Coolera-Strandhill upset Ballina after penalties to book Connacht SFC final spot

Coolera-Strandhill 0-09 (p) Ballina Stephenites 0-09

Coolera-Standhill booked a place in this year's Connacht final with a dramatic finish as Ross Doherty proved to be the hero as he scored the winning penalty for his side.

Ballina started the game brightly as they opened the scoring with two early points through Evan Regan and Luke Doherty after three minutes of play but the Mayo Champions would fail to score for 23 minutes of play.

Coolera-Standhill did finally settle as they pointed after 11 minutes with Niall Murphy pointing as he came off the shoulder from Mark McDaniel. The sides were level for the first time in the match on 15 minutes when Sligo county player Niall Murphy pointed a free after Sean Taylor had been fouled in the attack.

Ballina were struggling to break down the Coolera-Standhill defence and they forced to shoot from distance leading to lot of turnovers for the Sligo team. Coolera Standhill took the lead on 24 minutes after the ball came off Leo Doherty.

The sides were level again before the break when Frank Irwin kicked over a free from distance but before the end of the half Padraig O’Hora picked up black card for foul on Sean Murphy.

The sides were level at the break but Ballina restored a two point lead after the restart with Luke and Niall Feeney on target for Niall Heffernan’s men.

The Sligo champions felt this was their time and they drew level again on 44 minutes when Barry O’Mahony and Murphy added a free.

Luke Doherty restored the lead for the Mayo men but Coolera went back in front as they lead 0-07 to 0-06 after 50 minutes when Ross Doherty pointed for his side.

Both sides had chances to win the match in normal time but a point from substitute Dylan Thornton after Ciaran Treacy had played the