First half Zerafa Hat Trick leaves O’Hanrahans feeling blue

Ballon 4-13

O’Hanrahans 1-10

A 28 minute Hat Trick from Peter Zerafa gave Ballon a foothold that they wouldn't relinquish on Friday night at HQ.

Ballon were awesome in the first half and showed their championship credentials in some style. All of their forwards scored in this opening period along with midfielder Fionn McCaffrey and the slickness and pace in their play with a standout.

O’Hanrahans we’re struggling so badly that Mark Carpenter played most of the first half inside his own 45 just to try and give them some bit of status in the contest. 

Zerafa was alert on the edge of the square with two of his goals coming from responses to balls coming back off the post.

Add in class kicks from Liam Brennan, Corr and company and the winners were simply super to watch. 

O’Hanrahans showed a possible hint of making it a proper contest initially in the early stages of the half when Joe Doran finished off a Danny Thompson effort which may well have crept in regardless but Ballon motored on after it.

Both keepers had saves to make in the first half and credit to Ernie Core and Cian Byrne they were both super throughout.

Ballon led 3-9 to 1-3 at the interval but with Milo Feehan and Simon Doyle establishing a stranglehold on proceedings at midfield on the restart, there potentially was a time where the Blues could have clawed this back to a one score game.

Danny Thompson missed a penalty in the 43rd minute and another couple of goal chances went a begging minutes later at a time where Carpenter and Thompson had got the scoreboard ticking for them.

John Nangle coming off the bench at half time and scoring three points from play was one of the bright lights for O’Hanrahans on the night. 

Liam Brennan notched fine scores for Ballon including a rare one off the right foot which wasn’t too shabby at all, and Ben Goodwin rubber stamped their place in the Semi’s in injury time with their 4th major.

Despite the margin of defeat, you sense there’s a lot more in O’Hanrahans and they’ll be disappointed with how their season has ended.

For Ballon, they march on with great confidence and certainly will relish the semi final. Particularly if they are drawn against Fighting Cocks!

‍Ballon: Cian Byrne; Tadhg Hutton, Lorcan Doyle, Josh Fernandez; Conor Kearney, Jimmy Carroll, Donnacha Murphy; Benny Fanning, Fionn McCaffrey (0-1); Myles Hutton (0-1), Sean Treacy (0-1), Evan Corr 0-2, one 45): Liam Brennan (0-6, 1f), Peter Zerafa (3-0), Shane Duffy (0-2).

Subs: Ben Goodwin (1-0) for T Hutton (26 mins inj), John Gittens for Kearney (46 mins), Paddy Byrne for McCaffrey (50 mins), Conor Bolger for Treacy (52 mins), Kevin Maher for Corr (56 mins).

‍O’Hanrahans: Ernie Core; Thato Rammusi, Milo Feehan, Barry English; Ger Sinnott, Karol English, Lazzy Meaney; Fergal Donoghue, Owen O’Gorman; Keelan Lacey, Simon Doyle, Mark Davis; Joe Doran (1-0), Marc Carpenter (0-1f), Danny Thompson (0-6, 5f).

Subs: Daniel Core for Davis (13 mins inj), John Nangle (0-3) for Sinnott (HT), Keenan Geogheghan for O’Gorman (49 mins), Tom Roche for K English (56 mins).

Referee: Seamie Doyle 

‍