Breaffy secure place in Mayo GAA league final after Belmullet victory

FOOTBALL MAYO SENIOR LEAGUE DIVISION 1A

Belmullet 1-15

Breaffy 1-23

In Belmullet

BREAFFY visited equatorial Erris on Saturday night and secured a place in next weekend's league final after a hard-fought battle with the home side. Belmullet took some time to get going under the blazing sun, but they were much better after the interval and made the guests fight for everything that came their way.

Both sides were missing a number of regular starters, but that didn't take anything away from the competitive nature of proceedings. Breaffy started well and built up an eight-point lead at the half-way mark. The second period was much more hard-fought and while Belmullet were much-improved, Breaffy never looked like being overtaken.

Inter-county attackers Aidan O'Shea and Davitt Neary were among the early scorers for the visiting side, as was centre-forward Pierce Deane, Conor O'Shea, Ben Murphy, Aidan Cunningham and impressive wing-back Mark Ward.

Belmullet were finding it hard to work the ball forward and had to be happy with sporadic drives into the Breaffy half. Impressive full-forward Fionn O'Donoghue, accurate centre-forward Anthony Barrett and high-flying midfielder Fionan Ryan accounted for the home side's scores in the opening half.

James Lavelle was prominent for the Erris men early in the second half and home goalkeeper Shane Nallen produced a fine save to keep out a John Deane drive as the minutes passed.

Belmullet were roared on by the big home crowd and they were adamant that Fionn O'Donoghue was fouled in the square after 49 minutes, but the referee didn't agree.

However, a point from Peter McArthur and three from the excellent Fionn O'Donoghue had the gap back to four, 0-14 to 0-18, with five minutes left to play.

Breaffy knew victory would take them into the league final and they surged clear again in the closing stages. Marauding defender Yousif Coghill raced forward and impressive substitute Joe Mellett kicked a goal after Nallen had saved his initial effort. Singles from Aidan O'Shea and Gavyn McManamon and a two-pointer from goalkeeper Jack Livingstone left Sean Deane's men out of sight deep in injury time.

However, Belmullet showed great character throughout and closed with a point from Dara Padden after Livingstone produced a top-class save to keep his goal intact. However, Kieran Lavelle's men were determined to find the net and they were rewarded seven minutes into injury time when Fionan Ryan smashed the ball home after Livingstone had saved Anthony Barrett's goalbound shot.

Both sides were happy with their lot after the final whistle – Breaffy were headed for next weekend's league final against Crossmolina, while Belmullet had retained their status in Division 1.

A full report and reaction will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News.