Balla win West Mayo Minor B final with 14-point turnaround

West Mayo Minor B Championship Final

Balla 3-13 Ballintubber 0-12

Oisín McGovern in Clogher

A stunning 14-point turnaround saw Balla capture the Minor B West Mayo title from Ballintubber’s home patch this evening.

After a luckless and lacklustre first half which they lost 0-10 to 1-3, Balla came out like a new team after half-time, outscoring Ballintubber 2-10 to 0-2.

Simply everything went Balla’s way in the second half, right down to the last kick of the game when David Dolan got down low to divert Sean Hynes’ penalty away with a magnificent save.

The first half was nearly all Ballintubber, who were spearheaded by the impressive Rory Cunningham, who kicked six points from all angles.

Balla got plenty of shots away but racked up seven wides by the break.

The hosts were cruising to a seven-point half-time lead when Sean McCann caught a ball and finished to the ‘Tubber net to give the victors a glimmer of hope.

There was a goal chance at either half within a minute of the restart.

The first came when the otherwise excellent Oisín Jordan spurned a great goal chance for ball.

The second chance came seconds later when Rory Cunningham came close after David Dolan failed to clear a Rhys Jones ‘Garryowen’.

From here, Balla took total and utter control, beginning when their captain Luke Flatley fisted the ball into the opposition net.

Patrick McHale, Ryan O’Donnell, Oisín Jordan and Jamie Moran all raised white flags before Mark Jennings delivered the coup de gras with a goal in the 57th minute.

A full report will be carried in Tuesday’s print edition of The Mayo News.