Benson's babes drive Deel Rovers to glory

MAYO INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL FINAL

Crossmolina 1-13

Moy Davitts 0-12

CASTLEBAR

THEY were dancing on Deeelside on Saturday night after their young team in maroon returned home with the Sweeney Cup. It had taken an almighty effort to wrest the big silver trophy from the grasp of the young men in the red jerseys of Moy Davitts. Brian Benson had sent out a team packed with players aged 21 or less for the replayed final and his trust in youth paid rich dividends.

Earlier, as time ticked away in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park it seemed as if the hard-fought replay was headed for extra-time with the sides locked at 0-12 apiece. Then a high, dropping ball from Patrick Leddy caused chaos in the Moy Davitts goalmouth. Diarmaid Walsh won possession, off-loaded it to Niall Coggins who pushed it to the net.

The roar could be heard back in the land where St Tiernan once walked the roads and when Fionán Duffy kicked them four points clear three minutes later the men in maroon were headed for victory and a return to senior football.

Moy Davitts had been the better team early on and found themselves four points up at the end of the first quarter. Indeed, their lead could have been greater if goal chances had found the net but poor finishing and the intervention of the crossbar and goalkeeper JP Mulhern kept Crossmolina in touch.

The Deel men powered back into it before half time and were only one adrift at the short whistle, 0-6 to 0-7.

Moy Davitts started the second half well and kept their noses in front but as the minutes ticked by, James Maheady wrote his name in Deel Rovers history with three stunning points. Those scores were badly needed as their impressive midfielder Jordan Flynn was sin-binned midway through the second period.

Flynn's loss was immense but his colleagues responded brilliantly with Conor Loftus and Maheady kicking three points between them while their tenacious defensive play restricted Moy Davitts to a single point from Cian McHale.

Indeed, the men in red wouldn't trouble the umpires after the 47th minute of the game as they kicked a stream of wides and had other efforts blocked by diving Crossmolina bodies.

The scores were tied at 0-12 apiece as injury-time came into view and it seemed as if it would take extra-time and maybe penalties to separate the sides, but then a high ball into the goalmouth at the Bacon Factory End caused chaos and the rest is history.

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