Carrigaline junior footballers power on in second half to knock out Ballymartle 

Carrigaline 2-16 (2-2-12) Ballymartle 1-8 (1-0-8) 

Carrigaline powered past Ballymartle with a strong second-half performance in the Procure.ie South East Junior A Football Championship at Minane Bridge.

Underdogs Ballymartle deservedly lead at the break, but the introduction of Ben Delaney early in the second half changed that, as Carrigaline outscored the Riverstick outfit by 2-9 to 0-2.

Ballymartle were first out of the blocks with a well-taken score from Jamie O’Sullivan, but Carrigaline were back in contention as Thomas Foley and Eoghan Landers sent over, thanks to passes provided by Tim Cronin.

Carrigaline had extended their lead on fourteen minutes before Ballymartle roared back into the contest, as they led by 0-5 to 0-3 after 19 minutes, which included a fine score from Jack Dwyer.

However, they really took hold of the contest when the impressive Ryan Deasy set up Tim Cronin, who finished the pass to the Carrigaline net on 23 minutes.

Carrigaline fought back into the contest, as they narrowed the difference to two points, to 1-6 to 0-7, with two-point frees from Tim Cronin instrumental in the Carrig revival.

It continued in the second half as Delaney's appearance changed the game’s dynamics, and a brilliant save from Gavin Murphy from a Cronin penalty only seemed to put off the inevitable on 36 minutes.

With one of the favourites for the South East title beginning to tighten the screw, Neil O’Keeffe scored the first of two second-half goals on 42 minutes.

With Ballymartle finding it difficult to feed their forward line, they managed to raise a white flag on 48 minutes when Ronan Sheehan finished well.

From there to the final whistle, Carrigaline continued to pull away, as Ballymartle exited the championship having lost two group-stage games.

Scorers for Carrigaline: N O’Keeffe 2-1, T Cronin 0-6 (1 2ptf, 2f), B Delaney 0-5 (0-2 f, 1 2ptf), T Foley, E Landers, J Shannahan, J Kelly 0-1 each.

Ballymartle: J O’Sullivan 1-2, R Deasy 0-3 (0-1 f), R R Sheehan 0-2, J Dwyer 0-1.

CARRIGALINE: S Mellett; S Browne, I Sheerin, E Murphy; S Turner, J Kelly, N O Keeffe; N O Keeffe, T Foley; E Landers, J Connolly, D Sutton; T Cronin, M Vaughan, S Horan.

Subs: J Shannahan for E Murphy (HT), B Delaney for J Connolly (34), B Greene for E Landers (45), L Ahern for S Browne (58), S Connolly for M Vaughan (58).

BALLYMARTLE: G Murphy; E Deasy, C Barry, D Murphy; C Lordan, E O'Leary, L O’Callaghan; J Dwyer, F Desmond; N Crowley, R Deasy, L Hennessey; J O'Sullivan, P Cronin, R Sheehan. 

Subs: A Harte for E O'Leary (34), D O'Leary for J Dwyer (42), F McCarthy for P Cronin (47), S Looney for L Hennessy (50), F O'Keefe for D Murphy (50).

Referee: Sean Forde (Nemo Rangers).