Penalty shootout agony for Ballina as Na Piarsaigh advance after nail biting finish

AIB Munster Intermediate Football Championship Semi-Final

Ballina 0-8 

Na Piarsaigh 1-5 AET

(Na Piarsaigh win 4-2 on penalties)

A dramatic penalty shootout was needed to separate Ballina and Na Piarsaigh of Limerick as the north Tipperary side were sent crashing out of the Munster championship at the semi-final stage in agonising fashion.

In a game which was definitely one for the purest, it lacked any real quality but Ballina will be disappointed to have lost as they had the better chances throughout, hitting five first half wides, while Steven O’Brien missed a scorable free at the end of both normal time, and injury time.

It was a day to forget for O’Brien who missed a first half penalty after a smart save by Na Piarsaigh goalie Eoghain Sherlock, and also rattled the post with a shot at the start of the second half which somehow then rebounded onto the crossbar; before compounding his poor luck by missing his penalty in the shootout which sent Ballina crashing out.

It was Ballina who hit the ground running from the throw-in as they took the lead within 90 seconds thanks to a lovely point from Eoghan Power after some tidy build up play to get the Ballina tails up and running.

Na Piarsaigh settled themselves soon after though, with Kieran Daly finding the target from play just a minute later, and it was Na Piarsaigh who looked the much more dangerous team in the opening ten minutes.

A couple of poor wides from Steven O’Brien and a missed long range free from Jack Brady left points after the Tipp men in the next minutes and it was the Limerick champions who struck gold early, when a quickly taken free from Gordon Brown into the square seen captain Dylan Cronin field the ball under pressure, before offloading to Kieran Daly on the overlap, and despite Jack Brady in the Ballina goal saving brilliantly, Cronin was quickest to the break and side footed the ball to the open net to give his side an early three point lead.

It was an early blow for Ballina, but it was still early days and despite Na Piarsaigh having a few more openings for scores in the next few minutes, it was Ballina who responded well, first with a Steven O’Brien free from the ground in the 10th minute, before Eoghan Power scored a beauty, side stepping his marker on the 45 before judging the wind to perfection and floating the ball over the bar to make it a 1-1 to 0-3 game after 13 minutes.

Ballina were getting into the mood now, and should have been level in the 16th minute after a class diagonal ball into the full forward line was perfectly marked by Steven O’Brien in front of goal, but O’Brien somehow skewed his effort wide, which was quickly followed by another wide by San Loughran; Na Piarsaigh being let off the hook.

The fare thereafter could have come close to putting even the most fervent football fan from Ballina and Caherdavin to sleep, as stoppages, injuries, frees, and general poor play led to a really poor second quarter of the half, with neither side finding any cohesive play, but eventually, Ballina would level it up in the 27th minute from a close range Steven O’Brien free which meant the half ended in stalemate at 1-1 to 0-4.

The second half would slightly favour Na Piarsaigh in terms of whatever advantage was present in Kilmallock with the cross field breeze, and Ballin had a brilliant chance to open up a good lead in the context of the game within two minutes, when they were awarded a penalty after Teddy Doyle was brought down after fielding a booming Tom Lee delivery; up stepped Steven O’Brien to take the penalty, but the Tipp senior footballers low effort was excellently saved by the diving Eoghain Sherlock.

That made for a big four point swing after that missed penalty as Na Piarsaigh would re-take the lead in the 35th minute as Dylan Cronin’s converted mark from close range put the Limerick champions ahead by the minimum.

Ballina very nearly took the lead in the 41st minute when Steven O’Brien got onto the ball inside the 45 and with a one-on-one in front of him, he burned past his man before unleashing a right footed effort which somehow managed to stay out of the goal, first hitting the left hand post before ricocheting off Cathal McMullan’s head onto the crossbar and out of danger.

But Ballina did equalise again before the game entered the final quarter, with Steven O’Brien providing the score from a close range free, as a tense contest looked like it would go down to the wire.

That good start to the half was quick to desert the teams in the following minutes, as the game reverted back to the scrappy, and uneventful contest from the first half, and it wouldn’t be until Dylan Cronin’s close range free after an agricultural slide tackle from Ballina’s Josh Egan coughed up a cheap opportunity for Cronin to score and get the Limerick men ahead 1-3 to 0-5 going into the final ten minutes.

Ballina were running short on inspiration in terms of finding a score, as they struggled to keep any meaningful attacks as they chased the equaliser, but they found the point they needed at the stroke of 60 minutes, when Jack Brady’s clever long range free found Jack O’Mahoney on the 21 and the sub slotted over a fine effort off his right to level the game with four minutes of injury time to come.

Steven O’Brien had a chance two minutes into the allotted injury time from a free from some 45 metres out, but he couldn’t find the target and that was all she wrote as the game would need two halves of ten minutes of extra time to separate the sides.

Ballina were the much better side early after the sides re-emerged for the extra time fare, and some slick build up play inside the first two minutes ended with David Kelly jinking inside two players inside the Na Piarsaigh 21 before slotting over beautifully off his right foot to give Ballina since the fifth minute of the contest, which was enough in a dull opening period of extra time to give Ballina a half time lead of 0-7 to 1-3.

A big moment came at the start of the second half, when a quick one-two in midfield between David Kelly and Steven O’Brien drew a priceless free, as O’Brien was tackled late after delivering a long ball into the full forward line, and with the ball landing just shy of the D, it gave the county star the chance to open a two point gap from a free, from which he duly converted to open a 0-8 to 1-3 lead.

From here, Ballina just needed to keep their defensive composure and shape, but they gave up a needless free from the next kick out which Kieran Daly slotted from some 30 metres, and marked their first score since the 51st minute with the game back to the minimum.

The final score of the game would come in the 76th minute from a Tipperary man, but it wouldn’t be one wearing a Ballina jersey, as former Loughmore Castleiney man Evan Sweeney was given possession poorly from a Ballina playout from the back and the veteran forward showed real class to slot over off his right foot to level the game once again.

That looked like it would be that, but Ballia were awarded one late golden opportunity when Steven O’Brien was fouled 30 metres from goal but he somehow proceeded to slice the ball wide from the placed ball which signalled the game going to the dreaded penalty shootout.

The tension was huge as the first players stepped up, with Na Piarsaigh’s Gordon Brown slotting his penalty well, but a repeat of the normal time penalty happened again, with Eoghain Sherlock denying Steven O’Brien once again.

Na Piarsaigh got the blood up from there, and when Jack O’Mahoney missed after the Limerick side made it 2-0 after Jack Barry’s penalty, it all went wrong for Ballina despite Teddy Doyle and Jack Brady converting their penalties, Na Piarsaigh made no mistake with their efforts to send them into the Munster final and send Ballina out in the cruelest of fashions.

Scorers: Ballina: Steven O’Brien (0-4, 0-3f), Eoghan Power 0-2; Jack O’Mahoney, David Kelly 0-1 each.

Na Piarsaigh: Dylan Cronin (1-2, 0-1f), Kieran Daly (0-2, 0-1f), Evan Sweeney 0-1.

Ballina: Jack Brady; Paddy O’Donovan, Josh Egan, Terry O’Halloran; Conor Power, James Hanley, Sam Loughran; Tom Lee, Steven O’Brien; Bernard King, Eoghan Power, Teddy Doyle; Michael Breen, David Kelly, David Grace.

Subs used: Jack O’Mahoney for King (44); Cathal O’Donnell for Grace (44); Eoghan Dalton for Breen (52); Harry Byrne for Loughran (73, ET); Michael Breen for Kelly (79, ET).

Na Piarsaigh: Eoghan Sherlock; Diarmuid Ryan, Shane Walsh, Jack Barry; Cathal McMullan, Reuben McCarthy, Evan O’Brien; Gordon Brown, Ruaidhri Ó Conaill; Kevin Nolan, Dylan Cronin, Dean McLoughlin; Kieran Daly, Evan Sweeney, Evan Egan.

Subs used: Fionn Ó Tiarnaigh for O’Brien (34, inj); David O’Connell for Egan (43); Ralph Leonard for McLoughlin (51);  Robert Sheehan for Walsh (61);  Eoin McNulty for Nolan (68, ET); Evan Egan for Leonard (68, ET); Ronan Houlihan for Daly (HT, ET).

Referee: Chris Maguire (Clare)