Junior A Hurling: Tracton move past Ballinora into county final

Tracton 1-16 

Ballinora 1-12 

Tracton’s superb second half performance saw off Ballinora in the Superstores Co Op Junior A County Semi Final in Ballygarvan on Sunday.

As the old cliché says goals win matches and man of the match Ronan Walsh’s effort on 40 minutes proved crucial, as Tracton claimed the following ten minutes to make the difference in this game.

With the game delayed due to the large attendance backing up on the main road, it was Shane Kingston who opened the scoring for Ballinora.

Paul O’Riordan responded almost instantly with a point from play, before Micheal O’Sullivan forced the Ballinora keeper into a fine save.

A Darragh Corkery score on seven minutes had the sides level before Ronan Walsh knocked over his first free of the afternoon as Tracton hit the front on 10 minutes by 0-3 to 0-2.

With Tracton guilty of some poor shooting the sides were again even on 15 minutes thanks to Darragh Dineen but Walsh deadly as ever had Tracton back in frontn on 19 minutes.

Mark Byrne then fed Paul O’Riordan but his goal bound shot was intercepted by the Ballinora defence.

While Ballinora had become guilty of some poor accuracy their corner forward Aidan O’ Shea tied up the game on 19 minutes.

A point a piece from Walsh and Alan O’Shea had the sides level again on 22 minutes, the parity didn’t last as Mark Byrne put the Carrigdhoun side back in the box seat moments later.

However, playing with the aid of a strong breeze Ballinora took control of this game as they hit three unanswered points from Kingston (65), James Byrne and Michael Quirke and they led at the interval by 0-7 to 0-5.

Playing with the wind, Tracton were level on 32 minutes thanks to points from Walsh and substitute Joe Kingston.

Ballinora were not ready to surrender the lead as Tomas Burns and James Keohane had restored the two-point lead on 37 minutes but Walsh had narrowed the margin.

With the game ebbing and flowing as Paul O’ Riordan and Kingston exchanged points, it was Tracton, who struck for home as Michael O’Sullivan played Walsh in for the all-important goal.

With the bit between their teeth, Tracton took control of this contest as they went on a scoring spree with five unanswered points as Walsh claimed two, and Byrne, O’Sullivan and Quinn had Tracton leading by 1-14 to 0-10 on 50 minutes.

To their credit the Muskery men were determined not to go down without a fight and points from Darragh Holmes and Tommy Burns gave a glimmer of hope to their large contingent of supporters.

A late Kevin Murphy goal created late drama but it wasn’t enough to bridge the gap between the sides as Tracton march on.

Scorers for Tracton: R Walsh 1-7 (6F) P O’Riordan 0-3 D Byrne 0-2, C Quinn, M Byrne, J Kingston, M O’Sullivan 0-1 

Ballinora: S Kingston 0-3 (2F, 165), K Murphy 1-0 T Burns 0-2, D Dineen M Quirke, J Byrne, D Holmes D Corkery, A O’Shea, J Koehane 0-1.

TRACTON: S O’Sullivan; T McGuinness, K Healy, J Lynch; J Good, R Sinclair, G Webb; P O’Riordan, K Webb; C Quinn, S Kiely, D Byrne; R Walsh, M O’Sullivan, M Byrne.

Subs: J Kingston for S Kiely (HT), D Flaherty for M Byrne (49), R O’Donovan for C Quinn (52) 

BALLINORA: B Crowley; T Forde, M Lordan, P Fitton; J Bryne’ N Lordan, M Quirke; T Burns, S Kingston; D Dineen, J Keohane, K Murphy; B Mayer, D Corkey, A O’ Shea.

Subs: D Holmes for J Keohane (HT), B Carbery for D Dineen (50), R Quirke for K Murphy (52), C Quirke for D Corkey (57) 

Referee: Brian Murphy, Carrigtwohill.