Diarmuid O’Connor scores late winner to clinch Mayo championship for Ballintubber

After 220 minutes of football in just 14 days, Ballintubber have been crowned Mayo senior champions for the fourth time in their history.

Drove on by Alan Dillon and the O'Connor clan, Ballintubber are now champions for the first time since 2014. Ballintubber came into the game as favourites after overcoming perennial kingpins Castlebar Mitchels in the semi final, after a replay. The only doubt that hung over them was whether those TWO extra-time encounters would come back to haunt them in the latter stages this evening. However, they seemed undeterred by the mass amount of minutes they have clocked up recently, in fact they were the stronger of the two sides throughout the first half. It was indeed Breaffy who started the brighter though, converting a penalty after just four minutes of the game through Peter Dravins. https://twitter.com/MayoGAA/status/1053724421591089152

Credit: Mayo GAA TV

Despite the early set-back Ballintubber grabbed a foothold of the game and quickly pegged back those three points. Breaffy struggled up front, in particular Conor O'Shea, so often their key man in front of goals, struggled to get into the game. It was Ballintubber who held a slight edge at half time leading 0-06 to 1-02. Ballintubber pushed on in the second half as edged further in front, keeping Breaffy at arms length. A beautiful point by the effervescent Alan Dillon edged them two points in front and heading down the home stretch. Breaffy came back though, spearheaded by three O'Shea brothers, they eventually levelled matters 0-11 to 1-08 as full time edged closer. However, it was the man with the third lung who popped up right at the end when it mattered. Diarmuid O'Connor, who was once again very effective at midfield (are you watching James Horan) popped up as the game entered injury time to hit the winning score that signalled euphoria for Ballintubber, and heartbreak for Breaffy. https://twitter.com/corry_10/status/1053742300474605568

Credit: Mayo GAA TV

Cillian O'Connor picked up the Man of the Match award, but this game may go down in history as the day Diarmuid O'Connor cemented his place as the fittest, toughest, bravest, MIDFIELDER in Ireland.

---