Provincial price is just reward for Pádraic’s boys

Connacht Minor ‘B’ Football Championship – Final 

Breaffy 3-15 

Elphin/Ballinameen 2-5 

Kevin Egan at CoE Bekan 

Connacht U17 championship glory might not have been top of the wish-list of the Breaffy underage club when the season started, but it’s hard to imagine that a more encouraging performance was produced by any blue-and-white hooped team of teenagers in 2024 than last Friday night’s provincial final against Elphin/Ballinameen of Roscommon.

The combination club from North Roscommon, for whom St Nathy’s brothers Gordon and Dean Casey were key players, certainly threw down the gauntlet to Breaffy with a flying start that culminated in Ben McGarry’s goal to make it 1-2 to 0-0.

“They got a good start, they got a goal and two points on us before we woke up but from thereon in, the lads’ work-rate was immense, they fought and they battled,” beamed manager Pádraic Costello afterwards.

“If you’re going to get caught with a goal, that’s the perfect time. Funny things happen in finals, we were saying that to the lads that we’ve seen that down the years, it can be black cards, it can be soft goals, it call be silly mistakes or players getting injured, but it’s all about how you respond.” The response was immediate, full of attacking intent, and utterly devastating.

Ronan Loftus won a free that Oisín Costello converted to settle them into the game, and one of several big plays from Conor Loftus was the real momentum-shifter after that. After the wing-forward secured one of his several kickout wins on the night, he drove at the Elphin/Ballinameen goal with real intent and rattled a shot into the post for Rhys Neary to gobble up the rebound.

Neary was dragged to the ground, Daniel Rabbitte easily slotted home the penalty, and Breaffy never looked back.

Some of the highlight reel scores for the remainder of the first-half included a darting run, clever shimmy and slick finish from Golden, a serious injection of pace from Ross Connolly that set up a point for Oisín Costello, and a punched score from Connolly.

“We’ve instilled it into them to go for it. We knew that we’re fairly good in the air, Conor Loftus put on a great performance of fielding, but we’ve five or six lads that are really good in the air,” was Pádraic Costello’s assessment of his team’s performance.

“The last game we played we won all our kickouts, which is very rare in a football match. We’ve a lot of runners, we’re pretty good at coming off the shoulder, and the lads on the inside line, the ball stuck to them very well as well.” By half-time it was 1-7 to 1-3, and the first 12 minutes of the second-half killed off any lingering hopes that Elphin/Ballinameen might have entertained, as that became 2-11 to 1-4, with Golden adding the second goal through a looping shot that dipped under the Elphin/Ballinameen crossbar.

Dean Casey gave his team some hope when he carried the ball at pace through the Breaffy defence and was dragged to the ground, only to spring up and catch the defence unawares with a shot for goal from nearly 25 metres out that went the whole way through.

Once again however, Breaffy had all the answers. Golden split the uprights with a fine kick from an attacking mark, Rian Fallon added a third goal, and while the scores dried up in the closing minutes, Breaffy were still full of running right up until the final whistle.

“We like to play positive football, we break out fast, and that worked for us,” Costello told the Western People.

“Football is all about enjoyment, it’s getting players out on pitches and ensuring that they enjoy their participation. For that to happen, they need to play at a level that they’re suited to playing, and a bit of success is an added bonus. This is a massive boost to these lads. We were scraping the barrel at stages due to injuries and a number of things, and we brought a lot of younger lads along – and they manned up, and became equal to the best players we had at U17 level.

“The biggest thing I think we’ll take out of this is that these lads will have great memories now, they’ll be talking about tonight for years to come.” Scorers – Breaffy: Oisín Costello 0-7 (5f), Shay Golden 1-3 (0-1m), Daniel Rabbitte (pen) and Rian Fallon 1-0 each, Ross Connolly 0-2, Callum Masterson, Rhys Neary and Conor Loftus 0-1 each.

Elphin/Ballinameen: Dean Casey 1-3 (1-2f), Ben McGarry 1-0, Gordon Casey and Tadhg Morris 0-1 each.

Breaffy: Cillian Curley; Evan Mulchrone, Eoghan Murray, Adam Jennings; James Curran, Daniel Rabbitte, Daniel Matthew; Ronan Loftus, Ross Connolly; Daragh Connor, Oisín Costello, Conor Loftus; Callum Masterson, Shay Golden, Rhys Neary. Subs: Rian Fallon (for Masterson 51), Darren Casey (for Matthew 51), Ryan Fadden (for Jennings 58), Mark Mulchrone (for Golden 59), Brian McDonnell (for Neary 60+1).

Elphin/Ballinameen: Lorcan Beirne; Gavin Kielty, Setanta Gleeson, Donnacha Higgins; Jack Mollahan, Gordon Casey, Frank Hassett; David Maciag, Cathal Enright; Eoghan Keaveney, Dean Casey, Owen McNamara; Tadhg Morris, Cronan McLoughlin, Ben McGarry. Subs: Tadhg Duignan (for Hassett ht), Mikey McTeigue (for Higgins 42), Paddy Murray (for McLoughlin 51), Tadhg Clarke (for McGarry 58), Aodán Sharkey (for Keaveney 60).

REF: Eamonn Dolan (Leitrim)