St. Vincent’s 2-14
Ballinderry Shamrocks 1-13
IT WAS A case of first up, best dressed in Newry this evening as St. Vincent’s flying start to their AIB All-Ireland Club SFC semi-final proved key as they saw off Ulster champions Ballinderry.
The Dublin side were in control for vast swathes of the game, finding the net twice in the opening 11 minutes after Collie Devlin and Raymond Wilson had given the Derry outfit a brief lead.
First, Mossy Quinn (1-8) scored with the coolest of finishes on seven minutes before setting up Ciarán Dorney for Vincent’s second just four minutes later and they proved to be early body blows that Ballinderry never fully recovered from.
However, they did take advantage of five wides and a 13 minute barren spell from St Vincent’s to rally from six points down to trail by just a point at half-time; 2-4 to 0-9.
Once more though, it was the Dublin side who hit the ground running after the break and re-established a two goal cushion mid-way through the second period. Ballinderry though, just wouldn’t give up and two quick-fire scores, including a goal from Daniel McKinless, reduced the margin to just two with ten minutes remaining.
What followed was a masterclass in control from Vincent’s and when Aaron Devlin blazed over with the goal at his mercy Ballinderry’s day was done.
Diarmuid Connolly completed the scoring with an insurance point as time ran out and Vincent’s will now face Castlebar Mitchels as they look to win their third All-Ireland football title.
Scorers for St. Vincent’s: Tomás Quinn 1-8 (4f, 1 ’45), Ciarán Dorney 1-1, Diarmuid Connolly 0-3, Shane Carthy 0-1, Gavin Burke 0-1.
Scorers for Ballinderry: Coilín Devlin 0-5 (1f), Daniel McKinless 1-0, Conleith Gilligan 0-2 (1f), Ryan Bell 0-2, Raymond Wilson 0-2, Aaron Devlin 0-1, James Conway 0-1.
St. Vincent’s: M Savage; M Concarr, J Curley, H Gill; C Diamond, K Bonnie, B Egan; D Murphy, E Fennell; G Burke, D Connolly, S Carthy; T Diamond, C Dorney, T Quinn.
Subs: N Mullins for E Fennell (54), K Golden for T Diamond (57)
Ballinderry: M Conlan; D Lawn, C Nevin, M McIver; R Wilson, G McKinless, R Scott; K McGuckin, J Conway; D McKinless, E Muldoon, D McGuckin; C Devlin, R Bell, C Gilligan.
Subs: A Devlin for R Scott (16), M Harney for M McIver (41), D Conway for D Lawn (45)
Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligo)
