Mayo club record impressive victory in FAI Junior Cup

A resilient Ballyheane defeated Dublin’s Rosemount Mulvey 1-0 in round five of the FAI Junior Cup, at Pat Quigley Park.

Rosemount Mulvey dominated the opening exchanges of what was an absorbing cup tie, with Cian Fay unlucky to see his header on eight minutes fly wide.

Indeed, Fay was a lively presence for the Metropolitans, and he tested the resolve of Luca Meldrum in the Ballyheane goal on 15 minutes, with the latter having to produce a fine save.

Ballyheane gradually found their rhythm with Liam Irwin seeing his chance on 38 minutes saved by the Rosemount Mulvey custodian, Dave Clarke.

Just before the break, the local’s were left ruing their luck when Ben Edeh scampered inside the 18-yard box only to see his strike on goal thwarted by the aforementioned Clarke.

The opening exchanges of the new half were nip and tuck, however, the elusive breakthrough arrived on 60 minutes, when Liam Irwin’s in-swinging corner-kick fortuitously ended up in the back of the net, much to the delight of the home bench.

Backed by their loyal vocal supporters, Rosemount Mulvey upped the tempo and went in search of the equaliser, with Samuel Meagan most unlucky to see his audacious bicycle kick flash inches wide.

Rosemount Mulvey substitute Daniel Loughran almost fashioned an equaliser on 80 minutes when he latched onto Andrew Byrne’s pinging delivery, but the former saw his effort fizz off target.

In the end, Ballyheane held on for a famous victory and the Mayo side will also have home advantage in the last 16 of this competition, when they welcome Cork side Coachford AFC to Pat Quigley Park, on June 14.