As a mark of the strength and depth of underage hurling in the county town, the Castlebar Mitchel's U-14B Hurling team claimed the Mayo U-14B hurling title in this close fought encounter against a brave Ballina-James Stephen's outfit. Played under the beautiful backdrop of Nephin Mountain in Bofeenaun, the outcome of this U14B final was kept in the balance right until the end, when a Rory Byrne goal minutes from time sealed a deserved win for the Mitchel's.

A Killian Cox goal from close range for the Mitchel's got them off to the best possible start, but Ballina points from David Carr and Kevin Duffy (free) settled things down for the Moysiders. Castlebar midfielder Nicholas Quinn then got in on the scoring act as his long range free glided over the crossbar in the 17th minute. A second goal by Killian Cox moved Castlebar further ahead but Duffy pointed a free again for Ballina to keep in touch. Both sides pressed forward in turn but good defending by Colm Morris, Ethan Tuffy and Alan Gavin for Castlebar, and by Kevin Duffy and Kieran Twomey for Ballina, meant no further scores before the break leaving Mitchels ahead by 2 - 1 to 0 - 3 and with all to play for still.

Ballina opened the second half in determined fashion and pressure from David Twomey and Ross Farrell eventually paid off with a goal from Twomey. Points were exchanged by Tony Sweeney for Castlebar and Kevin Duffy for Ballina before a Nicholas Quinn goal from a free gave Castlebar some breathing space. Killian Cox added two further points to Duffys one for Ballina. However Ballina were not finished yet and a goal from David Twomey kept the pressure on before Rory Byrnes closing goal left Castlebar winners by five points at the end, but they were certainly made to fight all the way to hold out. Richard O'Dea at the heart of the Castlebar defence stood firm against Ballina attacks during this period and relieved the pressure on a number of occasions.

It was a game that had everything - good striking, determination, excellent defending and some stylish scoring on both sides and augurs well for the future of underage hurling in the county. There were great celebrations in the Castlebar camp after the final whistle and this win continues a very successful year for the club at underage level.

Castlebar were best served by, Barry Lane, Colm Morris, Ethan Tuffy and Richard O'Dea in defence, Darragh O'Malley and Nicholas Quinn at mid-field and Tony Sweeney, Alan Quinn and man of the match Killian Cox in attack. Ballina had strong performances from Kevin Duffy, Kieran and David Twomey, Paul O'Grady, Ross Farrell and David Carr.

Castlebar Mitchels:
Barry Lane: Colm Morris, Ethan Tuffy: Padraig Condon, Richard O'Dea, Alan Gavin: Nicholas Quinn (1-1), Darragh O'Malley: Kieran Glendon, Killian Cox (2- 2), Tony Sweeney (0 - 1): Damian Mc Hale, Alan Quinn: Subs Used: Jonathan Lowe, Rory Byrne (1 - 0): Subs: Gerard Duffy, Mark Durcan, Keith Fehilly, Kevin Flynn, David Gibbons, Sean Joyce, Shane Moran, Ciaran Quinn, Damien Togher, Alan Walsh, John Welby, Niall Walsh, Paul Sweeney, Rory Tuohy.

Ballina:
Shane McMenamon; Dillon Kelly, Kevin Duffy (0-4,3f); Sean Lavelle, Kieran Twomey, Niall Campion; David Twomey (2-0), Paul O'Grady; Rory Timlin, Ross Farrell, Cian Harrison; David Carr (0-1), Kyle Murphy.