Balla shoot five goals past Ballina to claim Minor B crown

Mayo Minor B Championship Final

Balla 5-11 Ballina Stephenites 1-12

Oisín McGovern in MacHale Park

THREE first half goals played a massive part in Balla lifting the second most prestigious trophy in Mayo Minor football this evening.

Green flags for Mark Jennings, Liam Glynn and Ryan O’Donnell all helped Balla to create a seven-point half-time deficit which Ballina never came close to overturning.

Despite losing a man to a red-card in the second half, a Conor Nolan-inspired Balla still ran out comfortable winners thanks largely to two impressive second half goals.

The Stephenites led for the opening few minutes before Balla senior Jude Clarke teed up Ryan O’Donnell to bury the opening goal.

The North Mayo men eventually equalised before Liam Glynn drove home his first point of the evening.

Things took a turn for the worse for Ballina when Balla struck two freakish goals from Glynn – which hit the underside of the crossbar and crossed the whitewash – and another from a looping shot from Mark Jennings.

The black-carding of James Dunne just before half-time was a minor setback for Balla, who at that stage led 3-4 to 0-6.

Ballina Stephenites exploited their numerical advantage by hitting two points in the first two minutes of the second half.

Balla regained composure with three unanswered points before Ballina’s Ben Thornton went on a darting before firing the ball into the bottom right hand corner from nearly 20 years out.

Thornton added a point before Oisín Jordan was allowed to charge into the danger zone and finish to the Ballina net.

Balla were dealt a major setback with the red carding of full-back Callan Jennings in the 46th minute.

But within seconds, the victors put the ball in the Ballina net for a fifth time when Liam Glynn got on the end of a long ball and dispatched a cheeky chip over the head of Daniel Cowan.

There was more drama when Ballina were awarded a penalty in the 49th minute, but Ted Rowe drove the spot kick over the crossbar off the upright.

From there on all, that was left to for Balla was to see the game out and lift the trophy.

There will be a full report carried in next Tuesday’s edition of The Mayo News

Balla: David Dolan (0-1, 1 ’45); Sean Kavanagh, Callan Jennings, Conor Fahy; Shay Biggins, Sean Brohan, James Dunne; Oisín Jordan (1-0), Jude Clarke (0-1); Mark Jennings (1-2), Luke Flatley, Conor Nolan (0-5, 2f); Liam Glynn (2-1), Ryan O’Donnell (1-1), Sean McCann

Subs: Cian Mongan for Fahy (21), Reuben Basquille for O’Donnell (50)

Ballina Stephenites: Daniel Cowan; Eanna Cloonan, Luca Duggan, Des Fleming; Andrew Rowe, Sean Scanlon, Marcus Lacuesta (0-1); Ben Thornton (1-2), Mark Cunningham; Ted Rowe (0-1, 1 pen.), Luke Feeney (0-5, 1f), Orin Canavan; Matthew Leonard (0-1), Peter Barrett, Sean Fitzpatrick (0-2)

Subs: Daniel Feeney for Leonard (7, temp.), Matthew Leonard for Daniel Feeney (12), Daniel Feeney for Andrew Rowe (29); Michael Dwyer for Barrett (54)

Referee: P Lydon