Mayo GAA News 9 July 1997
Ballina Stephenites 0-8 Crossmolina 1-9
John Melvin reports from Ballina
P.J. Loftus's penchant for scoring crucial goals, and at crucial times, sent last year's beaten finalists, Ballina Stephenites, crashing out of the championship in this less than inspiring first round clash before a large crowd at James Stephens Park on Sunday.
The elusive corner forward had threatened on at least three occasions to find the Ballina net, and in the end it was a flick of the wrist, rather than his lethal right foot, which unlocked Ballina's drum-tight defence in the 50th minute when the sides were deadlocked at 0-6 each.
On a heavy afternoon the mantle of favourites rested wearily on the shoulders of Crossmolina who struggled for over forty minutes to come to terms with Ballina's determination and fighting qualities, particularly at the back where Brian Heffernan gave a five star performance in eclipsing the big danger Kieran McDonald.
However, unlike Ballina, Crossmolina had a few options when it came to attacking forwards and in Paul McGuinness they had a wizard on the wing, while Dermot Loftus at full forward was a key figure in unlocking the Ballina defence for a few vital scores.
But it was Ballina who were in the ascendancy, at least in terms of opportunities, if not in hard cash on the scoreboard, when Loftus struck for the goal which ultimately turned the game.
The sides were level at 0-6 each as the game approached the 50th minute mark. With Liam McHale and Garry Kelly combining forces well at midfield Ballina had plenty of chances but squandered six second half wides and were also blew a great goal chance in the first half when Martin McGrath blazed inches wide.
Crossmolina on the other hand were much more frugal in their use of possession and in one of the few attacks they did have in that second half it was Loftus who got a flick to a ball that had dropped into No Mans' Land after excellent work on the wing by Paul McGuinness and the superb Tom Loftus.
It was a crushing blow for Ballina and one they never recovered from, and with James Nallen taking control in the final ten minutes, it was only a matter of how much Crossmolina would win by in the end.
In fact, Crossmolina could have stuck away two further goals but were quite happy to settle for points as they tidied up things with points from Johnny Leonard, P.J. Loftus and Tom Loftus.
Cathal Deacy provided Ballina with a fisted point to open the scoring after just thirty second but that was cancelled by Kieran McDonald's only point from play. Dermot McDonald restored Ballina's lead with a fine point after great run but marauding midfield, Tom Loftus, kicked a superb point to tie matters after ten minutes. It was level twice after McDonald (free) and Martin McGrath traded points and it s 0-4 each when Keith Lynn, a big loss in the second half when he pulled a hamstring, and McDonald(free) exchanged scores.
Johnny Leonard gave Crossmolina the edge just on half time with a point free 0-5 to 0-4, but it was Ballina who should have been in front with McHale orchestrating the move which set up McGrath for great goal chance while Sean Moffat was unlucky not to have had a point when his high effort came off the upright. Ballina's best spell came in the opening fifteen minutes of the second half, but they found it very hard to get through a strong Crossmolina defence where Liam Moffatt, at full back, Pat McAndrew, Tom Nallen and Peadar Flynn were in resolute mood.
Johnny Leonard picked off a point from a free in an isolated Crossmolina attack, and it was Deacy, with a fisted poin,t and Martin McGrath with a superb point after a great run by Brian Heffernan, which tied the game at 0-6 each.
But the game turned dramatically a minute later when Loftus got in to make amends for one or two bad misses, and flick home the goal which brought his side into a quarter final meeting with Davitts.
Improvement will be necessary if they are to fulfil expectations and go all the way this year, but in the last ten minutes, we did see them unfurl a lot of their natural ability, and if they can produce more of that form they will be the team to beat.
But when work had to be done they had plenty of hands willing to help out, notably Liam Moffatt, Peadar Flynn, Tom Nallen, Gerry O'Malley and Pat McAndrew in defence.
Tom Loftus had a powerful game at midfield while James Nallen was a huge influence in the second half. Up front Paul McGuinness proved a major problem for Ballina, while Dermot Loftus, Johnny Leonard and Noel Convey worked extremely hard, but when the game needed that injection, P.J.Loftus once again delivered. For a disappointing Ballina side John Healy was excellent in goals, David Leyden, Keith Duffy, the superb Brian Heffernan, Liam McHale, Gary Kelly, Sean McCann, David McDonnell, Cathal Deacy and Keith Lynn did all they could.
Crossmolina: B. Heffernan, P. Flynn, S. Moffatt, T. Nallen, G. O'Malley, J. Nallen, P. McAndrew, T. Loftus (0-2); N. Ryan, J. Leonard (0-2); K. McDonald (0-4); N. Convey, P. McGuinness, D. Loftus, P.J. Loftus (1-1). Subs: P. Mulligan for N. Ryan.
Ballina: J. Healy, K. Duffy, D. Leyden, P. Warde, s. McCann, B. Heffernan, D. McDonald (0-1); L. McHale, G. Kelly, K. Lynn (0-1); D. Coen, M. McGrath (0-3); C. Deacy (0-2); B. Ruane, S. Moffatt. Subs: P. McStay (0-1) for Lynn (inj), S. Barrett for Warde.
Ref: W. Feeley (Claremorris).
