Connacht
Gold Intermediate Championship Relegation play off
Sunday 10
October
Fr. Kevin Brehony
Park, Keash
Ref: Gavin
Cawley
Ballymote 3-10; Tourlestrane 0-08
Ballymote and Tourlestrane squared
off in a sunny Keash last Sunday in a must win game for both sides in order to
avoid a relegation final.
Both sides started well but it was
Ballymote full forward Conor Meehan who cut in from the left for the opening score
of the day.
Tourlestrane reply was swift with
Rian Kennedy scoring from a free. Ballymote came back again with a points from
Peter Lyons and a Niall Colsh free but Kennedy responded with two frees to
leave the sides level again.
Both sides were guilty of missing
chances in the first half but Stephen Ross's point to put Ballymote in front
again gave Ballymote some momentum and a minute later the ball would be in the
back of the Tourlestrane net courtesy of some good work from Meehan who squared
it to Zac O'Dowd to blast it to the back of the net. Tourlestrane closed the
first half scoring with another Kennedy free to leave the scores 1-4 to 0-4 at
half time.
The second half continued the pattern
with both teams trading scores in a tit for tat opening 15 minutes. Colsh and
Kennedy traded frees with Ballymote’s Jack Lavin and O'Dowd adding from play to
leave Ballymote 1-07 to 0-06 going into the final water break.
In the last quarter, Ballymote brought
more urgency to the fray and opened up a decisive gap when O'Dowd fed Stephen
Ross who finished neatly to the back of the net.
Tourlestrane pressed hard to get a
goal but full back Ballymote Michael Doddy was immense in clearing any danger
around the square.
Rory Brennan converted a point for
the men in green and gold but Ballymote went back up the pitch again and
converted scores from O'Dowd and Lavin before the latter played in a ball from
deep for O'Dowd to finish to the net for his second goal of the game.
In a hectic conclusion, Kennedy
converted another free before Tristan Regan scored the final point of the
game.
Tourlestrane will go into next week’s
Relegation Final against Castleconnor. They proved a tricky opposition for
Ballymote and if they can produce that same performance, they will have every
chance.
For Ballymote a season that had
started so brightly with a Benson Cup final and League Semi Final ended flat,
but will maintain their intermediate status heading into 2022.
Ballymote; Cian Kilcoyne, Kenny Meehan, Micheal
Doddy, Ronan Keenan, Tristan Regan 0-1 ( Aaron laing), Shane Langton 0-1,
Micheal Rafferty, Jack Lavin 0-1, Stephen Ross 1-1, Niall Colsh 0-2, Colin
Byrne (Paul Mullin), Peter Lyons 0-1 (Jack Hever) Conor Meehan 0-1 (Jim
Sweeney), Zac o Dowd 2-2
Tourlestrane; Eamon O'Hara, Kieran Feehily, Sean
McVeigh, Ronan Walsh, Johnny Tracey, Diarmuid Dunne, Ben Tracey, Joe Molloy,
Ciaran Walsh, Darragh Feehily, Colin Neary, Conor Surlis, Rory Brennan 0-1,
David Brennan, Rian Kennedy 0-7
Subs Used: Fintan Kennedy