![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4798905_2_articleinlinemobile_BALLGABR4.jpg\" "\\"Mark")
Mark Cronin (Ballinora) gets away from Ger O’Callaghan (Gabriel Rangers) at Rossmore. Picture: Martin Walsh.<\/p>\n\n Ballinora 1-13 (1-0-13) Gabriel Rangers 1-11 (1-0-11)\n <\/p>\n
Ballinora upset the form book by overcoming Gabrie Rangers to qualify for the McCarthy Insurance Group Cork Intermediate AFC semi-finals at Rossmore last Saturday.<\/p>\n
This was the Mid Cork club\u2019s first knockout appearance since 2020 and having avoided relegation via a play-off defeat of Glenville two years ago.<\/p>\n
1-7 to 0-4 down at the break, things weren\u2019t looking good for a Ballinora side struggling in front of goal. That was until a third-quarter surge, built on Ivan Quirke and James Lordan\u2019s midfield dominance, saw the eventual winners turn the tide.<\/p>\n
Outscoring their opponents 1-9 to 0-4, and restricting Rangers to one point from open play, Ballinora controlled the second period and set up a county semi-final meeting with Kilmurry.<\/p>\n
It was all so different during the opening half an hour. The West Cork side got off to the perfect start with wing-back Ger O\u2019Callaghan ghosting in to find the net inside the opening minute.<\/p>\n
Additional O\u2019Callaghan and Sean Kelleher points heaped further misery upon Ballinora until James Lordan got them off the mark.<\/p>\n
Mark Cronin (Ballinora) gets away from Ger O’Callaghan (Gabriel Rangers) at Rossmore. Picture: Martin Walsh.<\/p>\n
It was 1-4 to 0-3 after 15 minutes when Gabriel\u2019s Eddie Goggin and James O\u2019Regan scored, as did Mark O\u2019Brien and Darragh Holmes at the opposite end. Ballinora corner forward Kevin Werner was twice denied a goal by some last-ditch defending after 17 minutes.<\/p>\n
That, and another saved goal attempt from Cork senior footballer Neil Lordan, by goalkeeper Liam Hegarty, saw Rangers comfortably maintain their lead.<\/p>\n
Converted James O\u2019Regan and Mark Cronin frees, along with a Killian O\u2019Brien effort, made it 1-7 to 0-4 at the interval.<\/p>\n
Michael Quirke and Robert Quirke (free) pointed either side of the break to reduce the deficit. Yet, Gabriel\u2019s responded via a James O\u2019Regan free.<\/p>\n
Poor shooting blighted Ballinora\u2019s approach work with Liam Hegarty once again denying Werner from close range. Yet, it was Ballinora\u2019s ability to win ball around the middle third that started a dominant spell.<\/p>\n
Consecutive Liam Lyons, Robert Quirke, Ivan Quirke and Mark Quirke scores made it 1-8 to 0-10.<\/p>\n
A brace of James O\u2019Regan frees failed to halt Ballinora\u2019s dominance before Kevin Werner raised a white flag and finally netted the goal his performance deserved.<\/p>\n
A point clear, Ballinora extended the advantage via Ivan Quirke with five minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
Sean Kelleher landed Rangers\u2019 final score but it mattered little. Michael Quirke\u2019s late black card couldn\u2019t prevent a merited Ballinora victory as Ian Wycherley\u2019s point sealed a famous comeback.<\/p>\n
\n Scorers for Ballinora: K Werner 1-1, I Quirke, R Quirke (0-1 f), M Quirke, M O\u2019Brien 0-2 each, D Holmes, L Lyons, J Lordan, I Wycherley 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
\n Gabriel Rangers: J O\u2019Regan 0-5 (0-4 f), G O\u2019Callaghan 1-1, S Kelleher 0-2, E Goggin, M Cronin (f), K O\u2019Brien 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
\n BALLINORA: A McAllen; A Laverty, N Lordan, C O\u2019Flynn; D Dineen, S Kingston, J Byrne; I Quirke, J Lordan (jc); M O\u2019Brien, D Holmes, L Lyons; M Quirke, R Quirke, K Werner.<\/p>\n
\n Subs: I Wycherley for D Holmes (57), J Keohane for K Werner (62).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n GABRIEL RANGERS: L Hegarty; K O\u2019Sullivan, D Regan, R Roycroft; G O\u2019Callaghan, R Hurley, K O\u2019Brien; P O\u2019Driscoll, S Kelleher (c); C Moynihan, J O\u2019Regan, L Bowen; M Cronin, K O\u2019Driscoll, E Goggin.<\/p>\n
\n Subs: D McSweeney for R Roycroft (40), J O\u2019Brien for C Moynihan (42).<\/p>\n
\n Referee: John Enright (Ballyteague).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ballinora 1-13 (1-0-13) Gabriel Rangers 1-11 (1-0-11) Ballinora upset the form book by overcoming Gabrie Rangers to qualify…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[10417,24,18,19,17,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-89519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-gaelic-football","9":"tag-cork-gaa","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}