Limerick champions Mountcollins find Ballina too hot to handle in Munster club

MOUNTCOLLINS' return to interprovincial football championship was over almost before it began when they felt the full force of a Ballina hurricane as they went down 3-12 to 0-3 on their home ground in the junior quarter-final on Saturday.

Lining out against opponents fielding Tippery senior footballer Steven O'Brien as well as county hurling colleagues Willie Connors and Mikey Breen and former Limerick star Tom Lee in their lineup, they had already conceded 2-6 without
reply by the first water break as power plays from deep led to Connors's goal inside twenty seconds and another from Breen and a string of points from hotshot Eoghan Power.

Although the Limerick representatives steadied after that and  held to their opponents to just a handful of scores, the damage was already done before the visitors signed off with a second burst coming up to the final whistle.

However, they knew it wasn't going to be their day when Tom McCarthy, after being foot-blocked in front of goal, saw his penalty just into the second quarter stopped by Martin McKeogh's spectacular save. Still, they managed the only score up to half-time to leave the score at 2-6 to 0-1.

An uneventful third quarter left the margin unchanged at 2-8 to 0-3 but, with Mountcollins playing the final ten minutes without the black-carded Jamie Lenihan, Ballina stepped again on the gas with a string of points and O'Meara grabbing their third goal from a tight angle after powering in from the corner.

SCORERS: BALLINA: Eogan Power 0-6, Mikey Breen 1-1, Steven O'Brien 0-3, Willie Connors, Dan O'Meara 1-0 each, Finn Looney 0-2; MOUNTCOLLINS: James Brouder 0-2 (2 frees), John O'Connell 0-1.