHASSIG are motoring well in the Co-Op Superstores PIHC on the evidence of this comfortable win over Ballincollig in Ballinora.
Having already beaten Kilworth, they're shaping up nicely ahead of the knockout stages before their last group game with Castlemartyr while Ballincollig must now beat Kilworth to try and avoid a relegation battle.
There can no denying that Ballinhassig were the better side over the 60 minutes but the Village will look back on missed opportunities, particularly at the start of the second half. Trailing by six points at that stage they had four wides they should have scored and in a tussle like this you can’t afford to miss opportunities like that.
Tension ran high early on and with just five minutes gone Ballinhassig were down to 14 when Michael Desmond received a straight red card for a bad tackle. The underdogs' numerical advantage didn’t last long as within two minutes they were down to 14, when David Bowen received his marching orders in similar circumstances.
Early scores from Darragh O’Sullivan and Evan Cullinane had Ballinhassig in front, with Patrick Collins, from a free and Evan Cullinane, from a sideline, extending their lead.
Tadhg O’Connell and Brian Keating responded for Ballincollig, but three from Conor Desmond, along with another from Cullinane made it 0-8 to 0-2 with 25 minutes gone.
Keating and Paul Cooney replied but two late points from Desmond helped Ballinhassig to a 0-11 to 0-5 up at half-time.
Ballincollig had a great goal chance at the start of the second half with Collins saving well from Cian O’Driscoll. Keating pulled a point back from the resulting 65, but missed chances at this stage were costly for Ballincollig.
Six minutes in and a goal from Cillian Tyers for Ballinhassig made a tough ask even tougher as they led 1-12 to 0-6. Credit to Ballincollig, led by the impressive Ross O’Donovan and Keating they kept going, with the latter raising a green flag from a free.
Again Ballinhassig responded, with two Desmond frees making it 1-17 to 1-7, with eight minutes to go.
He also rounded off the scoring in a win that should be enough to see them advance to the knock-out stages.
C Desmond 0-8 (0-4 f, 0-2 65), E Cullinane 0-5 (0-2 sl), C Tyers 1-0, B Lynch 0-3, P Collins (f), F O’Leary, D O’Sullivan 0-1 each.
B Keating 1-4 (1-3 f, 0-1 65), T O’Connell 0-2, A Wills (f), P Cooney, R Bourke 0-1 each.
BALLINHASSIG: P Collins; P O'Leary, K Maguire, M Desmond; S McCarthy, M Collins, D O'Donovan; E Finn, E Lombard; C Desmond, D O’Sullivan, C Tyers; B Lynch, E Cullinane, C Grainger.
F O’Leary for C Grainger, S O’Neill for E Lombard (both 49), G Collins for D O’Sullivan (57).
J Linehan; R O’Donovan, J Murray, C Sexton; C O’Sullivan, B Coleman, F Denny; R O’Donovan, D O’Sullivan; P Cooney, D Bowen, S Wills; B Keating, C O’Driscoll, T O’Connell.
K Walsh for S Wills (26), A Wills for P Cooney (41), R Cambridge for J Linehan (46), C Kinsella for C O’Driscoll (57).
Pat Lyons, Bishopstown.
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