Ballintubber's great escape sends them into the last eight

MAYO SFC ROUND 3

GROUP 1

Ballintubber 0-14

Kilmeena 1-9

ISLANDEADY

WHEN injury-time arrived in Islandeady this afternoon, Ballintubber were out. When the final whistle blew at the end of a thrilling encounter, Ballintubber were out. Four minutes later Ballintubber were in the quarter-final.

Over the years the Abbeysiders have won county titles and produced some of the best-known footballers in the land, but this afternoon's heroics in Islandeady will be recalled for generations.

Ballintubber needed a lot of things to go right for them today. They needed to defeat a talented, tenacious Kilmeena team and hope that Breaffy beat Aghamore at the same time in Claremorris. However, they also needed to make up a nine-point differential on the Aghamore men.

At the end of the first half, all was going according to plan. Ballintubber were six points up, 0-8 to 0-2, while Aghamore were four down against Breaffy.

Cillian O'Connor was hungry for scores and had four to his name. The hugely-talented Stephen O'Malley was close behind him with three and Ciaran Gavin had a great goal chance brilliantly diverted over the bar by Paul Groden after 18 minutes.

Kilmeena were taking water everywhere. They were poor and seemed obsessed with driving long balls in towards Caolach Halligan in the full-forward line, but the tactic was failing badly.

Ballintubber would have the aid of the breeze in the second half, so there was a growing sense of confidence among their large following in the big, passionate crowd in St Aidan's Park.

However, Kilmeena emerged from the dressingroom like men possessed. They streamed forward time after time with Jack Mulchrone directing matters from the half-back line and Keith Joyce dominating breaking balls.

After 17 minutes of the second half, the gap was down to three after Darragh Keavney began to take charge of the scoring stakes while a half-chance Halligan clipped the butt of the upright as the men in white played with great vim and vigour.

A superb point from the left wing from O'Malley stopped the rot momentarily, but when Joyce cut in from the left and Liam Moore punched the ball to the Ballintubber net, the gap was down to one with ten minutes to play.

At the other end, a stunning block from Neil Duffy denied Noel Geraghty a Ballintubber goal and when Keavney clipped over a point in the dying minutes the sides were tied together.

News coming from Claremorris told the story that Aghamore were just four behind, so Ballintubber were heading out even if they could sneak a win in Islandeady.

Cillian O'Connor and John McGlynn exchanged points as time ran out and Kilmeena knew victory would save them and put Ballintubber into the relegation dog-fight.

Then, Diarmuid O'Connor lashed over a '45 to put Ballintubber back in front and when his brother, Cillian drilled over a free from way out on the right with the final kick of the day, the men in red had won by two, but the news wasn't good from the other game.

Aghamore were only four adrift of Breaffy, which was three less than Ballintubber required for progression. There was a sense of grave disappointment in Islandeady as Kilmeena looked towards a relegation play-off and Ballintubber contemplated how close they had come to pulling off a famous result.

Then, realisation dawned that the Aghamore game was still going on and points from Tommy O'Reilly and Jack Livingstone had extended Breaffy's lead and one more white flag would send Ballintubber into the last eight.

Then, news came through that Matthew Ruane had added another Breaffy point in the dying seconds and celebrations broke out in Islandeady.

Ballintubber were headed for the quarter-finals in the most unusual of circumstances. The men in red have enjoyed many famous moments over the years, and today's excitement will now join the long list of legendary tales following a win that was built on a sense of resilience and pride.

A full match report and aftermatch reaction with Cillian O'Connor will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News.