It was a game of 2 halves under the lights in Kenmare on Tuesday evening but a goal blitz from Kenmare took all 3 points.

Ballyhar set out to frustrate the home side and after a shaky opening few minutes, they settled into the game, held their shape well and limited Kenmare to shots from distance that Eoin O’Mahony comfortably dealt with. Then on 18 mins Lee Cirillo broke down the left and won a corner, which Ross Lally whipped into the front post. The ball managed to miss everyone and found the back of the net. 0-1 to Ballyhar. Kenmare created plenty of chances over the rest of the half but strong defending from Conrad Long, Conor Giles, Tom Costelloe, Sean Brosnan and the brick wall that was O’Mahony in goals, meant Ballyhar went in at half time a goal to the good. H/T 0-1

The 2^nd half was always going to be tough after keeping a good Kenmare side scoreless, but with O’Mahony in the form of his life, he was doing everything he could to stop them. Despite some nice play from the home side, it was really Ballyhar mistakes that lead to them finally breaking the our defence down. First some poor defending led to a Kenmare corner and while the cross was blocked, it looped into the air at the back post, with no Ballyhar head to clear it, the scramble led to the ball being bundled into the net. 1-1 Things went from bad to worse 5 mins later, when in good position to counter, Ballyhar were dispossessed  in midfield and Kenmare quickly moved the ball forward to the left where a shot was brilliantly saved by O’Mahony but the first to react was a Kenmare forward who swept it into the net. 2-1 Kenmare sensed blood but O’Mahony kept Ballyhar in the game with an outstanding display of goalkeeping, that even had the Kenmare coaches in disbelief. He went full stretch to push one shot around the post from a well hit strike, made a fantastic double save inside the box and then tipped a rasping free-kick over the bar on another occasion. All the while Ballyhar legs were fading from all their hard work and before the subs could come in to make a difference, Kenmare found the net 2 more times. 4-1 The fight didn’t end there as Ballyhar regrouped and created 2 great chances. The first for Ross Lally was a great chance that unfortunately he just failed to properly connect with, and the second one yielded a well taken goal for Cirillo after being put through nicely by Colby O’Meara. But Kenmare finished the scoring in the last 10 mins with another goal off an O’Mahony save and a freak O.G. F/T 6-2

It was a disappointing end to what was a gritty display for 55 mins, but errors will be punished by good teams, and we just couldn’t hold out. Despite an inspiring display from Eoin O’Mahony in goals, who was the best player on the pitch by a mile. The lads will hopefully learn from this display as their efforts did not deserve to lose by the margin they did. Well done to Kenmare and we look forward to seeing them again later in the season.