Westport held their nerve when it was put up to them in MacHale Park on Sunday lunchtime to claim the Mayo minor B title by six points.
The west Mayo men were pushed to the pin of their collar by a gallant Cill Chomain side, who had managed to close the half-time gap of six points back to just a single point 12 minutes into the second half, but their wayward shooting let them down as Westport were able to weather the storm and when Colm Moran found the back of the net nine minutes from time, the dye had been cast.
Westport played the first-half with the aid of a very strong breeze blowing into the Bacon Factory end of the ground and they put it to good use. Moran opened the scoring with a minute gone, from a neat point from play. Goalkeeper Patrick O’Malley kicked two points from four frees over the next nine minutes to put his side three to the good and it was looking ominous for Cill Chomain. But they started to get to grips with the game around the middle of the park with Darragh Murphy and James Murray starting to do well. Murphy in particular was on top class form and was unfortunate to end up on the losing side. Murray kicked a point for Cill Chomain 11 minutes in, but Westport went straight back down the field and points from Moran and captain Sean Brogan had them 0-5 to 0-1 up, after 15 minutes. The north Mayo men managed to kick the next two scores from Gerard Ruddy and a Murphy free, but Westport responded in kind with Fionn McDonagh scoring two points on the hop one from play the other from a free.
Another Murphy score had the game back to a three point contest with eight minutes left in the half, but less than 60 seconds later Westport had their first goal. Ronan Geraghty swung the ball in from the stand side and Sean Brogan caught his maker napping and finished to the net from close range.
Both sides added on two more scores each before the break with Ciaran McGovern and McDonagh pointing for Westport and Murphy and Murray for Cill Chomain.
The second half saw Cill Chomain come out fighting but they they couldn’t make their possession count when it really mattered. Murphy kicked two early pointed frees and with 42 minutes on the clock Justin Healy flicked the ball to the back of the net to cut the gap to just the minimum. But they just couldn’t find the score they needed to get back on level terms. McDonagh pointed a free for Westport to ease their nerves and with nine minutes left on the clock Oisin McLaughlin made a great run through the heart of the Cill Chomain defence and played in Colm Moran who bundled the ball over the line and sent Westport on the final march to victory.
Scores
Westport: C Moran (1-3 ), S Brogan (1-1 ), F McDonagh (0-4, 2f ), P O’Malley (0-2, 2f ) )C McGovern (0-1 ), O McLaughlin (0-1 )
The Neale: D Murphy (0-7,5f ), J Healy (1-0 ), S Murray (0-2 ), G Ruddy (0-1 )
Westport: P O’Malley; R Higgins, N McManamon, P Duffy; D McGreal, L Noone, S O’Donnell; A Dunne, C O’Donnell; R Geraghty, O McLaughlin, C McGovern; S Brogan, C Moran, F McDonagh. Subs: T McHale for D McGreal, D Walsh for R Geraghty, S Geraghty for A Dunne
Cill Chomain: P McHale; P Eschewy, J Maguire, S King; JP Healy, E McGrath, M Doocey; D Murphy, J Murray; J Brennan, A Healy, S Moran; J Healy, G Ruddy, D Healy. Subs: S Moran for J Brennan, M Healy for D Healy
Ref: M Kennedy (The Neale )
