Swinford win Mayo Junior B football championship title

Swinford recorded a 2-24 to 1-12 victory against Ballycastle in the Mayo GAA Exclusive Junior B Football Championship final at a wet and windy Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar, writes Patrick Hennelly.

Swinford had the aid of a very strong wind during the first period and led 1-19 to 0-1 during the interval, with Ballycastle’s only point of the opening half arriving after 28 minutes.

However, the gallant north Mayo side made full use of the elements during the second half, and by the 56th minute Ballycastle had reduced the deficit to seven points. But Swinford added a flurry of late scores during the final six minutes of the tie to add gloss to the scoreline.

The first half was very much a one-sided period of the game, and the opening score of the contest was a two-pointer from Swinford’s Mark Forkan inside the first minute.

Forkan was in spellbinding fashion, and he added two more orange flagged efforts to help muster a 0-9 to no score lead for the east Mayo side after just eight minutes of action.

The black and red were motoring along nicely and they added a goal on 17 minutes, when Dylan Toner plundered possession and made an uninterrupted sally towards goal before finishing with aplomb.

An under siege Ballycastle had to wait until the 20th minute for their first scoring opportunity of the game as Shane Grier’s long-range attempt of a point was plucked from underneath his crossbar by Emmett Peyton in the Swinford goal.

The north Mayo side finally registered a score on 28 minutes when Fergal Forde forced the umpire to reach for the white flag, but a two-pointer just before the break by Sean McDonagh helped give Swinford an unassailable 21-point lead at the interval.

Ballycastle had the strong wind at their backs during the second half and corner forward Sam Kelly landed a gem of a two-pointer on 33 minutes before his team-mate Lorcan O’Connell scored an exquisite goal on 36 minutes.

Kelly scored a two-point free for Ballycastle on 39 minutes, and further orange flagged efforts from Eoin McDonnell and Kevin Healy were warmly greeted by the vocal north Mayo supporters.

Kelly then added a pointed free for the chasers on 56 minutes, and Swinford’s lead was reduced to seven points, 1-19 to 1-12.

One wondered if Ballycastle were about to achieve probably their greatest comeback of all time. However, their brave resistance was ended when Swinford’s Thomas Tuffy scored a goal on 59 minutes to secure the victory for his team.