Ballyhaunis turn on style as the Neale show resilience
Ballyhaunis .....3-11
Burrishoole .......2-6
BALLYHAUNIS booke dtheir place in the Mayo intermediate championship final where they will meet The Neale following their big win over Burrishoole in the semi-final played in Elverys MacHale Park, Castlebar.
Although trailing by four points at the interval, 1-4 to 0-3, Ballyhaunis upped the ante after the resumption where they produced a marvellous display before seeing off their west Mayo rivals.
Goals from Liam Herr, full-back John Cunnane and a third from Jason Coyne, capped this fine second half performance and sent them into the county final as deserving winners of this clash.
Ballyhaunis: A.Phillips, B.Hunt, J. Cunnane (0-1), Jack Coyne, C. Freeley, K. Higgins, J. Sutton, K. Kirby, K. Byrne, L. Herr (1-0), P. Kiely, E. Collins (0-1), C. Gardiner (0-1), E. Phillips (0-4), J. Coyne (1-4).
Subs used: M. Lyons (0-1), D. Cunnane, B. O'Neill, K. Gallagher, P. Caulfield.
Burrishoole: D. Keane, D. Nevin, L. O'Malley, D. Drumm, J. McManamon, C. Guilfoyal, P. Cannon, J. Moran (0-1), J. Sammon, M. O'Malley (1-0), A. Ryder (0-1), C. McManamon, M. Moran (1-1), F. McManamon (0-1), A. McDermott.
Subs used: P. Chambers, R. Baynes, A. McManamon, C. Burke.
Referee: K. Connolly (Hollymount/Carramore).
The Neale nail it in extra-time
The Neale ...... 2-15
Louisburgh ..... 1-14
(After Extra Time)
THERE was a nail-biting finish to the county intermediate semi-final as the Neale and Louisburgh took it to 20 minutes of extra time before a verdict could be reached.
The Neale’s Aidan O’Sullivan scored the vital goal three minutes into the second period of extra time.
The sides finished at the end of normal time tied at 1-11 apiece, both teams blowing chances to win the game in normal time.
Louisburgh looked to have gained the upperhand when Basil McLeod fired them into a 1-10 to 0-10 lead with a brilliant goal in the 56th minutes but a class goal from Brian O’Halloran saw The Neale level on 58 minutes.
The drama wasn’t quite over as Kevin Gibbons looked to have sealed it for Louisburgh with a late free but Sean Cosgrave sent this game to extra-time with neither side able to come up with a winner in injury-time.
The Neale, thanks to three points - including two frees from man of the match Cosgrave - led at the end of the first period of extra-time by 1-14 to 1-12, but any hope of Louisburgh getting back in contention was quashed by that superb goal from midfielder O’Sullivan.
Scorers for Neale: S. Cosgrove 0-7 (4f), A. O’Sullivan 1-1, B. O’Halloran (1-0), F. Sweeney (0-3, 1f), T. Conroy 0-2, P. Walsh 0-2.
Louisburgh: K. Gibbons 0-3 (3f), B. McCleod 1-0, J. Gibbons 0-2, P. O’Malley 0-2 (1f), P. McDonnell 0-2, J. Dowd 0-2 (1f), R. Prendergast 0-1, A Moran 0-1, A. O’Malley 0-1.