Ballinrobe and Kilmeena set for battle royale in Mayo IFC decider

by Aiden Henry

KILMEENA and Ballinrobe is the pairing for this year's Egan Jewellers Mayo Intermediate Football Championship final, which takes place in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar, today (Saturday) at 4 p.m.

It goes without saying that this year's Mayo intermediate championship has been the best for a very long number of years.

From day one we have had numerous brilliant games and many intriguing contests along the way. It has now come down the decider – and what a final it should be between two great teams, Ballinrobe and Kilmeena.

Picking which team will come out on top in today’s final is very difficult as both Kilmeena and Ballinrobe have already shown they are on top of their game. Both will be confident of winning the title.

Indeed, the neutrals will be very much divided as to which side they will think will win. It really is that close to call.

For Ballinrobe, this is going to be a first final in 21 years. But it is no surprise that they have reached this stage of the championship this year.

For the past two years, under the guidance of Peter Ford, they have been coming on in leaps and bounds.

Last year the reached quarterfinals only to lose narrowly to Saturday’s opponents, Kilmeena. One would expect that now, a year on, they will be much tougher opponents for the west Mayo side.

As for Kilmeena, contesting county finals is nothing knew for them. Indeed, this will be the fourth year to have reached a county championship decider.

In 2020 they qualified for the county junior final only to lose to Kilmaine. However, a year later they were back in the final and defeated Cill Chomáin.

But it didn’t end there for Kilmeena as not only did they go on and win the Connaught title as well, they also won the All-Ireland final in Croke Park.

After their great All-Ireland success in February 2022, they went on to contest the Mayo intermediate championship later that year. Again they continued their great run and qualified for the county final.

But on this occasion they fell to a very good Ballyhaunis side in the decider. Now they will be hoping that history repeats itself in that they have to lose a final before they win one.

It all makes for an intriguing decider. Before the start of the championship, both Ballinrobe and Kilmeena would have been on most people's shortlist to go all the way.

As they went through the group and knockout stages of the championship, there was little to deny both teams' credentials.

As early as the first round of the group stages, Ballinrobe made their intentions known to all and sundry with their stunning away victory over Burrishoole.

The fact they scored an amazing six goals in that game only added to their chances of winning the title. They would go on to win all three games to top their group before seeing off Islandeady in the quarterfinal.

Next up were Castlebar Mitchels B, who were expected to ask serious questions off Ballinrobe. But while Mitchels did put it up to Ballinrobe, Ford’s charges ended up the easy winners.

So, up to now, they have a 100% record: five games, five wins. Now only Kilmeena stand in their way of making it a clean sweep.

Kilmeena, on the other hand, didn’t have it all their own way getting to the final.

After an early home win against Ardnaree in the opening group game, they travelled to Louisburgh for round two. Here they failed to click and lost by three points.

It meant they needed to beat Kiltimagh in the final round to make the last eight. This time they no mistake and came away with an emphatic win.

In the quarterfinal they were drawn against Parke, which was no easy draw. But in a tough and close game they came out on top by two points.

Next up was a semi-final date with championship favourites, Bohola Moy Davitts.

It was in this game that Kilmeena produced their best display of the year. After conceding two first-half goals, they found themselves five points down at the interval.

But it got worse for John Reilly’s charges as with just 23 minutes of normal time remaining, they were seven points down. But then they sprang into action and scored seven unanswered points to send the game into extra time.

They were not going to be denied now and ended up the deserving winners.

While it was a tough semi-final, it will not be any easier for Kilmeena against Ballinrobe in the final. As ready alluded to, this is a very hard game to call. You can make a very strong case for both teams. They have produced the goods up to now and both are worthy county finalists.

I fully expect the final result will be in the balance right up to the last whistle. I am going to give the nod to Kilmeena as their greater experience might just prove the deciding factor in a mouth-watering Mayo intermediate final.

Verdict: Kilmeena