Ardagh's dream is delivered in fairytale fashion as they win their first crown

MAYO COUNTY JUNIOR FINAL

Ardagh 3-14

Eastern Gaels 1-11

In Castlebar

AND so it came to be! On an autumn day in the year of 2026, in the wind, the rain and the madness of MacHale Park the young men of Ardagh became champions of the great county of Mayo.

The club might be one of the smallest in the land but when James Regan blew long and loud at the end of today's final, the roar nearly split the heavens. Seán Carey's band of brothers had defied the odds, defied history and engraved their name on the big silver cup.

By contrast, Eastern Gaels and their people were devastated. For the second time in 12 months they had come to the gates of heaven only to find them slammed shut in their face. They showed flashes of their ability, snatches of their style, but they never played well enough for long enough to win the crown.

The game was played with a biting crosswind driving into the faces of Eastern Gaels in the first half, a period that yielded seven goal chances ended with last year's finalists a point clear. The men in white, blue and gold had bookened the half brilliantly, starting the game with two snappy points and ending it with 1-2 in a fabulous flourish from the 27th minute on.

Ardagh had taken time to settle. Tony Carey and James Carr were causing trouble up front, but the northern side were butchering some chances and goal efforts were hitting everything but the net. At the other end, Dean Lyons, Dara Flanagan and Jack Madden were causing problems with their movement and inter-play.

On three occasions, the Gaels were denied goals by Ardagh netminder Gary Kenny. His stops from Lyons, Flanagan and Flanagan again will now become the stuff of legend – and during the game they were crucial.

Ardagh led 0-8 to 0-3 as half-time approached but the Gaels were about to take flight. Michael McGarry picked out Madden with a classy pass and the full-forward speared the ball into the corner of the net. Flanagan followed up with a pointed free and when McGarry kicked a bending, twisting two-pointer from the left wing, they were a point clear when the interval arrived.

The Gaels would have the wind with them in the second half and the pain of losing last year's final to drive them on, but in the other dressingroom Seán Carey was devising a plan that would win the crown.

Teenage centre-back Adam Foody went back to the edge of the square, James Carr came out around the middle and they stepped back into the arena and set sail for immortality.

Tony Carey balanced the scores a minute into the second period and withing seven minutes they were five clear. The powerhouse, Brendan Carr had pointed, wing-back Dylan Murphy had found the net and James Carr had curled over a two-point free from down the town.

Gaels' only reply was a Shane Glynn point and nothing they tried was going right for them.

Then, a long ball into the Ardagh forward line found Lee Traynor and when it ran loose, James Carr volleyed home a goal that matches anything he has ever done in the green and red of Mayo. Ardagh were eight points up, on the outskirts of dreamland and their band of followers were dancing in the stand.

Gaels never stopped looking for a way back into it, but Ardagh were thriving as immortality beckoned them forward. Tom Hession caused a few nervous moments for the northern side when he gained possession in advanced areas, but Kenny, Brendan Carr, Foody, Enda O'Hora and their colleagues refused to bend.

All the Gaels could muster was a two-pointer from Flanagan and when Adam Naughton pointed and Tom Varkonda blazed home a goal they were champions of all they surveyed. It was the delivery of a dream, the end of a journey and the scenes of emotion at the end had to be seen to be believed.