‘Tubber triumph as West rivals provide final for the ages
Ten underage county finals in the minor and under-16 grades at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park preceded it over the last week, but the best was saved for last on Sunday afternoon as Ballintubber and Westport played out one of the best U16 ‘A’ finals in recent memory.
Not even 24 hours after their minor team had fallen, Westport suffered devastation yet again in the cruellest of circumstances. While it will be scant consolation, they can hold their heads high after pushing Ballintubber to their limits.
Ballintubber will know they should have seen this match out by full-time. A costly three-up breach in second-half added time saw this final taken to extra-time but the Red and White deserve immense credit for the way they kept their heads, no duo epitomising their warrior spirit more than Conor Hoban and Cillian Reilly, as they each struck a two-pointer in the second period of extra-time to set their side on their way to the U16 title, adding to the West Mayo ‘A’ title won back in July against the same opposition.
Playing with the wind, Hoban opened the scoring on two minutes with the first of his 14-point haul. The sides were level on ten minutes as efforts from Westport trio Rian Gavin, Conan Reilly and Fiachra Ó Cinnseala, a free, were match by Cillian Reilly’s first two-pointer.
Ballintubber then struck 1-2 inside two minutes, the goal coming after Noah Donnelly’s initial chance was saved, but Adam Burton kept the ball alive and fired it in.
Westport responded through Conan Reilly and another Ó Cinnseala free, but Hoban would strike with his first two-pointer of the half, followed by a point from Richie Finnerty.
Ó Cinnseala kept Westport going with another free, but Ballintubber stretched their lead to nine by half-time, 1-12 to 0-6, through Cillian Reilly and a stunning two-pointer from the sideline by Conor Hoban, evoking memories of Ryan O’Donoghue’s strike against Kerry earlier this year.
Now with the strong wind at their back, Westport reduced the deficit to two inside six minutes through James Tunney, a ’45 from goalkeeper Rowan McLoughlin and 1-2 from Oisin Barrett. The goal arrived on 33 minutes as Jack Collins won Noah Murphy’s kickout and passed it to Ó Cinnseala, who set up Barrett for the finish.
Conor Hoban, a free, got Ballintubber’s first score of the second-half on 41 minutes but Westport levelled the game up when a Garryowen that landed outside the Ballintubber square was flicked on by Rian Gavin into the net on 44 minutes.
The scores began to slow down, but Ballintubber got the next two through a pair of Hoban frees to lead by two with six minutes of normal time remaining.
Ó Cinnseala, a free, and James Tunney left a point between them and that appeared as though it might be enough for Ballintubber but a failure to keep three players in the Westport half cost them dearly, as Ó Cinnseala tapped over a short free to force extra-time.
Bodies on both sides were beginning to feel the effects as simple passes went astray, and the game began to become scrappy. Cillian Reilly missed a goal chance to end it early in the first period, but he got a point along with two Hoban frees to nudge Ballintubber a point in front, with two points from Oisin Barrett keeping Westport in contention.
An inspirational two-pointer by Cillian Reilly, cramping up badly at this point, at the start of the second period of extra-time, left Westport reeling. James Tunney and Dan Lambert responded but Hoban would then repeat Reilly’s trick with a monster two-point score of his own, effectively on one leg as he also went down with cramp, to open a three-point gap with three minutes to go.
Westport were desperately unlucky not to level it when a long ball found Rian Gavin and his effort on goal came back off the post. With it went Westport’s hopes and Teegan Heneghan’s late point for Ballintubber brought the curtain down on a sensational final.
Scorers – Ballintubber: Conor Hoban 0-3-8 (1ts/l, 6f), Cillian Reilly 0-2-2, Adam Burton 1-0-0, Richie Finnerty, Noah Donnelly, Rory McGreal and Teegan Heneghan 0-0-1 each.
Westport: Oisin Barrett 1-0-4 (1f), Fiachra Ó Cinnseala 0-0-5 (4f), Rian Gavin 1-0-1, Conan Reilly 0-0-2, James Tunney 0-0-3, Rowan McLoughlin (1 ’45) and Dan Lambert 0-0-1 each.
Ballintubber: Noah Murphy; Ciaran Earley, Tiarnan O’Toole, Jack Loftus; Mattias Dolan, Ross Malone, Finnian Brady; Cillian Reilly, Adam Burton; Rory McGreal, Conor Hoban, Richie Finnerty; Sean Prendergast, Cillian Donnelly, Noah Donnelly. Subs: Teegan Heneghan (for Prendergast 51). Westport: Rowan McLoughlin; Kaden Lally, Aidan Murphy, Liam Marshall; Dan Lambert, Cian Sile, Noah Heraty; Tom Holmes, Matthew
Mullaney; Rian Gavin, Oisín Barrett, Fintan Burrows; Jack Collins, Fiachra Ó Cinnseala, Conor Reilly. Subs: James Tunney (for Burrows ht, Frank Jennings (for Heraty 58).
REF: Ronan Gurren (Aghamore).
