Tooreen hold off Hurley magic for junior crown
Ballina Stephenites’ Luke Hurley is surrounded by a number of Tooreen players as goes in search of the sliothar during the Connacht Gold Mayo Junior A Hurling final at James Stephens Park last Friday evening. Pictures: David Farrell Photography
Tooreen’s dominance of the hurling scene in Mayo continued last Friday evening as their junior side powered through late on to win the Ciaran Byrne Memorial Cup at the expense of Ballina Stephenites.
This game was in the melting pot until the final ten minutes. Ballina trailed by only two but Tooreen hit five points without reply to secure the county junior title.
The second half was where this game came to life, as both teams stuttered through the first half with half a dozen wides each. A terrific effort from Tooreen’s Dylan Groarke over the shoulder was immediately cancelled out by Mark Jordan but the Blue Devils would score the next three points through Groarke and two James Byrne frees.
Against the run of play, Ballina found the net on 13 minutes. A ball driven high up the field to Matty Keane saw the corner-forward hold off two defenders before shooting across Davog Freyne into the bottom corner.
Sean Lynskey edged Tooreen back in front when Ballina went ahead for the first time through a pair of Luke Hurley points (one free). However, accuracy for the Stephenites in the second quarter was to be their Achilles heel after Hurley’s free on 21 minutes, they didn’t score for the remainder of the half and Shane Crinnigan and Kenny Feeney put Tooreen back in front by the bare minimum at half-time, 0-7 to 1-3.
The second half started as the first did, this time Tooreen’s Jake Glavey and Ballina’s Luke Hurley, a free, exchanging points but the East Mayo side found what would be a crucial score as Fiachra Glavey picked out Sean Lynskey and he fired past Kevin Duffy to make it 1-8 to 1-4 on 34 minutes.
Hurley and Sean O’Donnell halved the deficit but Tooreen trio Joe Boyle, James Byrne (a free) and a stunning point from Jake Glavey opened the gap to five going into the final quarter.
Ballina needed inspiration and it came from their main man Hurley as he scored four of the next five point, the other coming from Tooreen’s James Byrne, to ramp up the tension as the game entered the home stretch.
Hurley’s points for Ballina would be their last as Tooreen showed why they are so highly regarded in Mayo and beyond. Like their senior team has done on so many occasions over the past decade, they dug deep and points from Kenny Feeney (two), James Byrne (a free), Sean Lynskey and James Greally saw another county title head the way of Adrian Freeman Park.
