Burgess rein in Ballina with late rally

Burgess found their rhythm just in time to reach a second successive North Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship final following a come from behind victory over Ballina in this semi-final on Saturday.

GAA: Savvy Kitchens North Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Burgess 0-21

Ballina 0-20

Report: Shane Brophy at St Michael’s Park, Toomevara

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Steven O’Brien (Ballina)

SCORERS – Burgess: Stephen Murray 0-12 (9 frees, 3 65s); Danny Ryan 0-3; Eoin Grace, Stephen Kirwan 0-2 each; Donagh Maher, Bill O’Flaherty 0-1 each.

Ballina: Steven O’Brien 0-11 (5 frees, 1 65); Jack Collins 0-4 (3 frees, 1 s-cut); Josh Egan, David Kelly 0-2 each; Charlie King 0-1.

For long spells it looked as if Ballina would reach their first divisional final in this grade and when they led 0-17 to 0-11 after 42 minutes, it would have been felt that Burgess would have needed a goal to inspire a recovery.

Not so as they almost scored as much in the remainder of the game to turn a six point deficit into a three point lead at one stage before a late Ballina surge ran out of time.

Burgess’ recovery was built on going more direct, particularly after the introduction of Tony Dunne and Bill O’Flaherty to the full forward line. It spooked Ballina to an extent that Michael Breen, previously sitting deep as an effective centre back, was concerned about their aerial ability. With Eoin Hogan redeployed to the wing, Burgess also had a ball-winner they badly needed. From there, they turned possession into scores, including winning frees which Stephen Murray accurately converted.

Off the Ballina puckout, Burgess’ half-back line attacked the ball better, breaking it forward from where they swept up the majority of the breaks.

This will be a sore defeat to Ballina to take. For long spells they did everything right. Their set-up was effective, particularly in isolating Steven O’Brien at full forward who caused Ballina no end of problems in terms of winning possession and taking scored, five of them coming from play.

However, his impact waned after Burgess made a switch of Johnny Mulqueen onto him in the 42nd minute, following O’Brien’s fourth point from play which opened up the six point lead, their largest of the game.

They also lacked an effective scorer to go with him with David Kelly effective in the first half, but his impact waned as the game went on. Josh Egan was always a threat with two points while county under 20 hurler Jack Collins led the fight from half back.

Both sides set-up as a mirror of each other with each operating a sweeper and packing the middle, it was a game of decent intensity but lacking a spark for long spells.

It didn’t take long for Steven O’Brien to impact the game, converting an early free before cutting in along the end-line but the angle was too narrow to convert a goal chance.

Eoin Grace opened Burgess tally on three minutes before Jack Collins (sideline cut) and a second O’Brien free edged Ballina two clear. The dead-eye Stephen Murray opened his account for Burgess, but Ballina were finding their players more effectively in possession with a foul on Josh Egan leading to another O’Brien free before Charlie King scored Ballina’s first from play on twelve minutes for a 0-5 to 0-2 lead.

Impressive Burgess midfielder Danny Ryan landed two points from play either side of a second O’Brien point from play before Josh Egan benefitted from a lung-bursting run from Ben King for Ballina’s seventh point.

The next three points came from frees before Egan added his second with Steven O’Brien’s third from play stretching the lead to four on 26 minutes.

Donagh Maher wasn’t an impact on the game as Burgess hoped for in a roving roll, but he managed to finally get space to score on 27 minutes with Danny Ryan adding a third but three more points from the dead-eye O’Brien gave Ballina a deserved 0-13 to 0-9 lead at the break, Stephen Murray getting Burgess’ last score of the half.

The flow of the game didn’t change much in the first twelve minutes of the second half, despite two Stephen Murray placed balls reducing the arrears but four points in a row from David Kelly, and three more from Steven O’Brien (2 frees) saw the lead grow to six points.

Burgess needed a spark, and it came on 42 minutes when Tony Dunne’s introduction saw Johnny Mulqueen move to full-back, Danny Ryan to wing-back and Donagh Maher and Stephen Murray into deeper roles. Within seconds of his arrival, Dunne’s first time shot was blocked out for a 65 which Murray converted.

With Steven O’Brien missing a free soon after, the scoring chances began to dry up for Ballina as Stephen Murray and Eoin Grace landed points from play and the gap was down to three. Three placed balls from Murray saw the sides level on 54 minutes and it was no surprise when Burgess took the lead through Stephen Kirwan a minute later.

Steven O’Brien levelled for Ballina from play, but Burgess surged on with Kirwan, Murray and sub Jack O’Flaherty opening up a three point lead. Two long range frees from Jack Collins gave Ballina a glimmer of hope, but time ran out on their North title hopes as Burgess move onto the final.

TEAMS: Burgess: Ronan Tucker (6); Kieran Ryan (6), Bryan Quinn (5), Daire Hogan (7); Willie Ryan (7), Keith Nealon (6), Johnny Mulqueen (7); Danny Ryan (8), Kieran Grace (6); Micheal Ryan (6), Eoin Grace (7), Stephen Murray (7); Stephen Kirwan (7), Eoin Hogan (7), Donagh Maher (6).

Subs: Tony Dunne (6) for Quinn (42); Bill O’Flaherty (6) for M Ryan (46).

Ballina: Simon Grace (6); Terry O’Halloran (7), David Grace (6), Paddy O’Donovan (7); Zak Egan (7), Michael Breen (8), David Coughlan (7); Jack Collins (7), David Kelly (7); Cillian Ryan (6), Charlie King (6), Kian Donnelly (7); Billy Collins (6), Steven O’Brien (8), Josh Egan (7)

Subs: Eoghan Power (6) for Donnelly (53); Ben King (6) for B Collins (53).

Referee: Christy McLoughlin (Nenagh Eire Og)