Double delight as Mayo school wins back-to-back All-Irelands

FAI SCHOOLS MINOR B FINAL

Balla Secondary School 1

Coláiste Eoin, Finglas 0

In Athlone

TO win one All-Ireland is special; to win two-in-a-row is extraordinary. Balla Secondary School achieved that feat today in Athlone when they went retained the title won so impressively last year.

On this occasion, the boys in blue were pushed to the pin of their collar by the excellent Leinster champions who came within inches of claiming the trophy themselves.

In the end, the winning and losing was decided by a goal headed gleefully into the net, just two minutes from the end of normal time.

The Finglas boys started well and looked formidable going forward with the excellent right winger Leon Groome looking dangerous every time the ball came his way.

Gradually Balla wove their way into the game with their outstanding captain, Matthew Vahey, at the heart of everything they did. The Mayo boys began to impose themselves on the game with speedy attacker Eoin Walsh looking to break the Dubliner's high line and Sean Nolan looking dangerous on the right wing.

At the back, Ethan Duffy and Ross Malone were powerful at the heart of the back four with Ryan Nolan doing a fine job in front of them.

The first real goalscoring chance arrived after 21 minutes when a Finglas attack ended with Groome sending a bending shot towards the bottom corner but Noah Murphy produced a fantastic save to keep it scoreless.

That's the way it remained into the second half as chances came and went at both ends. However, Finglas looked like they were about to take the lead six minutes from the end when Veniamin Gladante was clean through in front of goal but once again Murphy pulled off a game-winning save.

The Dublin boys kept pressing with Mason Power, Scott Kelsh and Daniel Johnston prominent, but Balla were destined for glory and so it came to be.

A corner on the right from James Heaney was powerfully headed to the net by Daniel Lyons and wild celebrations broke out in the massed Balla ranks. It was no more than the Mayo boys deserved as each and every one of them had excelled.

However, there were still four minutes to play before the final whistle and once again Murphy stood tall between the sticks for Balla as the Dublin boys came calling.

Finglas threw everyone and everything at the Balla boys but they couldn't find a way through. The match ended in somewhat chaotic scenes at the end as two red cards were flashed and some very unsavoury moments were played out.

The cup presentation was postponed for almost an hour, but when the silverware was handed over it was the team in blue, managed by Darren O'Malley and Jonathan Ó Ceallaigh who grasped it and brought it back to Mayo for the second year in succession.

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