Mayo champions Tooreen retain their Connacht title

For the fourth championship in a row, Mayo senior hurling title holders, Tooreen, have been crowned Connacht intermediate champions. They retained the title with victory over Ballinderreen in Athleague this afternoon, writes Aiden Henry.

In what proved to be an exceptional final, Tooreen produced one of their finest performances, if not the best, in the Connacht championship.

To say the display of hurling they gave was top drawer stuff would be an understatement. They were just superb all over the pitch.

But if Tooreen did reach new heights, they needed to as their Galway opponents, Ballinderreen, were a long time waiting in the long grass for the opportunity to reverse their shock defeat by Tooreen in the 2017 final.

The Galway side came with their A game to Athleague and made Tooreen pull out all the stops to deny them the Connacht crown for a second time.

No one could suggest this wasn’t the Mayo champions at their best. Goalkeeper Bobby Douglas was outstanding between the posts, both in shot saving and in his puck outs. In front of him he had six defenders who as a group never played as well together.

In midfield, Sean Kenny and Daniel Huane, once they settled into the game, came out on top against two of Ballinderreen's star players, Robbie Meehan and Kevin Lane.

Up front, the Tooreen forwards were a treat to watch and their score taking was a delight to witness. Indeed, all six starting forwards got on the scoresheet.

Overall, as a team display, this was one of Tooreen’s finest hours.

After a first half that ebbed and flowed, the Mayo representatives were ahead by two at the break, 0-10 to 0-8, and while Tooreen pulled away a bit in the third quarter, Ballinderreen came back to leave just the minimum between the teams with 12 minutes left to play.

In a very tense final 10 minutes, the teams continued to exchange points but Tooreen were ahead by three with hte final whistle looming.

Ballinderreen had a chance to snatch a goal and send the game into extra time when they were awarded a 30-yard free straight in front of the Tooreen goal.

Kevin Lane stepped up to take it but his shot for goal was blocked by Bobby Douglas, the Tooreen 'keeper, before the sliotar was cleared to safety, with the welcome sound of the final whistle following, leaving the Tooreen players, management and massive band of supporters ecstatic once more.