Tooreen and Castlebar Mitchels claim county hurling titles
Sean Henry, Connacht Gold, presents the man of the match award to Tooreen’s David Delaney after his team defeated Ballyhaunis in the Mayo senior hurling championship final at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar, this afternoon. Picture: David Farrell Photography.
Tooreen secured a sixth TJ Tyrell Cup in a row in scintillating fashion after a comprehensive 2-29 to 0-20 win over neighbours Ballyhaunis at MacHale Park, Castlebar.
After the sides shared the opening six scores of this contest, Tooreen raised their first green flag in fortuitous fashion when David Delaney’s shot, parried by Ballyhaunis goalkeeper Donal O’Brien, came off the ground and back off O’Brien before creeping over the line.
Tooreen then found the net again on 13 minutes. Oisín Greally’s point attempt came back off the post, but Fionn Delaney was quick to react to the loose ball. He cut it back for David Delaney, who fired it low into the bottom corner for his second major of the day to make it 2-6 to 0-6.
Cormac Phillips, Kieran McDermott and Keith Higgins did their utmost to keep Ballyhaunis on the coattails of the Blue Devils but Fionn Delaney, Stephen Coyne (two), Oisín Greally and a trio of Bobby Douglas frees put Tooreen 2-14 to 0-11 in front at the break.
Ballyhaunis needed a quick start to the second-half, but Tooreen reeled off four of the first five points through Liam Lavin, Danny Huane, Eoin Delaney and Fergal Boland while Douglas also fired a penalty wide.
Any hope of Ballyhaunis finding a way back into this final were ended by the end of the third quarter when Jason Coyne was shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball clash with Fionn Delaney, and the only thing left in question was the margin of victory for Tooreen.
To their credit, Ballyhaunis battled to the bitter end through Adrian Phillips (two), three Cormac Phillips frees and a single from Michael Farrell, but further efforts from David and Eoin Delaney, captain Fergal Boland, Danny Huane and Liam Lavin sealed a 15-point victory for Tooreen.
On this evidence, Tooreen will be hard to beat again as they now look to retain their Connacht club intermediate title. They begin their defence against the Roscommon champions in Hyde Park in three weeks’ time.
In the preceding Mayo SHC 'B' Final, a late goal by Pearce Murray helped Castlebar Mitchels to a 1-19 to 0-19 over St Ciaran's.
