North Mayo rugby club win provincial title

Ballina were crowned Connacht Rugby Junior Plate champions after defeating Ballyhaunis 46-21 at the Dexcom Stadium.

Ballyhaunis made the dream start to this final and stunned their opponents two minutes into the first half, when Williams Ganley crossed the whitewash.

The east Mayo side had the wind in their favour during the first half, and their fly-half Scott Finlay utilised the elements from the placed ball by adding two perfectly placed penalties on six and 11 minutes.

Ballina were under the cosh during the opening 12 minutes of the game, but a try from Paul Brennan on 15 minutes ended the Ballyhaunis siege.

The north Mayo men added two further touchdowns from Ian West on 21 and 24 minutes, whilst the purple and gold’s game plan received a temporary set-back when the dynamic Sean Griffin picked up a yellow card and was sin-binned. The east Mayo side would go on to receive another sin-bin towards the end of the first half when James Frayne picked up a yellow.

The north Mayo ended the half in a flurry and tries from Ben Matheson and team captain Luke Sweeney, garnered a commanding 29-11 interval lead for their team-mates.

A positive start to the new half was imperative for the purple and gold and their loyal band of vocal supporters were delighted to see Barry McLoughlin claim a touchdown on 43 minutes.

However, the Ballina response was devastating, with a sweeping counteroffensive move ending with West adding another try, which was supplemented by Craig McCormick’s conversion.

Ballina were also temporarily reduced to 14 men on 53 minutes, when Sean O’Connell received a yellow card.

A brave Ballyhaunis refused to throw in the towel and the industrious Griffin skipped past the Ballina defence and claimed a five-pointer, to reduce the arrears to 15 points, 36-21.

However, Ballina finished the game in a barnstorming fashion and late tries from Daniel Feeney and Brian Donohoe helped put the icing on the cake.