Five players that caught our eye in the Mayo senior county final 

THE hardest part was picking five. 

On a day when Ballina Stephenites brought on players who would start for any other Mayo senior club and could afford to take off lads who were genuinely playing well, you could have picked ten.

But here are the five players who caught our eye in this year’s senior county final (Pictures by Sportsfile/Conor McKeown)

Padraig O’Hora 

A man for the big occasion if ever there was one. 

With a sturdy defence commandeered by this one-man force of nature, it’s easy to see why Ballina only conceded three points from play in this county final. /

The man they called ‘Swanee’ turned over ball like there was no tomorrow and was Ballina’s marquee defender in the absence of their long-time full-back Ger Cafferkey. 

He went off as a blood sub for the guts of twelve minutes in the second half, but returned on the hour mark for more action. 

To go from being badly concussed in the quarter-final to a man-of-the-match display in the county final really says it all about O’Hora. 

A born leader. 

David Tighe

Another top display from another Ballina Stephenites defender. 

Caolan Hopkins did little for Knockmore on Saturday night, and Liam Durcan did even less. 

The reason Hopkins underperformed and Durcan was taken off was largely down to the steel and resilience shown by the 28-year-old Tighe, who was like a tiger in the corner alongside young Liam Golden. 

Seán Regan and Sam Callinan got to do the more glamorous work in the half-back line, but Tighe gleefully undertook the dirty work in a full-back line that kept Aidan Orme and company as quiet as the Poor Clares. 

Mikey Murray 

This was another super display from a true all-rounder in every sense of the world. 

A late addition to the start lineup, himself and Frank Irwin wiped Connell Dempsey and Kevin McLoughlin off the face of the planet at midfield. 

Hard running, hard tackling, good fetching and good kickouts from the goalie were the key ingredients of a fine showing from the ex-Mayo midfielder.

How much longer will we be calling him ‘ex-Mayo’? You’d have to wonder after performances like these.

David Clarke 

What a man and what a legend. 

At 41 years of age, there are still few better goalies in Mayo than the big buck with socks up. He reminded us all of this with a display that was like a ‘Laochra Gael’ highlight reel of pure, vintage David Clarke. 

His semi-circle shapes kick-outs found the man every time, ensuring Ballina’s restart strategy worked to near-perfection, to the extent that they rarely lost one of their own kick-out. 

And of course, like the great Peter Schmeichel, he pulled off a massive save at the end having had none to make all evening. 

He was out with those big high knees and long arms any time the ball came into the square. At one stage he brought a Knockmore man, a Ballina man, ball and all with one of his more dramatic Spiderman-like inventions. 

No more than Stan Lee’s legendary webslinger, Garda Clarke arrives at the scene of a crime just in time - on and off the pitch. 

But there’s no superhero they revere as much by the Moy as David Clarke. 

Evan Regan 

We all know what Evan Regan can do on his day, and he showed it in spades on Saturday evening. 

His goal was a thing of absolute beauty. It was going to take something special to outshine the stunning ball given into him by Luke Doherty. But Regan took off and - even though he could easily have gone another five yards forward - leaned and drove an outside-of-the-boot worldie past the Mayo goalkeeper from about 15 yards out. 

It was his only score from play on the night, but it was not the last time he asked questions of the Knockmore defence. 

Even being watched by tigers like Kieran King and David McHale, Regan still gave Knockmore lots to think about. 

But it was the way he worked off the likes of Luke Feeney, Conor McStay and Brendan Collins that really made the difference and made sure that Ballina were no one-dimensional one-man show. 

His shot on goal in the second half was lucky to have struck the woodwork. Because had it struck a player, it would have landed like a cannonball. 

Might there still be time to give Mayo’s 31-year-old dietician a jersey instead of a tracksuit top?