Mayo IFC: Davitts advance as loss of Jack Coyne hits Ballyhaunis hard
by Aiden Henry
Davitts advanced to the semi-finals of the Mayo intermediate championship following their deserved victory over Ballyhaunis by 3-10 to 1-10 at Ballyhaunis.
In a game that didn’t really come to light until the second half, there was drama before the game started when Ballyhaunis ace Jack Coyne picked up an injury in the pre-match warm-up.
The Mayo captain was a huge loss to Ballyhaunis who never got into their usual free flowing brand of football.
However, a lot of credit for this must also go to Davitts who despite some wayward shooting throughout, worked tirelessly as unit and overall were by far the better side on the day.
Inspired by their Mayo senior panellist, Fenton Kelly, as well as half time substitute, former Mayo great Colm Boyle, Davitts ability to score three goals at crucial stages proved the difference between the two sides in the end.
Playing with the wind in their backs, Davitts had the better of the exchanges in the opening half.
However, despite having plenty of possession they failed to make this advantage pay where it mattered most, on the scoreboard, due to some bad shooting, both from frees and play.
As a result, they had little to show for this wind advantage as they went in for the interval break level with their opponents.
In fairness to Ballyhaunis, while they played most of the opening 30 minutes in their own half, they did make it very difficult for the Davitts forwards with some staunch defending.
And, when they did enter the Davitts half, they made the most of their scoring opportunities.
The game was six minutes old before we had the opening score, a pointed free by Niall Treacy for Davitts. This score was cancelled out four minutes later when Ballyhaunis’s Eamonn Phillips also pointed from a placed ball.
However, within 60 seconds of this score, the Ballyhaunis goalkeeper Adrian Phillips was picking the ball from the back of his net after Fenton Kelly set up Ciaran Treacy to score a brilliant goal to leave it 1-1 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter Fionn Conlon and Ciaran Treacy exchanged points before the home side got back on level terms with a great goal from midfielder Mark Phillips in the 22nd minute.
It got better for Ballyhaunis a minute later after Eamonn Phillips landed a delightful two-pointer from over on the right wing.
Just when it began to look like Davitts would pay dearly for a host of missed chances they regrouped before scoring two unanswered points in the closing minutes of the half to draw level, 1-4 to 1-4, at the interval.
On the resumption it looked like Ballyhaunis were going to overpower Davitts when they raced into an early three-point lead after a delightful two-pointer from Eamonn Phillips and a single from Jason Coyne.
However, Davitts responded to these two setbacks by hitting back with four unanswered points, one from Ronan Kelly and three Fenton Kelly which included a two-pointer.
Although Ballyhaunis replied with an Adam Kelly pointed free to level matters once again, the crucial score of the game came in the 43rd minute when Davitts were awarded a penalty following a foul on Tom Ronayne which was brilliantly dispatched by Jack Melvin.
Although Eamonn Phillips did reply with a two-pointer for Ballyhaunis, Davitts finished the game in style with points from Fenton Kelly and Melvin before Jack Ronayne made sure of their victory with a fine late goal to leave the south Mayo side the deserving winners and a place in the semi-finals against Islandeady or Kiltane.