JFC: Mary's can take heart from defeat
August 10, 2026
St. Mary's Andrew Brien with Conor Fleming Ballinlough during the JFC round 1 game at Dunganny
Ballinlough 3-14 St Marys 1-11
St Marys first game on their return to the Junior A ranks on Sunday afternoon finished in a 9 point defeat to an impressive Ballinlough side at Dunganny pitch 6.
The opening exchanges of the game were cagey enough, with Ballinlough taking an early 2 points to 1 lead, a Daire Shine free and a Harry Ryan point sandwiched between a Cormac Victory point for St Marys. Ballinlough had the aid of a very strong swirling breeze blowing towards the Trim Road in the first half, and after threatening with several early efforts they scored their first goal on 10 minutes, when a Tom Shine 2 point attempt deceived Marys netminder Adam Byrne and nestled in the back of the net. This seemed to take the wind out of the Marys sails after a solid start, and in the next 10 minutes Ballinlough reeled off 5 more points, with Marys solitary reply coming from a well taken Andrew Brien point. The rest of the half was dominated by Ballinlough though, reeling off another couple of scores, followed by a Daire Shine goal and 2 pointer to leave the scoreline a sobering 2-12 to 0-2 at half time.
With credit to the Marys lads, they regrouped at half time, eager to show in the second half that there was plenty more to give especially with the aid of a strong wind. Marys made a couple of switches at the break, bringing Joey Greene and Daire Victory who have both had an injury disrupted 2026 season into the action for the second half.
Victory was straight into the action, assisting a Brien goal 15 seconds into the second half after good work from Sean Nulty from the throw in. Marys kept pushing hard, and a couple of two point frees from Brien along with an Adam Craven point kept things interesting, with a Shine point in reply for Ballinlough. In truth, Marys could have had more scores on the board, and thought they had grounds for a penalty when Nulty was hacked down with the goal at his mercy, but much like in the first half, the swirling wind was proving tricky to navigate at times. Any thoughts the Marys had of completing a big comeback were dealt a blow halfway through the second half when Ballinlough were awarded a penalty. It seemed nearly identical to the call not given minutes before at the opposite end, but Marys could have little complaints about the decision. Daire Shine stepped up and although Byrne done excellently well to tip it onto the post, the rebound fell straight back to Shine who buried the rebound. Marys kept the pressure on, and they finished off the scoring with a well struck 2 pointer from Caimin Hughes and another 2 point free from Brien.
The Donore/Rosnaree men will be disappointed with the result as a whole, but will have learned a lot of lessons from the opening 30 minutes of the game especially against a seasoned Junior A team, as well as taking heart from a strong second half performance, knowing that there is plenty of football still to be played in the group. St Marys next game is against Nobber in Syddan on August 20th.
St Marys: Adam Byrne; Andrew Everard, Liam Lynch, Conor O’Brien; AJ Bradshaw, Dylan Bagnall, Dylan Craig; Adam Craven 0-1, Tadhg Dixon; Sean Nulty, Cathal Sheridan, Caimin Hughes 0-2; Andrew Brien 1-7(3 2pf), Ben Loughran, Cormac Victory 0-1.
Subs: Joey Greene for Sheridan, Daire Victory for Craig, James Lynch for Nulty, Callum Reilly for O’Brien. Kyle McKeown, Neil Floyd, Liam O’Brien, Robbie Callaghan, Peter Waters.
