Brilliant Ballina blast to their 38th county title

MAYO SENIOR FOOTBALL FINAL

Ballina Stephenites 1-12

Knockmore 0-8

CASTLEBAR

THE mighty Stephenites of Ballina won their 38^th county senior title in emphatic fashion under lights in Castlebar tonight as Knockmore never found the rhythm and rhyme to trouble the men in green and red.

Niall Heffernan's championship winners were playing in their third successive final and that experience showed when they took charge right from the start. Knockmore were missing the suspended Pearse Ruttledge and they were out-scored, out-played and out-thought by the reigning champions in front of their racous supporters.

Ballina were dominant in every sector and the result was decided long before the end. Knockmore, to their credit never threw in the towel, but they never laid a glove on their neighbours who played like men possessed.

In truth, the result was as good as decided by half-time such was Ballina's dominance. The glittering moment of that opning half was a stunning goal from Evan Regan in the ninth minute when he sent a screamer into the bottom corner from 20-yards.

It was a goal worthy of any stage and Regan showed the class which has written his name in Stepenites lore forever more. Frank Irwin and Sam Callinan also got their names on the scoreboard as Ballina went in at half-time with a six-point lead, 1-6 to 0-3.

It was hard to pick out any Ballina player for special mention in the opening half, such was their superiority, but Mikey Murray was central to a lot of their best moments and drove the team on relentlessly.

The busy and effective Conor McStay got the Ballina bandwagon rolling again in the opening moments of the second half when he guided over a classy point and any lingering hopes of a Knockmore revival went with it.

Kevin McLoughlin found a sliver of space to land a Knockmore point ten minutes into the second half and Aiden Orme never stopped trying, but there was no stopping Ballina who played with a savage hunger and intensity from gun to tape.

Regan almost had another sensational goal after 46 minutes but his screamer came back off the upright and when Niall Feeney clipped over the rebound the lead had been stretched to 1-11 to 0-4. The rest of the match was just a matter of getting to the final whistle as the writing was engraved on the wall and nothing was goinig to erase it.

To their absolute credit, Knockmore never took a backward step but the glory, the cup and the history belonged to the mighty men of Ballina Stephenites who rightly celebrated the victory as if it was their first.

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