Comprehensive 6-2 win for Rearcross ‘B’ in Ballinree

Rearcross ‘B’ travelled to Ballymackey, Sunday afternoon last, looking to do one better than the ‘A’ team, who drew 1-1 with Ballymackey ‘A’ earlier that day. Numbers were tight for the ‘B’ team; however, it didn’t seem to have too much of an effect, as none other than Mikey Feehan opened the scoring for the away side early on with a fine finish across the Ballymackey goalkeeper. Rea added to their tally only several minutes later when a Brian Hammersley clearance managed to find its way over the Ballymackey defence and into the path of the on-running Gavin Denihan, who produced a lovely chip over the keeper to make it 2-0 Rea. This wasn’t it from Rea, thankfully, as Mikey Feehan made it 3-0 after about 20 minutes with a goal almost identical to his first to get the visiting side off to a dream start. Mark McCarthy replied for the hosts on the half-hour mark with a header at the back post to regain some hope for Ballymackey before half-time. However, Mikey Feehan was awarded a penalty just before the half-time mark and converted to complete a first-half hat-trick.
Rea were still cautious going into the second half despite having a 3-goal lead as the Ballymackey strike force remained a threat. The opening exchanges of the second half were a relatively cagey affair due to unfavourable weather conditions, with the only real chances coming from Ballymackey corner kicks. Paul Ryan pulled off a brilliant headed goal-line clearance from one of these corners to keep the Rearcross lead. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before Ballymackey were going to convert from one as Mark McCarthy’s deliveries were proving extremely hard for Rea to deal with. McCarthy scored directly from a brilliant corner kick to reduce the home side's deficit on the 65th minute mark. Former Rearcross underage player Cathal Dervan almost added another for Ballymackey when he went on a mazy run through the Rearcross defence, only to have the ball taken from his feet at the last second by Brian Hammersley in the Rea goal. Rea pushed on again in the final 15 minutes with Mikey Feehan scoring his 4th of the day courtesy of an assist by 16-year-old Oisín Reynolds, who was superb on the day. Substitute Jayden Healy rounded up the scoring for the day in the final 5 minutes as he slotted the ball into the bottom corner from just inside the box, giving Jack Dunne in the Ballymackey goal no chance. All in all, this was a good convincing victory for Rea, who hope to have regained their winning form as they travel to league leaders Knigh United this Sunday morning.

Ballymackey ‘B’: J. Dunne, C. Hassett, T. Hogan, P. Duffy, P. Tuohy, C. O’Meara, T. McCarthy, C. Dervan, M. McCarthy, P. Bergin, S. Gibbons (Capt).
Subs: D. Haverty, J. Kenneally, T. Delaney.

Rearcross ‘B’: Brian Hammersley, Oisín Reynolds, Tom O’Dwyer, Eamonn Devitt (Capt), Paul Ryan, Kieran Devitt, Matt Feehan, Donnacha O’Brien, Colm Carey, Gavin Denihan, Mikey Feehan
Subs: Jayden Healy

Referee: Cormac O’Sullivan

Report by Brian Hammersley