Mícheál Breathnach fall short in narrow Connacht final defeat to Ballintubber

When reporting on underage games, it’s human nature to fall into the habit of dishing out healthy servings of praise to both sides, with the downside being that when the game is genuinely of exceptional quality, it’s hard to communicate that effectively.

This was that game, with undeniable quality shared across the two clubs.

The Mayo side had an edge when it came to sourcing primary possession throughout the game and in Conor Hoban, they had an elite player with a heady cocktail of movement, size and finishing, all combining to create an attacking force that was impossible to curtail.

Yet despite this, it wouldn’t have taken a lot for Mícheál Breathnach to eke out a win, and there were two distinct stages of the game when it looked like the 2024 Féile Peil winners might go on to add yet another prestigious trophy from outside Galway.

The first was at half-time, when a powerful surge from the Gaeltacht club gave them a 1-8 to 0-7 lead. The two clubs were impossible to separate for most of the first half, with a Conor Hoban free – one of three awarded for breach offences by Mícheál Breathnach – making it 0-6 to 0-5 in Ballintubber’s favour after 26 minutes.

The Mayo side had the better of the battle for possession with the Mayo minor duo of Hoban and Adam Burton both in fine form, while the Mícheál Breathnach midfield pair of Eoin Ó Gionnáin and Oliver Ó Suilleabháin were excellent footballers on the ball, but they lacked the same physical presence.

When in possession however, the Galway club had the potential to produce some wonderful moves and they did that before half-time to take a 1-8 to 0-7 interval lead, largely on the back of Oisín Ó Neachtain’s two-pointer and a ruthlessly efficient route-one goal that featured Cian De Búrca winning possession at midfield, Fionnán Ó Neachtain fielding the long ball and laying off to Learaí Ó Gradaigh, whose finish was inch-perfect, fired across the goalkeeper and squeezed inside the far post.

That lead was stretched to five after half-time through a close-range Stiofán Ó Neachtain point, but Ballintubber produced a superb spell of football in response, kicking off their surge with a fly-hacked goal from Cillian Donnelly.

Rory McGreal nudged Ballintubber into a 1-11 to 1-10 lead, but that was the prompt for Mícheál Breathnach to tap into another rich seam of form, scoring 1-3 of their own unanswered.

Martán Ó Cualáin made an immediate impact off the bench, adding zip to the attack and scoring one point, while Ó Gionnáin added one of his three excellent scores from play after a typical jinking run through a packed defence. Jamie Ó Diollúin set up Stiofán Ó Neachtain for a second goal for the Galway champions to put five points between the teams, but in a thrilling tie that swung over and back between these two immensely talented groups, there was still time for one more push from Ballintubber; and it would be decisive.

Conor Hoban broke the back of the deficit with a point after a tap-and-go free and then a dead ball strike from outside the arc, and as he was now operating at full-forward, that naturally led Mícheál Breathnach to redouble their focus on protecting the space in front of their own goal.

That opened the door for Cillian Reilly to step into the breach with arguably the play of the game, a sensational strike from 45 metres out to level the game going into stoppage time, quickly followed by the lead point from Finnian Brady. A desperation surge to try and salvage an equalizer left them open to a late sucker punch from Christopher Feeney, a goal that crowned a sensational game but was also rough justice for Mícheál Breathnach, who had played their part in an enthralling contest.

BALLINTUBBER: Noah Murphy; Ross Malone, Ciarán Earley, Jack Loftus; Matthias Dolan, Finnian Brady (0-1), Cillian Donnelly (1-0); Conor Hoban (0-11, 1tpf, 0-5f), Adam Burton; Cillian Reilly (0-4, 1tp), Rory McGreal (0-1), Noah Donnelly (0-1); Niall Spellman, Richie Finnerty, Seán Prendergast.

Subs: Christopher Feeney (1-0) for Spellman (44), Teegan Heneghan for Spellman (58).

MÍCHEÁL BREATHNACH: Rónán Beaglach; Eric Norman, Oisín Mahon, Cormac Ó Braonain; Rónán Ó Neachtain, Cian De Búrca, Learaí Ó Gradaigh (1-0); Eoin Ó Gionnáin (0-3), Oliver Ó Súilleabháin; Jamie Ó Diollúin (0-1f), Oisín Ó Neachtain (0-7, 1tp, 0-3f), Morgan Mac Aodha; Stiofán Ó Neachtain (1-1), Fionnán Ó Neachtain (0-1), Conor Ó Tuathaill.

Subs used: Kian Ó Súilleabháin for Beaglach (41), Martán Ó Cualáin (0-1) for Mac Aodha (44).

REFEREE: Dermot Lyons (Castlerea St. Kevin’s, Roscommon).