Mayo Post-Primary Junior Hurling Final

Rice College (Westport)   2-12
Ballyhaunis CS                        3-8

After Extra Time

by Eleanor Harrison in the CCE.

The Mayo Post-Primary Junior hurling final took place in the Connacht Centre of Excellence  between Ballyhaunis Community School and Rice College (Westport). Ballyhaunis were looking to regain their title while Rice College were seeking their schools first hurling title. Both teams looked strong with clubs Ballyhaunis, Tooreen and Westport being represented on the field.

Ballyhaunis CS went in front in the first minute with a goal coming from corner forward James Frayne.  Rice College answered with three points from play from Jack Carney (2) and Stephen Loftus. Ballyhaunis' captain Cormac Phillips added a point which was soon cancelled out when Rice Collage quickly adding another through Carney again. Wing-Forward Eoin Delaney scored a brilliant point and again Rice College replied with two more - Keelin Gallagher and Carney again - leaving the half time score at 0-6 to 1-2 in Westport's favour.

The first half showed that it was going to be hard to separate these teams and the second half proved no different! Two minutes into the second half Ballyhaunis' midfielder Cormac Phillips rattled the net and added another superb point from the opposite 65. Eoin Delaney struck a free and a great point from play which left the Ballyhaunis side up by five but this did not stop Rice College's efforts who scored another two points before getting a superb goal from wing back Pat Lambert leaving the sides level with only minutes to go. Both teams added another point but as full-time approached, it became clear that extra-time would be needed to separate the sides. The full-time score after sixty minutes was 2-7 to 1-10 - an extra 20 minutes was needed in order to find the overall winners.

The first half of extra-time saw only one score, a point coming from Rice College through a Gareth Jordan free. The second half of extra time however was a more exciting affair which saw 2 goals and 2 points scored in the ten minutes of play.  Westport scored 1-1 without reply - the goal coming from Matt Horan - and looked to be running away with the title but Ballyhaunis worked hard and, after some excellent defending from Conor Hunt and Kevin Neenan, Eoin Delaney found the net and Michael Frayne pointed a 65 leaving the deficit at only one point! With seconds left on the clock Ballyhaunis CS needed an equaliser but unfortunately their valiant efforts fell just short and the final whistle blew! Rice College had won by the tightest of margins, a single point and achieved their schools first hurling title.  Although defeated, Ballyhaunis had some brilliant performances, captain Cormac Phillips, goalkeeper Ciaran Doherty, wing-forward Eoin Delaney and backs Conor Hunt and Kevin Neenan just to mention a few. For the winners captain Mike Brady, Kevin Grogan, Gareth Jordan and scorer-in-chief Jack Carney were the players who helped bring the first hurling title ever to Rice College.

Rice College: Alan Mulroy; Dara Ludden, Stephen Walsh, Kevin Geraghty; Pat Lambert (1-0), Mike Brady, James Gallagher; Kevin Grogan (0-1), Alan McHale; Iarla Quinn, Gareth Jordan (0-1), Jack Carney (0-7); Stephen Loftus (0-1), Matt Horan (1-0), Keelin Gallagher (0-1). Sub: Donal Buckley (0-1) for Loftus.

Ballyhaunis: Ciaran Doherty; Evan Godfrey, Michael Freyne (0-1), Kevin Neenan; Williams Ganley, Conor Hunt, David Cunnane; Cormac Phillips (1-4), Dylan Ruane; Patrick Caulfield, Eoin Delaney (1-3), Jack Coyne; James Frayne (1-0), Uneeb Naseer, Dylan Harrison. Subs: Liam Lavin, Ryan Keadin, Niall Coffey, Dara Healy, Conor Keane, Oisin Greally, Neil Kearney, Conal Caulfield.

Ref: Ml Carroll (Galway)

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