John Murphy the hero as Ballinamere come of age to reach Offaly final

The mid-Offaly club contested their one and only senior final in 1908.

 

Offaly SHC semi-final: Ballinamere 1-21 St. Rynagh’s 2-14 

Ballinamere announced their presence as a force on the Offaly senior hurling club scene with a sensational finish to their semi-final clash with St. Rynagh’s this afternoon, picking off the last seven points in succession to secure their place alongside Kilcormac-Killoughey in the senior final in a fortnight.

The mid-Offaly club, who contested their one and only senior final in 1908, are backboned by a host of county senior panellists but defeats at the first knockout hurdle in 2022 (to Birr) and last year (to Shinrone) meant that there were serious doubts about their ability to win a do-or-die game.

When Brian Duignan sent a penalty wide with the team trailing by 1-14 to 2-14 with a little under ten minutes to play, those doubts loomed very large.

Instead they found a hero in man of the match John Murphy, who shot four points from play in a sensational finish.

Murphy’s first-half goal helped Ballinamere to start well and lead by five points briefly in what was a hugely enjoyable contest in which Aaron Maher was dominating, hitting the target four times from open play.

However, Rynagh’s settled well and Aidan Treacy fired home a penalty to nudge Rynagh’s in front at the interval, and when Luke O’Connor crowned a strong run from Eoin Woods with a clever finish from close range, the wily Banagher club looked like they might see out the job.

Teenagers Darragh Scully and Shane Rigney shot some excellent points as they took their three point lead, but instead they were to be the supporting cast in a ‘coming of age’ finale.

Scorers for Ballinamere: J Murphy 1-4, B Duignan 0-6 (0-4f), A Maher 0-4, D Ravenhill 0-3, J Maher 0-2, D Bourke 0-2.

Scorers for St. Rynagh's: A Treacy 1-5 (1-0 pen, 0-2f, 0-1 65), Luke O'Connor 1-3 (0-3f), D Scully 0-3, S Rigney 0-2, A Molloy 0-1,

BALLINAMERE: M Troy; C McDonald, C Burke, E Boland; J Fogarty, R Ravenhill, S Bourke; D Magner, K McDermott; D Ravenhill, D Bourke, A Maher; J Maher, B Duignan, J Murphy.

Subs: D Wyer for McDermott (49), M O'Brien for D Ravenhill (59).

ST RYNAGH'S: C Clancy; K Rigney, D Shortt, S Óg Lyons; M Maloney, B Conneely, C Hernon; Joey O'Connor, E Woods; G Conneely, S Quirke, A Treacy; S Rigney, L O'Connor, A Molloy.

Subs: D Scully for Quirke (10), P Quirke for K Rigney (51), S Dolan for Molloy (57), A Kenny for Scully (60+2).

Referee: Adam Kinahan.