Goal-hungry Ballybrown storm past Kilmallock in Limerick Senior Hurling Championship

BALLYBROWN issued a statement of intent by defeating Kilmallock 4-20 to 1-19 in round five of the Whitebox Limerick Senior Hurling Championship in Newcastle West on Saturday evening. 

The city outfit were full value for their victory and they never looked like losing this contest at any stage. Ballybrown’s goal-hungry nature was evident as they constantly pressed forward in search of green flags. Their ability to carve out chances and ruthlessly finish them off ultimately set them apart on the evening. Kilmallock struggled to their opponents intensity on Saturday evening. 

After Ahane's defeat to Doon, Ballybrown and Kilmallock will join Adare and Monaleen in the Limerick SHC quarter-finals. The draw for the quarter-finals take place on Monday evening. Na Piarsaigh and Doon advance directly into the semi-finals.

Ross Kenny and Aidan O’Connor racked up 1-11 between them and both players were central to everything that was good about Ballybrown’s performance on Saturday night. Kilmallock will need to regroup now and James Hickey will be looking for a big reaction from his team next weekend.

In a tightly contested opening eight minutes, the sides were level four times. Kilmallock found scores through Shane O’Brien and David Woulfe, while Ballybrown's Colin Coughlan, James Coughlan, Aidan O’Connor, and Ross Griffin were all on target in the opening exchanges. 

In the following five minutes, Ballybrown began to assert control, striking 1-2 in just three minutes. After a fine passage of build-up play, the sliotar broke to Ross Kenny, who powered through the heart of the Kilmallock defence before drilling a low shot past goalkeeper Conor Hanley. Moments later, Bryan Griffin opened his account with a point that  pushed last year's group two winners 1-6 to 0-4 in front.

Kilmallock were struggling to breakdown a stubborn Ballybrown defence although two frees in-a-row from Shane O'Brien reduced the gap to three points. 

Kevin Lally's sides running power was causing Kilmallock's all sort of problems, Ballybrown midfielder Leigh Doolan was starting to find space in the middle third and Doolan landed two inspirational efforts from the middle of the field and Aidan O'Connor then added a free to push Ballybrown 1-11 to 0-7 clear. 

Before the break, Aidan O'Connor flicked the sliotar across to Mikey Kiely who did superbly to flick the sliotar into the back of the net as Ballybrown were now 2-12 to 0-8 ahead. However Kilmallock regrouped when Shane O'Brien nailed his sixth free of the first half. 

O'Brien then raced down the right wing and took on Colin Coughlan and the Mary Immaculate student neatly placed the sliotar into the back of the net from a diffcult angle to have Kilmallock trailing 2-12 to 1-9 at the break. 

On 32 minutes, Mikey Kiely combined impressively with Leigh Doolan who raised Ballybrown's third green flag of the evening to shove them 3-12 to 1-10 clear on 32 minutes. 

Aidan O’Connor and Shane O’Brien exchanged scores as Ballybrown maintained control in Newcastle West, holding a 3-14 to 1-12 advantage. Soon after, Barry Adams burst down the left wing to fire in Ballybrown’s fourth goal of the evening, effectively putting the contest beyond doubt. Mikey Kiely, followed by back-to-back points from Bryan Griffin, stretched the margin to fourteen.

Kilmallock mounted a late response through Tom Savage, with Shane O’Brien and Conor Hanley adding long-range placed balls, but the damage was already done. Ballybrown kept their composure to secure a convincing ten-point win, capped off by late scores from Aidan O’Connor and Ross Kenny.

SCORERS: 

BALLYBROWN: Ross Kenny 1-2, Aidan O'Connor (0-9, 0-5 frees), Leigh Doolan 1-2, Mikey Kiely1-1, Barry Adams 1-0, Bryan Griffin 0-3, Colin Coughlan, Ross Griffin, and James Coughlan 0-1 each

KILMALLOCK: Shane O'Brien (1-11, 0-10 frees), David Woulfe 0-3, Killian Hayes and Tom Savage 0-1 each, Conor Hanley Clarke (0-3, 0-3 frees)

BALLYBROWN: Cian Hedderman; Ned Quinn, David Hartnett, James Coughlan; Mikey Gavin, Colin Coughlan, Keith Punch; Killian Gavin, Leigh Doolan; Ross Kenny, Aidan O’Connor, Ross Griffin; Barry Adams, Bryan Griffin, Mikey Kiely.

SUBS: Luke O'Connor for Punch (56 minutes), Bobby Smith for Barry Adams (64 minutes). 

KILMALLOCK: Conor Hanley-Clarke; Dylan O’Brien, Robbie Egan, Aaron Costello; Mark O'Loughlin, Kevin O'Donnell, Robbie Hanley; Killian Hayes, Conor Staunton; Micheal Houlihan, David Woulfe, Paudie O'Brien; Gavin O'Mahony, Oisin O'Reilly, Shane O'Brien. 

SUBS: Pierce Connery for Houlihan (28 minutes, injury), Steven Quirke for Staunton (36 minutes), Oisin Enright for Paudie O'Brien (40 minutes), Tom Savage for O'Mahony (48 minutes), Shane Dowling for Hayes (56 minutes). 

REFEREE: Johnny Murphy (Glenroe)