Moclair race comes down to final two

The 2023 Mayo Senior Football Championship will conclude as it began, with a first-ever meeting in the county final of Ballina Stephenites, the competition’s most successful club, and Breaffy, who have yet to experience the thrill of lifting the Moclair Cup.

The sides met in the very first round of this year’s championship, with Ballina Stephenites eking out a one-point victory against the West Mayo outfit. The pair booked their places in this year’s final with hard-fought derby victories last weekend.

Ballina, who lost last year’s decider to first-time winners Westport, advanced past bitter rivals Knockmore on Sunday. They failed to score from play until the 44th minute but thanks to six points from former Mayo attacker Evan Regan, managed to grind out a 0-10 to 0-7 win in front of a bumper crowd at St Tiernan’s Park in Crossmolina.

“It was a game of ups and downs,” admitted Ballina manager Niall Heffernan afterwards. “We were very unhappy with the way we played in the first-half, I thought we were very passive. Knockmore really put it up to us, as you know they always will. We left chances behind but they did as well.

“I thought in the second-half we were a lot more aggressive in the way we played and showed more fight to win the game. Again, we missed chances but we’re getting better,” said Heffernan, who may have to plan for the final without Jack Irwin who received a straight red card – along with Knockmore players Colm Reape and Adam Naughton – after a melee during second-half stoppage time.

“A North Mayo derby is as good as it gets,” beamed Ballina and Mayo defender Padraig O’Hora afterwards. “It was a tough game, by far the toughest we’ve had all year. It was a good gut check too, they just keep coming back at you. When Ballina and Knockmore get together you know you’re in for a tough game and I thought it was a good showing from both sides.”

The county final has been fixed for Sunday week, October 29 at 4pm in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park and Sam Callinan, for one, can’t wait for the big day to come around.

“We set out our goals at the start of the year, we lost the final last year and said we’re going to get back there this year and we’re going to win it,” he told Mayo GAA TV in the wake of Sunday’s semi-final win.

“This was our biggest test to date and I think the lads stood up brilliantly, especially towards the end. That’s as heated as a championship match gets and we kept the heads somewhat, we just held out the lead and we can’t wait to get working on the final now,” the young Mayo defender added.

Ballina’s next opponents might have appeared in four county finals since 2013 but Breaffy weren’t many people’s picks to get beyond this year’s quarter-finals. However, back-to-back wins against last year’s champions Westport and, on Saturday, their greatest rivals, Castlebar Mitchels, stands them within sixty minutes of landing a first Mayo SFC title in this, the club’s 70th anniversary year.

“It’s another step along the road and it’s great to come out against the neighbours like that. We’ve progressively got a bit better,” said joint captain Michael Hall after Breaffy’s 1-9 to 0-10 triumph.

Aidan O’Shea had three points on the board before half-time and helped set up a crucial second-half goal for Davitt Neary. And although their opponents did manage to draw level, Castlebar ultimately paid a heavy price for the eight wides they kicked in the first-half alone.

“It’s great to win a county semi-final any year,” Michael Hall said.

“This year we didn’t have a great league but we’ve been building well since then. We’re a confident team and we’re getting more confident but look, it’s just another game – we have to finish the job now. We’ve been there before and not got the job done.”

The county intermediate football title will be won by either one of Ballinrobe and Kilmeena, after they came through very different semi-finals on Sunday. The Peter Ford-managed ‘Robe were much too strong for Mitchels’ second team but one of the games of the season was played out in Islandeady, where Kilmeena fought from seven points behind in the second-half.

The match was a repeat of last year’s semi-final and ultimately, the outcome was the same as a Jack Carney goal in extra-time helped the 2022 All-Ireland junior champions to a 1-18 to 2-13 win.

“Moy Davitts put everything on the pitch, they got the head start on us but we knew we’d pull them back,” said Kilmeena centre-forward Sean Ryder.

“Their full-forward line is one of the best in the county, never mind at intermediate level, so we knew they’d get goals but we had to limit as many as we could.

“All credit to the lads, we’ve been in some dark places before but we seem to pull it out of the tank. We’re a great team, as close as you’d ever see. That’s why we keep on fighting for each other,” remarked Ryder.

The final against Ballinrobe will be played on Saturday week at MacHale Park while the junior ‘A’ and ‘B’ finals are both on Sunday, October 29 – the ‘A’ between Shrule/Glencorrib and Lahardane MacHales serving as a curtain-raiser to the senior final and the ‘B’ between Ballycastle and Achill taking place in Parke.