Newcastle West ease past Ballylanders ahead of Limerick senior football semi-final date

ALREADY through to the senior football championship play-offs, Newcastle West finished off their qualifying Group Two schedule to the satisfaction of manager Stephen Kelly with a crushing 3-20 to 0-7 victory over winless Ballylanders in Kilmallock on Saturday.

A blistering oburst of scores after they shook off their early shackles had semi-final bound Newcastle West already well on the road to success before their opponents registered their second score. Keeping up the barrage, the West Limerick side had scorched well out of range by half-time.

READ MORE: Newcastle West celebrate third successive Limerick senior camogie title with victory over Monaleen

He might have hung up his inter-county boots a few weeks ago, but former All-Star nominee Iain Corbett chose the occasion with one of the most imperious performances of his long and distinguished career in the black-and-white.

Not only did he leave the pitch with a personal contribution of 2-6, all from open play, but the speed, power and vision of his runs at the opposing defence opened up acres of space for his colleagues to exploit.

With most of their lineup involved in saving Glenroe's premier intermediate hurling status the weekend before, the Ballyanders focus was on the upcoming football relegation battle to which they were already consigned before they took to the field.

While they gave it a go at the start of both halves, Bally' just hadn't the spread of scoring threats to build up a lead before their opponents got their ducks in a row and, once their line of possession began retreating back towards their own goals, there was only going to be one result.

Newcastle West were immediately off the mark when the throw-in found its way to Lee Woulfe to find his spot on the run before extended periods of Bally possessionended with Shane O'Donoghue finally finding the target.

However, that score ended their presence in the middle third as 'the Magpies' took over both their own and their opponents' kick-outs, regained their lead when Eoin Hurley, after seeing his shot saved on the line, pounced on the rebound to send over a point and extended it through Thomas Quilligan's score from play and from a free.

Coming up to the quarter mark, the margin grew wings when Bryan Nix collected off a kickout turnover and fed the inrushing Corbett to slot into the far corner of the net.

After Woulfe followed up with a score from out on the right, Ballylanders found a response when Jimmy Barry Murphy's shot at the end of an extended attack, bounced on the edge of the square to go between the posts for a two-pointer.

But the relief was brief, as the Magpies pressed the pedal again for Hurley and Quilligan to point and rammed home their superiority when the kickout was returned to Hurley for another shot on goal and Quilligan pounced on Declan O'Connor's block to flick to the net.

Nor did newcastle West's scoring burst end there. Pouring forward to collect the lay-off, Nix and Corbett twice found the target to extend the lead to 2-10 to 0-3 at the break.

Ballylanders gave it a go on the resumption, drew a two-pointer free for Frewen to send over but, when their attempts to follow up failed to slice through the Newcastle blanket, they were hit by a steady drip of attacks as well as by an epidemic of injuries.

Corbett with a further point, Hurley's free, Corbett once again and another Hurley free had the gap out to 11 points going into the final quarter. The overworked Bally' defence continued to chase shadows as Woulfe from play, Hurley's free and Corbett's two-pointer on the run piled on the agony before the tempo dropped with the summoning of the subs from the benches.

Pouncing on a ball breaking on the edge of the square, Frewen pulled a point back for Ballylanders and added another from a free.

However, the Magpies weren't finished yet. Niall McAuliffe's pass along the goal line found the outstretched fist of Mike McMahon but the ball bounced over off the wrong side of the crossbar. Hurley then tacked on another point and Corbett finished his excellent afternoon's work by slotting low inside the far post off a pass and return up the centre.

SCORERS: NEWCASTLE WEST: Iain Corbett 2-6 (1 2x), Eoin Hurley 0-6 (3 frees), Thomas Quilligan 1-3 (0-1 free), Lee Woulfe 0-3, Bryan Nix, Mike McMahon 0-1 each; BALLYLANDERS: Danny Frewen 0-4 (1 free, 1 2x free), Jimmy Barry Murphy 0-2 (1 2x), Shane O'Donoghue 0-1.

NEWCASTLE WEST: Michael Quilligan; Evan Sheehan, Darren O'Doherty, Mike O'Keeffe; Michael Cremin, Déamus Hurley, Aaron Neville; Mike McMahon, Lee Woulfe; Todd Donovan, Iain Corbett, Brian Hurley; Thomas Quilligan, Bryan Nix, Eoin Hurley. SUBS: Brian Foley for Quilligan (43 mins), Niall McAuliffe for Nix (injury, 49 mins). 

BALLYLANDERS: Declan O'Connor; Billy Lonergan, Donal Kelly, Patrick Holian; Daniel Murphy, Jason Leigh, Liam Dennehy; Darren Frewen, Oisín Browne; Robbie Downey, Steve Fox, Danny Frewen; Dáithí Dennehy, Jimmy Barry Murphy, Shane O'Donoghue. SUBS: Ciarán Kelly for Darren Frewen (half-time), Jordan Sheehy for Patrick Holian (half-time), Tommy McDonnell for Jimmy Barry Murphy (HIA, half-time), Tom O'Dwyer for Liam Dennehy (injured, 40 mins), Cillian O'Brien for Steve Fox (41 mins), Eoin O'Mahony for Jason Leigh (injured, 48 mins), Oisín Browne (injured, 51 mins, not replaced).

REFEREE: Jonathan Hayes (St Senan's).