Ballintubber too strong for brave Northern Gaels in Division 4 league decider

Mayo Senior Football League Division 4 Final

Ballintubber 3-7 Northern Gaels 1-9

AN attempted smash-and-grab by Northern Gaels wasn’t enough to overturn a dominant first half display by Ballintubber, who were crowned Division 4 county champions in Knockmore this afternoon.

The Abbeysiders led by a commanding 3-5 to 0-1 at half-time, with Dean Loftus, Aaron Lally and Jamsie Finnerty landing the goals.

This made victory look like a near-impossible task for the amalgamation of Lacken and Kilfian, who made lots of errors in the wet conditions.

However, the North Mayo team rose to the challenge with fury and defiance, landing 1-5 without reply within ten minutes of the restart.

They drew a mighty roar from their large support when Noel Bilbow sent a lovely diagonal ball into Michael Lynott, who turned and buried it in the net in the 34th minute.

Lynott, Tommy Clarke and Cathal Boland were all excellent as Northern Gaels continued to probe Ballintubber, who only scored twice in the second half.

However, it was enough to suppress their opponents, who were only four points behind when Michael Lynott drove a shot straight at Ballintubber Matthew Coyne in the last few seconds of the game.

A goal would have put the contest into the fire, but the flames of a North Mayo rebellion were quenched when John Clancy blew the full-time whistle seconds later.

There will be a full report of the Division 4 Mayo Senior Foot League final in Tuesday’s Mayo News.

Ballintubber

M Coyne; Adam Lally, K Coleman, S McEvilly; L Hoban, Martin Fox (0-1), S Larkin; J Prendergast, D McHale; A Lally (1-0), M Fox (0-3, 2f), R Finnerty; J Finnerty (1-1), D Loftus (1-1), A McHale (0-1)

Subs: S Duffy for D McHale (32, inj.), E Breslin for Hoban (34), C Finnerty For Aaron Lally (48), P O’Connor for A McHale (55), S Hynes for R Finnerty

Northern Gaels

C Kearney; R Murphy, C Flannelly, S McAndrew; L Ruddy, D Coleman, S Loughrey; T Clarke (0-3, 3f), C McHale; C Loughney, D Walsh, M McDonnell (0-1); J McLoughlin, M Lynott (1-1), C Boland (0-2)

Subs: N McDonnell (0-1) for Loughney (HT), N Bilbow (0-1) for McLoughlin (HT)

Referee: J Clancy