Five-star Balla defy Mitchels to claim under-14 crown
Mayo GAA Bord na nÓg chairman Charlie Lambert presents the trophy to Balla captain Ethan Duffy. Picture: Mayo GAA
A spellbinding display by Balla resulted in the Maroon and Yellow collecting a coveted county title at a damp and drizzly MacHale Park last Wednesday.
Balla were deserving winners in the end, and led by the energetic Ethan Duffy, the victors always seemed to be able to keep Castlebar Mitchels at arms length during a dogged second half.
The opening ten minutes saw both sides full of endeavour and it wasn’t until the tenth minute that the first score was notched, when the aforementioned Duffy bisected the posts. He quickly added a free and then plundered a cracking major on 12 minutes, to really upset the Mitchels applecart.
Mitchels hadn’t time to catch their breath and worse was to follow for their under-siege rearguard, when Duffy crashed home a second goal on 15 minutes.
Balla’s direct style of play was causing endless problems for the county town side, and when Ryan Nolan pointed a gem from an acute angle to make 2-3 to no score 17 minutes.
At that stage the chasers could have done with a goal and it very nearly occurred on 18 minutes, but Matthew Daly’s curling effort whistled just inches wide before their opening salvo arrived a minute later, courtesy of a great point from the raiding Mitchels corner-back Ruairi Kearney.
Kearney’s team-mate Paddy Connolly then pointed a peach of a score from distance before the chasers were given a lifeline on 26 minutes. Kian Redmond gamely intercepted possession and his pass set-up Matthew Daly whose clinical finish rippled the back of Donal Keane’s net.
This humdinger of a first half took another significant swing on 27 minutes when the sprinting Redmond was fouled inside the area thus resulting in a spot-kick being awarded to Mitchels. James Devers was given responsibility and he was coolness personified to reduce the once commanding Balla lead to just a point.
Mitchels were humming and if anything the interval came at the wrong time for Matthew Goldrick’s troops, as Redmond pointed on the stroke of half-time which saw the sides level at half-time with 2-3 apiece.
Despite their heroic first half comeback, Mitchels were right back at square one just 20 seconds into the new half as Balla blitzed their opponents’ by pilfering a third goal, this time from the stealth movement and clinical finish by Eoin Walsh.
Balla very nearly added their fourth of the evening when a chance fell to Duffy, but his effort was well parried by Oskar Radzio and the former had to be content with a point from the rebound.
Duffy then added another single before the Mitchels game plan suffered a set-back on 35 minutes when Ethan Kelly was issued with a black card.
Sandwiched in between a brace of points from Balla’s Ryan Nolan (free) and Duffy, was a tidy pointed effort from Castlebar’s Devers, and the latter’s team-mates received the perfect tonic on 39 minutes when Matthew Daly’s smashing strike hit the back of the net to reduce the arrears to an attainable three points, 3-7 to 3-4.
Wary of another barnstorming Mitchels fightback, pointed efforts from Duffy and Nolan steadied the ship for Balla. However, a plucky Castlebar refused to wilt and on 45 minutes they pinched a morale boosting goal. Substitute Cillian Keating raced onto possession and made a darting ‘soccer style’ dribble on the right-wing before crossing for the sliding Daly, who duly recorded his hat-trick.
A tiring Castlebar couldn’t resurrect another Lazarus Style comeback and instead Balla added a brace of single from Sean Nolan and Ryan Nolan – with Duffy heavily involved in both passages of play.
A gallant Castlebar tried to remain on their opponents coattails, before the game was effectively ended as a contest on 55 minutes. An exquisite side-line ball from Balla’s Ryan Nolan eventually found Duffy and the latter rammed home an unstoppable effort past Radzio, thus recording his hat-trick of goals.
Walsh then added a point, before there was late drama on 60 minutes. Another ‘soccer style’ charge towards goal, this time from Balla’s Ryan Nolan, saw the latter brought down inside the area by the retreating Mitchels midfielder Ethan Kelly and forced referee John Glancy to point to the penalty spot. Ethan Kelly was subsequently dismissed by the referee, before Ryan Nolan dusted himself down and struck home a tidy finish to put the icing on the cake for the victors.
