Stephenites send Balla into basement battle
Frank Irwin ended with nine points in Ballina's victory over Balla which secured the Stephenites their senior championship status.
After three glorious years as champions, Ballina Stephenites’ interest in the 2026 Mayo SFC came to an end on Saturday in Foxford. With both teams out of contention to reach the knockout stages before the game started, avoiding at least one extra game in the relegation series was the prerogative for both the Stephenites and Balla in this one.
When all was said and done it was the North Mayo men who emerged victorious by three points, but if Balla had been just a little bit more clinical in their shooting, the result could have been flipped on its head quite easily.
The winning of this game came down to a flurry of 1-4 without reply that Niall Heffernan’s side hit between the 49th and 54th minutes to push themselves that bit too far in front of their game West Mayo challengers.
Balla did start the brightest with points from David Dolan, a ’45, and Luke Flatley, inside the opening three minutes. The Stephenites were all square within four minutes, as Frank Irwin pointed a free after a Balla three-up breach was spotted, while Niall Feeney was also on target. They went two clear thanks to a stunning Patrick Carr two-pointer not long after, but Shaun Dempsey and Ryan Fadden struck back for Balla to leave it all square after 16 minutes.
Another Stephenites duo of points from Irwin and David Tighe had the two point gap restored in double quick time, but when Cillian Golding bombed over a two-pointer not long before the break, it looked like the sides would go in locked at half-a-dozen points each at the turnaround. However, Ballina were given the chance to add on another score just before the break through an Irwin free after referee Frank Flynn penalised Balla for something on the far sideline. Irwin duly obliged to put his side into a 0-7 to 0-6 lead at half-time.
The second-half didn’t take long to explode into life with Conor Jordan pushing his side two to the good not long after the restart – but that was only the beginning of what was to come. On 34 minutes the ball was worked brilliantly up the field by Balla to Conor Walsh who drove the ball to the back of Ballina’s net and put his side in front by a single point.
Ballina hit back hard and reeled off three unanswered points through a brace from Mike Murray and an Irwin free to go two clear once more. Having seen Murray hit two on the spin, Colm Murphy got in on the action for Balla and kicked two frees in quick succession to leave it all square at 1-8 to 0-11 with a quarter of the game to go.
Irwin and Oisin Cronin then traded points just before the game was to swing irrevocably in Ballina’s favour. Irwin pointed a free and a minute later the ball was in the back of Dolan’s net, which was followed shortly by an Irwin two-pointer free and that was added too by a Conor Jordan point to have the Stephenites out in front by seven with six minutes of normal time to go.
Ryan Fadden did cut the gap to a half dozen on 28 minutes, but that man Irwin kept the scores flowing to put his side into a commanding lead. There was still time for Odhran O’Connor to palm home a close range goal and David Dolan to land a long range two point free, but Ballina were just that bit too much ahead all the time and they hung on for a three point win.
This win draws a curtain on Ballina’s interest in this season and while they might have desired to put up a more formidable defence of the Moclair Cup, when you consider the difference in their team that started in the championship this year and what finished last year’s, they will be happy to have drawn a line under 2026.
For Balla it’s off to the relegation playoff in a few weeks. They will be nobody's idea of an easy opponent and if they can rectify the erratic shooting they had on display at this game, they could very easily beat the drop.
Scorers – Ballina: Frank Irwin 0-1-7 (1tpf, 6f) Niall Feeney 1-0-1, Patrick Carr, Conor Jordan and Mike Murray 0-0-2 each, Ciaran Treacy and David Tighe 0-0-1 each.
Balla: Conor Walsh and Odhran O’Connor 1-0-0 each, David Dolan 0-1-1 (1tpf, ’45), Cillian Golding 0-1-0, Colm Murphy (2f) and Ryan Fadden 0-0-2 each, Luke Flatley, Shaun Dempsey and Oisin Cronin 0-0-1 each.
Ballina Stephenites: David Clarke; Liam Golden, Luke Jordan, David Tighe; Sam Callinan, Ger Cafferkey, Brendan Collins; Mike Murray, Frank Irwin; Luke Feeney, Patrick Carr, Niall Feeney; Ciaran Treacy, Conor Jordan, Conor McStay. Subs: Barry Walsh (for Carr), Jimmy Doherty (for Collins), Ben Thornton (for N Feeney), Ciaran Boland (for Cafferkey).
Balla: David Dolan; Shaun Dempsey, Ger Flanagan, Brian O’Donovan; Conor Dunleavy, Oisin Jordan, Patrick McLoughlin; Cillian Golding, Ryan Fadden; Colm Murphy, Oisin Cronin, Jude Clarke; Gary McHale, Conor Walsh, Luke Flatley. Subs: Liam Glynn (for Flatley), Odhran O’Connor (for McHale), Sean Brohan (for O’Donovan), Ryan O’Donnell (for McLoughlin).
REF: Frank Flynn (Aghamore)
