The other senior city sides, Salthill-Knocknacarra and St Michael’s were also in action last weekend at Pearse Stadium and Gerry Hughes’ men had it all too easy winning on a score-line of 0-13 to 0-5.
Their top scorers were Seamie Crowe (0-5, 1f ), Seán Armstrong (0-4, 3f, 1’45 ) and Brian Conlon (0-2 ). St Michael’s will face Moycullen in the next round and unless they can improve enormously in the next few weeks they are one of the more likely teams to be playing Intermediate championship next season.
Newly promoted side Kilconly defeated Leitir Mor by 1-12 to 0-10 with Adrian Murphy in sparkling form. He had good support from Padraig Moran, John Paul Steede, and Kevin Brady who made some terrific darting runs from centre-back.
Leitir Mor will face Kilkerrin/Clonberne in the qualifiers.
In Tuam Stadium on Sunday it was good to see Michael Meehan play a full 60 minutes as Caltra sent Claregalway into the qualifiers, winning by 1-13 to 0-8. Shane Hogan, Michael Kelly and Meehan were best up-front for the 2004 All-Ireland champions.
Their near and dear rivals Mountbellew-Moylough defeated Cortoon Shamrocks on an unusual score-line of 2-14 to 3-6, with Cathal Kenny and Barry McHugh hitting the majors for Val Daly’s team, while Mick Culkin’s goal scorers were Derek Savage, David Ward and Fergal Heverin. Cortoon worked hard though and if they can get the likes of David Finnegan back for the qualifiers they will fancy themselves against Bearna.
An Cheathru Rua snuck past Bearna by a point on a score-line of 0-12 to 0-11 with Ciarán De Paor scoring an injury time free. Ciarán Ó Loideain played a fine game at wing-back and notched 0-2 from play to help his side into the next round. Michael Breathnacht's had four to spare over Kilkerrin-Clonberne (1-11 to 0-10 ) who were far too dependent on scores from young Shane Walsh who shot 0-8.
In Corofin on Sunday Milltown beat Maigh Cuillin by 2-7 to 0-9 with Mark Hehir (1-3 ) and his brother Seán Hehir (1-1 ) doing most of the damage up front. County panellist Michael Martin continued his recovery from injury when coming on as a sub and hitting a point.
In the final game of the first round, Annaghdown saw off NUI Galway on Monday night in Tuam on a score-line of 0-14 to 0-9. They had good performances from Frankie Burke, Niall Coleman (first half ) and Anthony Pender at centre-back.
They will join the other first round winners in the next round, and await the other five winners from the qualifiers.
