Ballyhar hosted Limerick side Askeaton/Kilcornan in the 3rd round of the National Cup on Saturday afternoon.

Ballyhar won the toss and elected to play with the strong breeze at their backs and after a tightly contested opening 5 minutes, Ballyhar settled and took control of the game. They opened the scoring in the 7th minute when Quilter dropped into midfield, won the ball and played in Jamie Murphy who calmly finished to the net with his shot coming off the inside of the post.1-0 Soon after Ballyhar extended their lead when Dylan Fitzgeralds cross was only half-cleared by the visitors backline, and fell kindly to the oncoming Addy Nolan who met the ball sweetly on the volley for a fine finish. 2-0. Ballyhar kept the pressure on but the Askeaton defense held strong. The busiest player on the pitch all game was the visiting keeper who pulled off some fine saves, most notably from another Murphy strike that was destined for the top corner and brilliantly tipped over, while Jack Kelly was also denied from a point blank effort. Then just on the stroke of halftime Ryan Vickers escaped down the left and found Nolan inside the box who made no mistake to put Ballyhar 3 up at the break. H/T 3-0

Playing with the wind in the second half, the visitors found themsleves with more possession but were unable to break the backline of Fleming, O'Leary Griffin, O'Brien & Templeman all afternoon. Brendàn Allman & Alex Finn were sprung from the bench and brought fresh legs and energy to the home sides midfield and attack. The cushion Ballyhar were looking for was added when a super cross from the left found Dylan Fitzgerald at the back post who finished well to make it 4-0. Two further goals were added to the scoreline before the final whistle, with a nice run and score by Vickers, while Alex Finn found the net after a great assist from Man of the Match Addy Nolan.

Thanks to Askeaton/Kilcornan for a good game and credit to them for not dropping the heads and battling until the final whistle. We wish them well for their season ahead.