Achill retain Junior B Championship title

Mayo Junior B Championship Final

Achill 0-14 Ballycastle 0-7

Oisín McGovern in Parke

ACHILL are Mayo Junior B champions for the second year in a row after an excellent second display saw them through following a very even first half.

Through a dominant midfield display and good defending, the islanders held Ballycastle to a one point from play in the second half before Michael Forde landed a late goal for the runners-up.

An entertaining, first-half produced ten unique scorers, with the gap never stretching wider than two.

Although Ballycastle were the better team in the opening quarter, Achill eventually found their rhythm and got the scoreboard working.

Their centre-forward Brian Lavelle led the way in the scoring stakes in the first half, with four points from a variety of angles.

Fergal Forde caused hassle as the target man, but only got one point in a half where Ballycastle trailed 0-6 0-7 at the break.

Following a slow start, a Brian Lavelle-inspired Achill eventually got the wheels in motion.

With eight unique scorers, Achill found themselves seven points up heading into injury time.

The excellent Johnathan Fadian crashed the ball off the crossbar to spurn Achill’s only goal chance, but Micháel Forde made no mistake when he punched home a long ball deep into injury time.

It made no difference for Ballycastle, whose eight-year wait for an adult county title will continue for at least another season.

There will be a full report plus reaction from Achill manager Colm Cafferkey in Tuesday’s print edition of The Mayo News.