City Junior B Football League Final
Pallaskenry 3-11 Ballinacurra Gaels 3-4

Pallaskenry went out all guns blazing in the City B League Final. With an almost full squad they hit the ground running from the start of the match. Ian Gibbs opened the scoring in the first minute with a free and followed up in the 7th minute with another free. With great passing from backs to forwards for the whole match the Pallas game flowed from start to finish. Lorcan Fitzgerald opened his scoring tally in the 8th minute with a great point and this was following with another free from Ian. A great ball from midfield landed into the forward line and Ciaran Ryan was on hand to blast it into the back of the net. It took Ballinacurra 16 minutes before they were to open their score with a point.


This was their only score in the first half due to great defending from Michael Delap, Adrian Guerin and Pauric Nash who based himself between midfield and the back line. Another great ball into the forwards and some great soccer skills led to the 2nd goal setup by Jerome O’Connell who backflipped the ball to Simon Guerin and it ended in the back of the net. Pallas wereunlucky to concede a penalty but this was duly saved by super goal keeper Pa O’Dwyer. Wanting to increase his score tally Ian Gibbs was on hand again in the 22nd minute to put another in the net and Kenny Ward finished the half with a great point from outfield. We were up by 14 points at the half time mark.


Pallas were not going to lie down thinking the game was won and came out just as strong in the second half. Darren Walsh converted a great point in the opening moments of the second half. However Ballinacurra were not going down without a fight and scored 1-2 in the first 10 minutes. Fighting hard until the end Lorcan Fitzgerald added to his score with another point and Ian Gibbs finished the game with 3 more points, 2 from frees. Again in the second half Pallas were unlucky to concede another penalty and this time it was converted.


Every single player played their hearts out in a game and victory that brought football silverware back to the parish for the first time in a few years. We now face either Kilcornan or Granagh Ballingarry in the county semi final in a few weeks time so here’s hoping we will go further. Well done to players and managers, Vincent Fitzgerald & Ger O’Dowd and thanks to all who came along and supported us despite the heavy traffic.

Team: P O’Dwyer, Michael Delap,Adrian Guerin, Jason Cahalane, Pauric Nash, Kevin Gallagher, Kenny Ward(0-1), Ciaran Ryan(1-0), Simon Guerin(1-0), Daniel Hannon, Lorcan Fitzgerald (1-1), Darren Walsh(0-1), Ian Gibbs (1-7), Jerome O’Connell, Kevin Taylor (0-1).
Subs used: Gavin McKee, Mikey Keogh, Brian Barry, Emmett O’Brien, Edmund Nunan, David Keating.