North Mayo Junior B Champions 2025
Hard luck to Ballina. They pushed us all the way, like every Ballina team does.
What can you say about our lads though.
They are a credit to themselves, their families, there parishes and to CLG Béal An Mhúirthead. No match report today, but I do have players ratings…
Padraig Monaghan 10/10. Like a cat in between the sticks. Showed once again why he’s one of the best in the business with a heroic performance.
Liam Walker 10/10. A forwards nightmare. Stuck to his marker all day like a tattoo and kept him scoreless. Magnificent.
Coleen O’Donnell 10/10. Don’t mess with this man. Strong as an ox. A commanding display in the full back line. Like all these lads, a gentleman off the field but certainly not on it.
Padraig Meeneghan 10/10. Reminded me of Philly McMahons job on The Gooch in the 2015 final, running his marker torwards his own goal and pitching in with 2 points.
Rian Concannon 10/10. Would remind ya of a young Lee Keegan. Savage performance and capped it off raising a green flag. Exciting future for this young man.
Cillian Reilly 10/10. The Dual Star. Gaelic or soccer you name it. Does his job day in day out. What a man.
Nathan Reilly 10/10. An athlete. Does not stop running. He leaped like a salmon for a ball in the clouds at one stage and fetched it, was breathtaking to see.
Gerry Barrett 10/10. Ah Gerry. The Alpha Male of the group. A man you want to go to war with every time you cross the white lines. Had a great battle in midfield with Ballinas Kieran Sweeney. There’s life in the old dogs yet.
Darragh Dixon 10/10. Mr. Consistent. Great performance from Darragh and there’s a lot more to come from this young Thundercat. Top class fella.
Edward Brogan 10/10. This young man has no fear. Putting in tackles left right and centre. Worked his socks off all day. Great to see.
Michael James Walker 10/10. Hardy as they come. Came on and hit a man so hard and fair that their grandchildren will feel it. Only problem is that he hit his own man a man you want in your corner nonetheless.
Lenny Gilbert 11/10. The rating says it all. Another great performance by a young fella who’s getting better by the day.
Man of the Match.
Dara Padden 10/10. Another dual star. Quality. He can do what he likes with a football. Caused havoc in the Ballinas full back line all day.
Michael Keane 10/10. The 2018 county intermiadte winner was on fire kicking frees for fun. Class act.
Darren McDonnell 10/10. Positioned on the edge of the square he was like Kerry’s Bomber Liston. A handful for any full back.
Caused mischief all day.
SUBS
Padraig Gaughan 10/10. Changed the game when introduced. Wand of a left foot. He is mighty craic too.
Ciaran Cawley 10/10. The Ole Gunnar Solskjaer of impact subs in the North Mayo Junior B Championship. Got a class goal and without it there would be no silverware.
Eamon Fallon 10/10. Imagine marking Dara Padden for 40 minutes then seeing Eamon Fallon coming in for him. If you didn’t laugh you’d cry. Not nicknamed Flatley for no reason, dancing around his opponents he was. Kicked a point too
Jack Deane 10/10. Would challenge Padraig Gaughan for best left foot on the team.
Ruled out due to Injury: Shea O’Donoghue and Daithi Cosgrove. Watch out for these lads next year. Sky is the limit for them. Also shoutout to the team mascot. Daithis little brother Conan, a smile that says it all.
Our Management team on the day of Peter Mulry and Aaron Carey played a stormer on the line and were also 10/10.
An 11/10 out of to Oversess manager David Padden. David unfortunately could not make the game due to work commitments. It was his first game he missed all year and without him this would not have been achieved. He got lads back playing and enjoying football this year.
A quote he made at the start of the year when everyone thought this would be a poor season with a poor team stood out. “Take the word impossible. When you break it down. It reads IM POSSIBLE”. A great end to an enjoyable season. Thanks David.
Padraic Cowman unfortunately could not make the game due to the sad passing of his grandfather John McNulty. John was a previous Chairman of our great club and helped out with the clubs Bingo for over 40 years. Also father in Law to Pat who previously served as club chairman. All at CLG Béal An Mhuirthead would like to express our deepest condolences to all of John’s Family.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
We won’t end on a sad note, a shoutout to the man who shouted from the stands after the lads had won. ‘If some of ye were on the Senior team they might be in a quarter final instead of a relegation battle’.
To which everyone (including senior players) smiled and giggled. That’s what the GAA is all about folks, a bit of craic.
Thanks for reading.
