In a pulsating Junior F Quarter Final that embodied Anthony Daly's famous words about hurling being "a thousand mad things and then someone comes out on top," Ballinderreen finally broke their knockout curse against rivals Salthill-Knocknacarra, who had defeated them by a single point in the group stage of the championship. Referee Darragh Kelly let the natural rhythm of the game flow, allowing a classic to unfold at the Prairie on Sunday morning.

The conditions were perfect, a breeze blowing towards the beach aided Salthill in the first half. Ballinderreen got off to a perfect start when full-forward Colm Gill dispossessed the Salthill goalkeeper before hand passing to Colm O’Regan to score the opening goal of the game in the first minute.

Salthill settled into the game, withdrawing a corner-forward into midfield to play a 2 man full forward line. A free scored from within his own half let the Ballinderreen defence know that any indiscretions would be punished and only a point separated the teams as the first half entered injury time. Callum Rodgers, who revelled in the physical conditions, replaced an injured Killian Hynes at corner-back after 20 minutes.

Colm Gill pounced on a mistake in the Salthill defence to score Ballinderreen’s second goal to give them a 4 point lead just before half-time, 2-10 to 0-12.

Salthill brought on 2 substitutes at half time and reverted to an orthodox 3 man full forward line after the break. This change took some time for the Ballinderreen defence to adjust to the extra space around midfield and the lead shrank to a single point 8 minutes into the half.

Ballinderreen kept expanding the lead but could not shake off Salthill as points from corner forward Dara O’Dowd and wing forward Aidan Duffy were cancelled out by their opponents.

The breakthrough finally came in the 22nd minute. First, a shot from midfield by centre-forward Kevin Conneely barely crept over the bar. Then Colm Gill pounced on a loose ball and stepped inside his man before finishing low to the net to increase the lead to 6 points, 3-16 to 0-19.

The Ballinderreen half-back line of Paul Connolly, Patrick Carr and Colm Meehan and midfield of Barry and Gavin Duffy, outstanding all day, tightened their grip on the game to limit the scoring opportunities. Goalkeeper Patrick Sheehan displayed sure handling to prevent any goal opportunities as Salthill-Knocknacarra threw everything at the Ballinderreen goal.

A massive point from the sideline by Gavin Duffy put the final nail in Salthill-Knocknacarra’s coffin which led to a 3-17 to 0-22 victory. The win marks Ballinderreen's first knockout success in the Junior F championship and sets up a county semi-final with the opponent yet to be announced.