Mayo SFC: Moran-inspired Ballaghaderreen stay up

Ballaghaderreen held on to their Mayo GAA Connacht Gold Senior Football Championship status for 2027 following a 1-13 to 0-14 victory over Balla in the relegation playoff final, writes Aiden Henry.

A huge crowd turned up in Ballyhaunis for this afternoon's game, and they certainly got full value for their entrance fee as this decider went right down to the wire.

In the end, Mayo senior team manager Andy Moran was the Ballaghaderreen hero. When he entered the fray in the final quarter, Ballaghaderreen – who led at the interval – found themselves in deep trouble. Having turned to the Mayo manager, springing him off the bench in the hope he could inspire a side that appeared to be heading for the intermediate grade next season, he delivered – as we have seen on many occasions in the past during his Mayo career.

With his side five points down, Moran kicked two points before setting up Conor Moriarty to score the only goal of the game in the fifth minute of injury time to deny Balla at the death.

This was as close as Ballaghaderreen have come to being relegated from senior in a very long time.

For Balla, it was a heartbreaking defeat. After an indifferent opening half, when they assisted by the wind, they came into their own after the break and dominated this encounter for most of the second half.

With less than five minute to go, Balla held a five-point lead and looked to have secured their senior status for next year. However, they were caught by the late Ballaghaderreen surge and paid a massive price for not seeing this game out.

In the opening half, Ballaghaderreen – although playing against the wind – made most of the running. Balla took an early three-point lead after fine points from Conor Walsh, Oisin Cronin and Cillian Golding but once Kuba Callaghan got going, that all changed. The Ballagh' full-forward showed he was on song from frees as he scored two two-pointers as well as two singles.

Balla managed one two-pointer in the opening half when Colm Murphy floated over a delightful effort from a placed ball before Walsh and Ballaghaderreen's Ryan Lynch exchanged points to leave the east Mayo side leading by one at the interval, 0-7 to 0-6.

Although Callaghan doubled the Ballaghaderreen advantage two minutes into the new half with a point from play, they went 24 minutes before registering their next score. This was down mainly to a Balla resurgence which saw them take complete control of the game. They scored five unanswered points thanks to Liam Glynn, Iarlaith Golding, Cillian Golding, Oisin Cronin and Val Roughneen, and then were five clear in the 54th minute after goalkeeper David Dolan landed a brilliant two-point free.

But just when it looked like Balla were ready to celebrate a great win, we had the late Andy Moran show. Moran kicked two points before Callaghan, Aaron McDermott and Luke O’Grady all found the target to level matters.

In the fourth minute of added time, Balla regained the lead with a fine point from Patrick McHale. However, a minute later it was game, set and match to Ballaghaderreen after Moran set up Moriarty to score the crucial goal to give them a two-point victory.

*See Tuesday's print edition for the full match report