Ballina manager sees a lot to work on after hard earned win over Belmullet

Senior Football League Division 1A

Ballina Stephenites 0-11

Belmullet 0-10

In Ballina

Ballina Stephenites recorded their fourth win in a row but it wasn't a convincing outing for the reigning back-to-back senior football Mayo champions.

Belmullet never surrendered, but a black and red card within the last ten minutes stifled their last gasp efforts.

Bar some flashes of individual class, like an outrageously brilliant two-pointer from open play by Ballina's Evan Regan or an expertly dispatched two-point free from Belmullet's goalkeeper, Shane Nallen, this game will swiftly be stored away in the filing cabinets of GAA club history. 

Belmullet took an early lead but wouldn't score again for a whopping 24 minutes. Ballina were leading 0-5 to 0-4 at half-time thanks to a pressure period midway through the first half when Niall Heffernan's troops scored three points in as many minutes.

In the second half, neither team managed to find their rhythm and a two-point lead would be the furthest they were apart during the second period.

Ballina managed to cling on to the narrowest of margins in the final minutes, facilitated by the fact that Belmullet were reduced to 13 men. 

"I wouldn't be happy with that performance," said Stephenites manager Niall Heffernan afterwards, speaking to The Mayo News: "We did a lot of good things I thought, in the first half against the breeze, we scored some great scores. A lot of stuff I wouldn't be so happy about. We gave up a lot of possession, a lot of turnovers. Missed a few chances."

Heffernan concluded: "It's still a lot to work on for us."

A full match report will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News.