IT WAS as if a grim, drawn match had never taken place as Galwegians swept to a sparkling victory in the Smithwicks Connacht Senior Cup final replay at The Sports Ground, Galway yesterday. In completing a league and cup double in dry, blustery conditions, the holders captured the trophy for the 25th time.
Ballina, chasing only the third Senior Cup success in their history and the first since 1979, discovered one of the tough realities of competitive sport: underdogs generally get only one strong chance of beating the odds. So, an admirably brave performance just wasn't good enough.
As it was, the Mayo side played heroically to be actually in the lead for a glorious spell of six minutes in the second half. But the pressure of trying to achieve parity with a minimum of possession, eventually took its toll.
All of which goes some way towards explaining a personal contribution of 20 points by Galwegians out-half Kenny Barrett - six penalty goals and a conversion. The 28 year old Limerickman has now added another Connacht award to a Munster Senior League medal gained with Old Crescent four years ago.
Ballina made some memorable contributions, not least the powerful, second half running of left wing Derek Duffy and the mid field creativity of centre Syd Hopkins. And after they had made four substitutions, we had the remarkable sight of father and son, Mick and Alan Keaveney, scrummaging shoulder to shoulder at loose head prop and hooker.
Where ball winning was concerned, Ballina should have been overwhelmed. The fact was that despite wind advantage, it was only when centre, Ken Doherty, scored their opening try in the 37th minute, that they succeeded in bringing play inside the Galwegians 25.
But they performed remarkably on scraps and had real hopes of upsetting the holders when Duffy scored a marvellous try, 23 minutes into the second half. The conversion from full back William Ruane put the Division Four side 18-17 ahead at that stage and Duffy might have broken through again less than two minutes later.
As with the concession of penalties, however, there was a certain inevitability about the late dominance of Galwegians, who will be competing next season in Division Two of the AIL. Through superior skill and far greater experience, they wore the Mayo side into submission.
In achieving that level of dominance, the contribution of Barrett was priceless. Yet, when there was no change in the halftime score of 11-11, the out half made what appeared to be a potentially costly blunder 12 minutes into the second half. With the wind in his back and a straight line to goal, he pushed a 27 yard penalty kick against the right upright.
To his credit, however, he retained the composure to score from as far away as 46 yards, four minutes later. And within a further three minutes, was on target from 35 yards to make the score 17-11 in Galwegians' favour. Then, after Ballina had taken a shock lead, Barrett again came to the holders' rescue by landing yet another penalty goal from close to the left touchline.
The first of two Galwegians tries came from scrum half Diarmuid Reddan in the 35th minute. It was a particularly interesting score for the fact that his brother, Alan, also got a try in Lansdowne's Leinster Senior Cup triumph the previous day.
Overall, Galwegians dominated because of the strength of their pack in which flanker Neil Taylor gained the distinction of leading the side to a second successive cup triumph. Meanwhile, Ballina proved that lesser sides are worthy of aspiring to heights beyond their station - even if the chance of a breakthrough is rarely offered twice.
