Niall McGovern's 57th minute goal set Ballinamore Sean O'Heslin's on their way to a long-awaited Leitrim SFC title at Avant Money Páirc Seán MacDiarmada.

The most successful club in the county, with now 20 titles to their name, Ballinamore hadn't won one since 1990 until this afternoon when they got the better of defending champions Mohill in a hard-fought and closely-contested final, 1-16 to 0-17.

Contesting their sixth decider in nine years, Mohill took in a slender 0-10 to 0-9 lead at the interval with Keith Beirne knocking over most of their scores from placed balls.

Ballinamore signalled their intention in the opening stages of a breathtaking first-half with Luke Murphy, Patrick Connaughton, Shane Moran and Wayne McKeon all getting on the scoresheet to put them 0-5 to 0-3 clear on 13 minutes.

Ballinamore Sean O'Heslin's captain Dean McGovern lifts the silverware. ©INPHO/James Crombie.

With newly-appointed Leitrim manager Andy Moran watching from the stand, the action continued to ebb and flow in the second-half with Mohill appearing to steal a march by going 0-14 to 0-11 in front.

In a tense finale, Ballinamore hit four successive points to move one ahead - then it all came right for Dominic Corrigan's charges as full-forward McGovern netted what proved to be the all-important score.

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