Crettyard see off Ballyfin to secure senior status for 2026
Alex Whelan (Crettyard) laying this ball off against Ballyfin Photo: Denis Byrne
CRETTYARD have secured their senior status for 2026 after overcoming Ballyfin in a deserving eight-point win in the Centre of Excellence on Saturday evening.
The result was never in doubt from the beginning as Crettyard had too much firepower for Ballyfin with Cormac Murphy 1-6 which led his side for victory.
The loss for Ballyfin means they will be playing at Intermediate level for 2026 and will have no complaints as they lost every game in the championships and flirted with relegation over the last few including a relegation playoff last year but they got the better of Ballylinan in that encounter.
Crettyard got things rolling with a point from Jonah Kelly but Ballyfin quickly responded with a point from Shane Connolly before the only goal of the game came through a penalty.
Ciaran Burke intercepted a kickout and was fouled but he took the solo and goal option and was later fouled in the box and Crettyard were awarded a penalty.
Cormac Murphy stepped up and made no mistake to give Crettyard an early advantage in this encounter.
Murphy then followed the goal with a point, and it already gave Ballyfin a mountain to climb. Darragh Connolly did add a point for Ballyfin, but Crettyard were dominating all over the field.
Ciaran Burke then got on the scoresheet with Jonah Kelly added to his tally as Crettyard were looking to put the game to bed as soon as possible.
Sean Moore grabbed a free for Ballyfin but again Crettyard responded with Murphy grabbing another two while Shane Connolly added the last score of the half as the scores were 1-6 to 0-4 to Crettyard.
Ballyfin needed a quick start if they were going to save their skins but early points from John Brennan and Murphy ended this game as a contest as Ballyfin couldn’t unlock Crettyard’s defence.
James Moore did get Ballyfin up and running in the second half in a rare venture forward.
Murphy and Kelly would respond for Crettyard and they were now at their ease as they knew their win was secure.
Sean Moore and James Moore would hit two in a row as Ballyfin did show some fight, but the game was up at this stage.
Evan O’Carroll then made a welcome return as a sub where he set Dara Kelly up for a point before he scored from a free.
Sean Moore added two more frees for Ballyfin, but O’Carroll would have the finals say with another free as Crettyard secured their safety.
Cormac Murphy 1-6 (0-1 45, 0-2fs, 1 two point free), Jonah Kelly 0-3, Evan O’Carroll 0-2 (fs), Ciaran Burke, John Brennan and Dara Kelly 0-1 each.
Sean Moore 0-4 (0-1f), Shane Connolly and James Moore 0-2 each, Darragh Connolly 0-1.
Eoin O’Shea; James Kelly, Pierce Nash, Fionn O’Sullivan; Dara Kelly, James Brennan, Conor Mulhall; Pa O’Reilly, Podge Lawlor; Michael Nash, John Brennan, Alex Whelan; Jonah Kelly, Ciaran Burke, Cormac Murphy.
Evan O’Carroll for Mulhall (47m), Evan Dunne for M Nash (55m), Matt Kelly for O’Shea (55m), Adam Kavanagh for O’Reilly (59m), Mark Delaney for Burke (60m).
Eoin Connolly; Owen Walsh, Allan Connolly, Conall Rowney; Tomas Lynch, Darragh Connolly, Conor Cleary; James Finn, David Connolly; Ciaran Quinn, Shane Connolly, Darragh Prendergast; Adam Connolly, Sean Moore, James Moore.
Ronan Carroll for Quinn (ht), Eanna Lyons for Lynch (37m),Sean Dunne for Adam Connolly (37m), Ciaran Quinn for Rowney (41m), Gene O’Connor for Walsh (43m).
Hugh Coghlan (Park/Ratheniska)
