Cha’s injury time point was the score that sent Ballinakill into the quarter-finals

Laois Shopping Centre Senior Hurling Championship Rd 5 

Ballinakill 2-19 

Castletown 2-18 

BALLINAKILL came back emphatically in the second half against Castletown to claim their second victory in the group stage of the Laois senior hurling championship and it was enough to see them through to the quarter-finals in the final game of the group stages in this year’s championship.

It's a massive achievement for them after coming up from Premier Intermediate last year as finalists and they were forced to do it the hard way as they trailed by five points at half time and all looked to be lost.

Only a win would be good enough for them to overtake Portlaoise and Abbeyleix in Group A and they got to work early in the second half, outscoring Castletown by 1-7 to 0-1 by the 50th minute.

Castletown's fate was already sealed coming into the game as they couldn't qualify to the knockout stages even with a victory but they battled right to the end and made Ballinakill sweat right down to the wire as it took a Cha Dwyer free in the 63rd minute to win the game.

Ballinakill captain Eddie Dwyer opened the scoring with a point before disaster struck for them when Conor Doran found Benny Reddin with a pass and the latter stitched it for a goal, followed with points from Ciaran McKelvey, Doran and Kyron Cuddy.

Points from Cha Dwyer, Ben O'Mara and Seamus Fitzpatrick brought the gap back to three and the score was levelled after 10 minutes with a great goal by Ben O'Mara as he caught a pass in and tore into freedom to get a shot at goal.

The pair continued to go score for score with Jack Breen and Reddin on target from play along with a brace of Kyron Cuddy frees in reply to efforts from Brian Duggan, Gearoid Lynch and Seamus Fitzpatrick.

Reddin and Doran were on the mark again for Castletown after good work from their teammates at the back to clear their lines, but once again the excellent Lynch replied with a strike from way out the field.

Castletown were in for a second goal when Ballinakill attempted to play a clever tapped sideline deep in Castletown territory, but Ryan Mullaney was wise to it and the Ballinakill forwards weren't as he raced to pick it up off the line and drive it down the field to Doran who caught it on the 21, burst in on goal and drove it home.

Points from Doran and Kyron Cuddy increased the gap to six before a late free from Duggan made it 2-12 to 1-10 in favour of Castletown.

Ballinakill had it all to do if they were to save their championship hopes as they reemerged for the second half and they started out strongly with a trio of scores from Fitzpatrick, Dwyer and Duggan to bring it back to two.

Doran stopped the Ballinakill flow momentarily with a 35th minute point, but Castletown would go scoreless for the next 15 minutes, allowing Ballinakill ample opportunity to chip away at the lead even further.

Cha Dwyer launched over a couple of frees and Eddie followed with one from play before Ballinakill took the lead for the first time since the first minute when TJ Lalor rose to catch a ball in front of the Castletown net and made no mistake in raising a green flag.

A point from Fitzpatrick sent Ballinakill ahead by four with 10 minutes left on the clock and now suddenly the game was turned on its head as Ballinakill had a lead to defend to save their souls.

Doran and Lynch traded excellent scores and Castletown were starting to find the flow from the first that had vacated them once they came out for the second half.

Ryan Mullaney moved into centre forward, bringing Cha Dwyer back with him for Ballinakill and that gave Castletown a new focal point which had a good degree of success with Kyron Cuddy taking advantage by knocking over a quick pair of frees.

Tadhg Cuddy and Mullaney both struck fine scores from play and the sides were all square at 2-18 apiece in the 62nd minute, with four minutes of injury time to be played in total.

Ballinakill went on the charge once again and they were awarded a free inside the 45 and there was no doubt as to who would be taking it as Cha stepped up to the plate and flung it over with ease, sending the Ballinakill crowd and panel into raptures.

Rosenallis now await Ballinakill in a quarter-final in a fortnight while Castletown face the opposite fate as they will head into a Senior B final against The Harps.

SCORERS:

Ballinakill: Cha Dwyer 0-5 (0-4fs), Brian Duggan 0-4 (0-1f, 0-1 65), Ben O'Mara 1-1, Gearoid Lynch and Seamus Fitzpatrick 0-3 each, Eddie 0-2, Ryan Quinlan 0-1.

Castletown: Conor Doran 1-5, Kyron Cuddy 0-6 (0-4fs), Benny Reddin 1-2, Ciaran McKelvey (f), Tadhg Cuddy, Jack Breen, Ryan Mullaney and Martin Phelan 0-1 each.

BALLINAKILL: Paul Simms; Noel Duggan, Podge Lalor, Andrew McDonagh; Lir McDonald, Gearoid Lynch, Ethan Drury; Eddie Dwyer, Eoin Simms; Brian Duggan, Cha Dwyer, Ryan Quinlan; Brian Duggan, Ben O'Mara, Seamus Fitzpatrick.

Subs: TJ Lalor for J Drury (ht), Cian O'Shaughnessy for N Duggan (ht), Cathal O'Shaughnessy for E Simms (60m).

CASTLETOWN: Patrick Mullaney; Joe Phelan, Shane Phelan, Rory Kelly; Ciaran McKelvey, Ryan Mullaney, John Gaughan; Tommy Goode, Jack Breen; Martin Phelan, Conor Doran, Ryan Peters; Tadhg Cuddy, Benny Reddin, Kyron Cuddy.

Subs: Callum Peters for R Peters (28m, inj), Aaron Phelan for Gaughan (43m), Sean Óg Byrne for Breen (47m).

Referee: John Lalor (Shanahoe)