Mayo SFC Final

Ballina Stephenites 0-6 Breaffy 0-4

By Colm Gannon at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park

For a club that had won 36 Mayo Senior Football titles previously, the wait from Ballina Stephenites last title in 2006 was an unusually long gap.

Their two point win over Breaffy may have been a tense arm wrestle right up to the final whistle, but it will be a final almost everyone bar those from the Stephenites will forget quickly.

At the end of the first half, Ballina Stephenites led by 0-4 to 0-1 on the scoreboard, but it could have been much more if they had taken a number of chances that came their way.

Breaffy set up to contain and force Ballina into wide areas and for a good period of the first half that worked, as they saw Ballina kick five wides and drop a number of efforts short of the target.

While Breaffy themselves managed to put 11 efforts wide of the target over the course of the game, with seven of those in the second half when the game was there to be won.

The West Mayo side opened the scoring through a Conor O’Shea free two minutes in after Davitt Neary was fouled.

Evan Regan levelled the game up not long after from a placed ball of his own from close range and then six minutes in Conor McStay stroked the ball over the bar from a tight angle to put Ballina into a lead they never surrendered.

Ballina dominated possession for the next 15 minutes of the game, but they failed to convert that possession into scores and it wasn’t until the 22nd minute that they registered their third point of the day through Regan’s second free after Liam Golden had been fouled.

A minute before the half time break Luke Feeney slotted over a mark from close range after being found by a probing Sam Callinan pass to send his side in three to the good at the turn around.

Breaffy narrowed the margin to just one point within the first two minutes of the second half courtesy of Conor O’Shea and James Minouge's points. It seemed like the match might ignite, but alas, it failed to spark.

In the 38th minute, Frank Irwin successfully converted Ballina's fifth point of the day with a 45-metre kick, following an Evan Regan shot deflected off the post by Jack Livingstone.

A mere three minutes later, Aidan O’Shea scored from a close-range free kick, marking the final point of the game until Feeney's late effort in injury time.

Both teams continued to accumulate missed opportunities as the pressure intensified. However, it was Ballina's day, when it came to the crunch they were able to hold their nerve and grind out the win that brings their haul of Mayo titles to 37, while Breaffy's pursuit of their first senior title will have to wait another year.

Scorers for Ballina Stephenites: Evan Regan (2fs) and Luke Feeney (1m) 0-2 each, Conor McStay and Frank Irwin (45) 0-1 each.

Scorers for Breaffy: Conor O’Shea 0-2 (2fs), James Minogue and Aidan O'Shea (f) 0-1 each.

Ballina Stephenites: David Clarke; Liam Golden, Ger Cafferkey, Padraic O’Hora; Ciaran Boland, Sam Callinan, David Tighe; Frank Irwin, Dylan Thornton; Niall Feeney, Mark Birrane, Jack Irwin; Evan Regan, Luke Feeney, Conor McStay.

Subs: Sean Regan for Golden (37), Mikey Murray for Thornton (40), Ciaran Tracey for Birrane (43), Brendan Collins for Jack Irwin (54)

Breaffy: Jack Livingstone; Conor Beirne, Mark Dervan, Conor Melly; David Livingstone, Michael Hall, Daire Morrin; Conor O’Shea, Matthew Ruane; Davitt Neary, Robert Fadden, Rory Martyn; Tommy Reilly, Aidan O’Shea, Oisin Tunney.

Subs: James Minogue for Tunney (HT), Colm Flynn for Neary (49), Conor Golden for O’Reilly (57), Pierce Deane for David Livingstone (60).

Referee: Garryown McMahon (Davitts).