There was a hard fought battle at Murt Scott Park on Saturday afternoon with our lads coming out on the wrong end of a 7 goal thriller with Fenit. The visitors tore into Ballyhar right from the off and looked to assert themselves with strong running and good pressure. Ballyhar struggled to get to grips with them and found themselves 1 down inside 10 mins. Ballyhar's nerves were settled just a few minutes later when Cillian Slattery ran onto a ball down the right and rifled a shot past the fenit keeper. Fenit had the better of the 1st half exchanges, finding joy down both flanks with dangerous crosses raining in on strong centre back pairing of Conrad Long and Marcus Clifford. One of those crosses was pulled back to the edge of the box for a Fenit Midfielder to hit a shot inside the right-hand post, only for Keeper Eoin O'Mahony and Conor Regan to combine well and looked like they stopped it on the line. Unfortunately, the ball slipped out of the keepers' hands and rolled into the net. Ballyhar needed to pick themselves up again, and once more, it was Slattery who finished off a good counter attacking move down the right to square it at 2-2 going in at the break.

Ballyhar started well in the 2nd half, putting some nice passing moves together, one of them nearly ended in a fantastic goal; with Jim O'Dowd, Davin Quilter, Slattery, and then Ross Lally all involved, with Lally's shot just clipping the crossbar. Then, midway through the 2nd half came the sucker punches that turned the game. First, Ballyhar pushed forward for a corner looking to capitalise on a nice purple patch, but the ball fell into the keepers' arms, who then launched a long ball towards their powerful no.9 who ran through on goal, beating 2 defenders and slotting it past the keeper. 5 mins later, Ballyhar lost possession and gave Fenit too much time and space down the left-hand side. They worked it into a good shooting position and punished Ballyhar from 12yrds out to give them a 2-goal cushion. Ballyhar kept battling to the end, and with nearly the last kick of the game, Slattery was pulled down by the keeper, and the ref pointed to the spot. The Fenit keeper made a fine save from Slattery's penalty, but Anthony Cremin slotted home the rebound. Unfortunately, that was the final action of the game and a tough loss for the lads. Fair play to Fenit who were strong, fast, and physical throughout, but credit to our lads who dug deep and battled to the end. Best for Ballyhar were Cillian Slattery and Marcus Clifford.