Breaffy earn quarter-final spot with last kick of the game in Ballina

MAYO SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

Breaffy 0-14

Belmullet 0-13

In Ballina

THIS epic group decider wasn't decided until the final kick of a battle of wills in James Stephens Park. The scores were tied four minutes into injury time and that result would have ended Breaffy's season, secured a home quarter-final for Belmullet and also sent Castlebar Mitchels into the last eight.

Breaffy were hanging on by their finger-tips when Aidan O'Shea won a hop-ball in his own back division and when the ball was worked forward one last time, O'Shea was fouled and Robbie Fadden made most of the advantage being played by clipping over the winning score.

It was tough on a Belmullet team who led by two at the interval, 0-8 to 0-6, after playing against the wind. They extended that lead to four early in the second half with a stunning two-pointer from Owen McHale, but then Breaffy's utter resilience came to the fore. They began to boss matters around the middle and gradually ground their way back into contention. 

Belmullet were hit with a serious body-blow when team captain Eoin O'Donoghue had to leave the field with a shoulder injury. The centre-half-back had been a central figure and his loss had a big impact on the Erris men.

Pierce Deane, Daire Morrin, O'Shea and James Minogue drew the West Mayo men level ten minutes from the end and when O'Shea kicked a free from the left they were in front for the first time since the 20th minute when a stunning Ryan O'Donoghue two-pointer gave Belmullet the lead.

A Yousif Coghill punched point left Breaffy two clear with just four minutes of normal time to play and it seemed as if Sean Deane's men were going to top the group and earn a home quarter-final.

However, Belmullet had other ideas. Seamus Howard broke through the middle and was fouled. Ryan O'Donoghue stepped up and drilled the two-point free straight between the sticks to level the game and leave Breaffy on the cusp of elimination. Castlebar Mitchels had done enough in their game against Aghamore to gain a quarter-final spot if Breaffy didn't win in Ballina, and the tension was almost overpowering as injury time ticked by.

Then, with time almost up, Breaffy went on one last drive up the pitch and when Robbie Fadden put the ball between the sticks they had saved their season and topped the table with the final kick of a thrilling round-robin campaign.

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