Denny Division 2A League Final, Mitchels Avenue 2-1 Ballyheigue Athletic

Denny Division 2A League Final
Friday 29th April 2016
Mitchels Avenue 2-1 Ballyheigue Athletic

Report and Pictures by Tommy Naughton. Images Copyright to KDL ,No usage without permission by any other website, Facebook or Twitter Pages.

Mitchels Avenue claimed their first league title on Friday with a win over Ballyheigue Athletic in a cracking league final played in front of a very large crowd at Mounthawk Park.

Both sides started brightly with Danny Casey clearing of the line to deny Robert Lynch for Mitchels Avenue before Paudie Carroll saw his well struck free kick for Ballyheigue Athletic just fly past the top corner. The deadlock was broken in the 13th minutes when a long ball from defence was headed into the path of Robert Lynch from Sean O’Reilly before it was squared to Darren Breen who made non mistake in finding the bottom corner with only the keeper to beat.

Ballyheigue reacted well and Paudie Carroll again went close but hit the side netting after breaking into the box after beating three defenders. Chris Hegarty had to react quickly to deny Kieran O’Connor after a superb diagonal ball by Paul Galloway. Mitchels Avenue nearly doubled their lead in the 26th Minute after a corner from Chris O’Sullivan dropped to the feet of Robert Lynch but some how Paudie Carroll blocked the ball on the line .

Just after the half hour mark Frankie Flaherty found himself through on goal after a flick in behind the defence from Kieran O’Connor but yet again Chris Hegarty in the Mitchels Avenue goal was out quickly to block the shot . Both side hand chances in the final minutes of the first half with Kevin Walsh shooting over after a quick counter attack from Ballyheigue Athletic before Peter Murphy was also off target or Mitchels Avenue with a volley from close range.

The second side started and again both teams flew out of the blocks with Mitchels Avenue having the first real chance after a neat one two between Darren Breen and Sean O’Reilly saw Robert O’Connor save bravely at the feet of Breen to deny Mitchels Avenue their second goal. Mitchels really should have doubled their lead on the hour mark after a long kick out from Chris Hegarty found Darren Breen on the left wing who squared the ball to Sean O’Reilly on the penalty spot but his first touch was surprisingly poor with only the keeper to beat and Robert O’Connor was out quickly to smother the ball.

Mitchels were now restricting Ballyheigue Athletic to long range efforts with Chris Hegarty saving from Frankie Flaherty before Mitchels Avenue doubled their lead with 14 minutes remaining. Chris O’Sullivan played a through ball in behind the Ballyheigue defence where Darren Breen timed his run perfectly to beat the off side trap and as the keeper advanced out Breen squared the ball to Robert Lynch who tapped the ball into the empty net .

Ballyheigue still kept going and never gave up and it took a diving header on the line by David Hennessey to deny them a way back into this game. Wayne Duggan nearly made sure of the win for Mitchels with a quick counter attack only to see his shot crash back of the crossbar in the final minute. Noel Carroll did pull a goal back in the 93rd minute from a tight angel but the final whistle went at the restart to start the celebrations for the Tralee side.

Mitchels Avenue ; Chris Hegarty , Peter Murphy, Liam O’Sullivan, David Hennessey , Ruairi Keane, Zidane Algers, Chris O’Sullivan, Robert O’Sullivan, Josh O’Reilly, Sean O’Reilly, Darren Breen . Subs; Wayne Duggan for Zidane Algers (60 mins), Craig Locke for Josh O’Reilly (67 mins), Chris Kerins for Chris O’Sullivan (79 mins).

Ballyheigue Athletic ; Robert O’Connor , Paul Galloway , Danny Casey, Damien Casey, Pa McElligott, Kevin Walsh, Paudie Carroll, Jason Casey, Kieran O’Connor, Jordan Brick, Frankie Flaherty. Subs; Noel Carroll for Paudie Carroll (77 mins).

Officials ;
Referee; Thomas Sheehy.
Assistants; Adrian Quirke & Tom O’Sullivan .