Portaferry clinched their 22nd Down Hurling title as they beat holders Ballycran 1-12 to 0-13 despite having skipper Connor Mageean sent off.
The crucial goal at Pairc Esler came two minutes from the end of normal time as Ronan Blair coolly converted a penalty won by substitute Conor Fay.
That put Portaferry three ahead and while Ballycran cut the margin to one, Blair’s final free sealed victory.
Blair finished with 1-8 in a contest played in driving rain in Newry.
Mageean – a cousin of Portaferry athletics star Ciara Mageean – looked unfortunate to be red carded on 42 minutes after being adjudged to have followed through dangerously into Brad Watson’s arm when making a puck after the referee had blown the whistle.
The Portaferry skipper was shocked by the decision but his team-mates rallied from being 0-10 to 0-9 in arrears at that point to have the better of the closing 22 minutes of action.
Mageean was on the scoresheet early on as Portaferry hit four points in the opening four minutes.
However after Scott Nicholson’s opened Ballycran’s account, the holders fought back to level at 0-5 to 0-5 by the 23rd minute and by the interval they were 0-9 to 0-7 ahead after four further unanswered points.
The match became something of a dogfight in the third quarter as there were no scores for an 11-minute period after Daithi Sands’ score had cut Ballycran’s advantage to 0-10 to 0-9.
That scoreless period included Mageean’s red card before a Liam Savage point doubled Ballycran’s lead on 48 minutes.
However, two Blair frees in quick succession levelled with contest with six minutes of normal time left before the decisive penalty four minutes later.
Substitute Fay drove towards the Ballycran goals and after he ended up on the turf, the penalty was awarded.
It looked as though as Portaferry keeper Pearse Smyth was set to take the penalty before the responsibility was handed to free-taker Blair who made no mistake with a shot to the left-hand corner of the net.
Two Nicholson frees in the opening 60 seconds of injury-time cut Portaferry’s lead to the minimum but Blair’s 63rd-minute score from play sealed victory much to the joy of their supporters, including star athlete Mageean, who received a presentation from Down GAA at half time for her achievements in 2022.
