Ballybay missed out on an Ulster senior club football semi-final following a 2-14 to 1-7 defeat to Kilcoo at Clones.
Ballybay were three points down at the break before a dominant second-half display saw Kilcoo finish with 11 points to spare.
Kilcoo made a blistering start, hitting four points inside the opening 11 minutes. Ryan Johnston, Paul Devlin, Niall Kane and Ceilum Doherty were all on target.
Thomas Kerr eventually opened Ballbay’s account two minutes later. Parity was restored on 17 minutes when Shane McGuinness registered a penalty goal.
The Down men responded like true All-Ireland champions hitting four of the next five scores, leading 0-8 to 1-2 at half-time.
Paul Finlay opened Ballybay’s second-half account three minutes after the restart. 60 seconds later, Kilcoo moved five points clear when Ryan Johnston found the net.
Finlay replied with two scores in as many minutes, but three successive scores saw Kilcoo open up a six-point gap on 51 minutes.
60 seconds later, Aaron Toner brought it back to a five-point game, but the Monaghan champions failed to score for another 13 minutes.
Kilcoo amassed 1-3 during that period with Miceal Rooney finding the net one minute from time. The Down men also finished the game with 14 men as Dylan Ward was sent off deep into injury time.
Ballybay's Dessie Ward managed a late score, but it was too little too late. Kilcoo can now look forward to an Ulster semi-final meeting with Enniskillen Gaels on Sunday November 27th.
