Ballina too strong for brave U-16’s
Davitts U-16 team were soundly beaten by a very strong Ballina Stephenites side in the County Championship 2 final in Castlebar on Saturday. The atrocious weather conditions made it virtually impossible to play good football but in fairness to Ballina, they adapted well and playing with the assistance of a gale led by 1-7 to 0-0 at half time. Any hopes Davitts had were dashed immediately after the restart with Ballina breaking from the throw in and scoring a killer goal. The Davitts boys never stopped trying but points from Tommy Waldron, Michael Clarke (2) and Liam Noone was all they could manage in the second half in a game that will sadly be remembered for the abysmal performance of the referee.
Both sets of supporters and neutrals agreed that he clearly was biased towards Ballina and some Ballina supporters said that it was embarrassing at times. Hopefully the powers that be in the Mayo football can realise that this type of a display is just not acceptable. Young players have other sports available to them and our club is struggling to keep lads playing gaelic football and poor refereeing like this will ensure that rugby and soccer will be the benefactors in the long run.
The final score was 3-12 to 0-4 and while the heavy defeat will hurt the young Davitts lads, they must remember that they played some tremendous football all year to get to the final and also that very few teams would live with this excellent Ballina team. This team is one of the best that Davitts have ever produced and if they stick together there will be glorious days to come for our proud club.
Davitts: Michael Mangan, Dylan Keadin, Thomas Charles, John Huane, Shane Cummins, Padraig Mangan, Dylan Higgins, William Freeley, Donal Ronayne, Michael Clarke, Tommy Waldron, Matthew Trench, Cathal Hennelly, Liam Noone, Gerard Griffin. Subs used: Richie O Connor, Jack Rogers, Seanie Burke and Patrick Monaghan.
