No joy for our U21 footballers last Friday night, when Ballincollig deservedly ran out winners in this County 1st round clash. Though the sides exchanged points in the opening few minutes, Ballincollig then took over proceedings. By the time Niall Hill had scored his and Aghada’s second point on 18 minutes Ballincollig had 6 on the scoreboard and were well on top in most sectors. Credit Aghada who rallied well in the last 10 before the interval. Jamie O’Hanlon turned his man nicely on 21 minutes and finished well. Then on 28 minutes Marcus Leahy won his own breaking ball at midfield and then released Aaron Berry who after a strong run set up Alan Hogan for a goal chance. ‘Collig ‘keeper was up to the task however and saved well at the expense of a ’45. Jamie pointed the ’45 and the sides went in at half time to a 7 v 5 scoreline, which gave the Aghada supporters plenty of reason for optimism. On resumption however Ballincollig went up a gear. Four Points in as many minutes, each one a better score than the next opened up a 6 point lead. Again Aghada rallied. Another strong run from Berry released Hogan and this time the young corner forward found the back of the net from the tightest of angles. It had little effect on Ballincollig’s momentum and within 10 minutes they had nullified this score with 3 more points. Good work in defence from Shay Keane, led to Hogan kicking an unreal point from virtually the end line which was sandwiched between 2 Jamie ‘45s and it was only a 3 point game with just 10 minutes to play. That was as good as it got for Aghada however, as once more their opponents shifted gears. 5 points in this closing period and it’s hard to remember if Ballincollig had any shot at goal miss the target in the second half, and they were comfortable winners well before the final whistle sounded. In fairness to Aghada, not once did they stop trying and both Diarmuid Phelan and Alan Hogan flashed goal attempts just outside the uprights near the end. Aghada Team and scorers – Ciaran O’Shea, Kyle O’Shea, Jack McDonald, Ben Stafford, Jordan Tynan, Tommy O’Donoghue, Shay Keane, Ciaran Galligan, Diarmuid Phelan, Marcus Leahy, Aaron Berry, Mark McCarthy, Alan Hogan(1-1), Jamie O’Hanlon (0-5, 3 ‘45s), Niall Hill (0-2). Subs Used Rory Slye, Jack Norris, Sean Byrne, Luke O’Connell, Vincey Rohan.