Knockmore 1-9 Belmullet 0-6
Belmullet’s love affair with the Mayo senior football championship ended in tears at James Stephen’s Park, Ballina, on Sunday, where champions Knockmore retained their title with a bit to spare.
In what was a tough battle in testing conditions, Knockmore stamped their authority on this game by neutralising the man who had almost single-handedly brought Belmullet to their first final in 40 years, Mayo star Ryan O’Donoghue.
O’Donoghue had found his way through most defences up to this final but he couldn’t crack the code to Knockmore’s strategy as full-back David McHale and in particular centre-back, Kieran King, ensured the Belmullet man could only live off a few scraps.
However, the man who pulled the strings for Knockmore around the middle in that first half was another county player - Kevin McLoughlin, who was very much involved in forcing a lot of Belmullet turnovers.
A goal in such a low scoring-game, which saw Belmullet manage just one point in the first half, was to prove critical and it came just before four minutes of injury-time were announced.
James Ruddy fired low past Shane Nallen after he was picked out with a brilliant pass from Pearse Ruttledge to leave Knockmore 1-2 to 0-1 ahead and that was with 14 players as Conal Dempsey was watching from the sideline having picked up a black card.
Knockmore looked more than comfortable when Keith Ruttledge and Conor Flynn extended that lead to six points six minutes into the second half and the Belmullet support in a crowd of over 4,000 waited for their team to finally arrive into this game.
They were not disappointed as their side reeled off four points in a row, Eamon McAndrew making an immediate impact when introduced with a fine score, Ryan O’Donoghue landing a free and Shea O’Donoghue and Owen McHale adding scores to make it a two-point game just after the second water break and suddenly the champions were being asked a few serious questions.
Knockmore’s experience of winning the Moclair Cup last year stood to them and they came with four unanswered points of their own, Conal Dempsey’s massive score epitomising the spirit that runs through this group of players as they outscored Belmullet by 0-4 to 0-1 in the last 10 minutes plus five minutes of injury-time.
Knockmore: C Reape; M Park, D McHale, S Holmes, N Armstrong, K King, C Flynn (0-2), K McLoughlin, S McHale, P Ruttledge (0-1), A Naughton, C Dempsey (0-1), J Ruddy (1-0), A Orme, P Naughton (0-5, 4f).
Subs: C Bourke for A Naughton, L Ruttledge for Armstrong, L Durcan for Bourke.
Belmullet: S Nallen; M Barrett, C Barrett, C Connor, J Kelly, E O'Donoghue, S O'Donaghue (0-1), O Healy, E Ivors, O McHale (0-1), D Cosgrove, F Ryan, C Conway, R O'Donoghue (0-3, 3f), J Boylan.
Subs: M Boylan for Healy, E McAndrew (0-1) for J Boylan, J O'Donnell for Cosgrove, L Howard for M Barrett.
Referee: J Henry (Castlebar).
