Gutsy Balyna take U21 A Championship at the expense of fancied Athy

Balyna: 1 - 8 Athy: 0 – 10 Tony Donohoe Trophies U21 A Championship final replay Many punters felt that Balyna had left their chance of winning this championship behind them last weekend in the drawn game; Athy with county seniors, Niall Kelly and David Hyland amongst their ranks were fancied to finish off their procession through this championship in style. Unfortunately for them, Balyna did everything they could to stay in this game and upon getting their lucky break in the form of a late Jack Robinson goal, they had the right mix of desire and composure to go on and win the game by the narrowest of margins. Daniel Pyke opened the scoring for Balyna with a well taken point from play, this was quickly cancelled out by a Niall Kelly free. The teams then swapped points for the opening 20 minutes to leave the scores at four points apiece, Tony Martin of Athy and Mark Nolan of Balyna scoring the pick of them. Upon making an incesive run through the Balyna defence Athy’s Barry Kelly was gang tackled by 3 Balyna defenders and ended up on the ground entangled with one of his opponents; whatever transpired in the next few seconds led to referee sending Kelly off. The decision galvanised Athy for the remainder of the half; goalkeeper Marc Prior produced some excellent kick-outs, Hyland and Rory Feely began to exert some real influence around the middle and their shooting improved up front with Feely and Martin both converting testing dead balls. Balyna seemed unsure of what to do with their spare man and at the break Athy led by 8 points to 4. Balyna looked far more organised upon the resumption, opting to use their spare man to double mark Niall Kelly. Sam Doran and Jack Robinson helped Balyna stay in touch and coming into the home stretch Athy led by three. However, in the dying embers of the game, Balyna’s Cien McGonagle set Jack Robinson up for a fantastic goal which drew the game. Buoyed by this score, Balyna gave everything to get a chance of a winner; the chance fell to Sam Doran who made no mistake to put his side one clear with the clock almost up. The remaining couple of minutes seen Balyna defend resolutely, the final whistle was greeted with huge celebrations; an amazing achievement for such a small rural club. Balyna: Wayne Cummins, Aidan Higgins, Joe Mulrainey, Art Lowry, Shane Flanagan, Gavin Scanlon, Joey Higgins, Luke Flynn, Glen Doran, Sam Doran 0 - 3, Cien McGonagle, Ian McKeown, Jack Robinson 1 – 3 (2f), Mark Nolan 0 - 1, Daniel Pyke 0 - 1. Subs used: Liam Holton and Calum Flanagan. Athy: Marc Prior, Tomas Foley, Killian Mulhall, Dominic Fennelly, Shane McGovern, Pascal Connell, John Moran 0 - 1, David Hyland, Mark Hyland, Rory Feely 0 – 1 (45), Niall Kelly 0 – 4 (3f), Barry Kelly, Tony Martin 0 – 3 (1f), Michael Kelly 0 - 1, Tadgh Foley. Subs used: Kieran Farrell.