South Mayo club crowned McDonnell Cup champions

A brave late comeback by Charlestown Athletic proved in vain as Ballinrobe Town (B) held on to record a 3-2 victory in what was a lively McDonnell Cup Final, played at Umbro Park Milebush.

The south Mayo side made the dream start to this game and took the lead after five minutes, courtesy of Rodrigo Rosada Da Costa.

Ballinrobe played the better football during the opening quarter, however, Charlestown Athletic very nearly fashioned the equaliser on 25 minutes when a chance fell to Damien Ward, nevertheless the Ballinrobe custodian Quentin Keady was equal to the challenge.

Just when it appeared that the chasers were making inroads, disaster struck for the east Mayo side when Ballinrobe’s Adam Thornton doubled his team-mates advantage on 34 minutes.

Leading 2-0 at the break, Ballinrobe continued to craft chances and the red and white appeared to have ended the game as a contest when Lucas Victor Lima da Ora’s in-swinging corner-kick ended up in the back of Darragh Egan’s net on 71 minutes.

However, a plucky Charlestown refused to wilt, and they pulled a goal back on 76 minutes, when Johnny McNulty raced onto a through ball and applied an exquisite finish past Keady.

Charlestown poured forward during the final moments of the game, and their substitute Niall Murphy fired home a rocket of a close-range finish on 87 minutes to set-up a tense finale.

Indeed, the aforementioned Murphy could well have forced extra-time, but his effort deep into injury-time flew inches wide, and Ballinrobe held on to claim the spoils.