Ballina boys crowned champions of Connacht
A superb second half saw Ballina Town U14 boys win the Connacht Cup.
A brace of goals apiece from the dynamic duo of Mark Leonard and Christy Maughan helped pave the way for Ballina Town to be crowned Connacht champions at a balmy Headford on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the convincing full-time scoreline, it was actually Corofin United that took the lead after only six minutes. The goal derived from a Ballina attacking foray that disintegrated, which allowed a sweeping United counteroffensive and ended with Reece Duffy firing home past the beaten James Brisson.
Declan O’Connor’s troops regrouped impressively with Mark Leonard forcing a fine save from the Corofin ‘keeper after 17 minutes.
Leonard was proving to be a nuisance for the United rearguard and he again came close to resorting parity, but this time he failed to test the resolve of Fionn Higgins and the Corofin goal remained intact.
The Moysiders valiantly fought for a way back into the tie and their persistence paid dividends after 27 minutes. The dynamic duo of Leonard and Christy Maughan combined and the latter’s accomplished finish rustled the back of the Corofin net much to the delight of the loyal band of Ballina supporters who made the trek to North Galway.
Corofin almost regained the lead towards the end of what was a keenly contested first half in stunning fashion. Possession fell invitingly into the path of Macdara Donnellan and his screaming effort was tipped onto his crossbar by Brisson.
The end to end nature of the tie continued in the second half with Corofin missing out on a golden opportunity to nudge in front, but somehow the Ballina right-back Jack Brennan managed to hook the ball off his goal-line on 44 minutes. Indeed, the aforementioned Brennan produced a virtuoso display at right-back over the 70 minutes and as well as his defensive duties; he was impressive with his link-up play in counter-attacking moves.
With the game on a knife-edge, Ballina seized the initiative on 53 minutes with their impressive link-up play bamboozling the Corofin rearguard. The goal stemmed from Brisson advancing off his line and collecting possession, which led to Darragh Rafter and Leonard combining to tee-up Christy Maughan and the latter applied a tidy finish home.
Two minutes later, further daylight was bridged between the sides. A slick Ballina attacking foray saw substitute Darragh Durkan spot the timely run of Leonard and the latter didn’t need a second invitation to find the back of the net, much to the delight of his teammates.
United did their utmost to try and find an avenue back into the game but could find no way past a stubborn Town defence.
The Belleek Park outfit didn’t want to allow their opponents a way back into the contest and one minute into stoppage time, they sealed the deal. Corofin were caught out badly by another intricate Ballina ploy and Leonard rounded off a sweeping move by expertly placing the ball beyond the reach of the Corofin custodian.
Overall, Ballina were much the better team on the day and the future is bright for this talented squad of players.
