It was a hectic weekend of action in the third round of the Connacht Cup last weekend, with a number of Mayo sides impressing with good wins over their opponents from outside the county.
Ballina Town cruised to a 4-1 victory over Sligo side Carbury, as Mark Beattie’s side put in a brilliant display in Belleek on Sunday afternoon. In a scintillating first half, Ballina went three goals up as Jesse Devers, Stephen Moyles and Benny Lavelle found the back of the net. On the hour mark, Devers made it four and despite conceding a late consolation goal by Jason Lyons, the North Mayo side progressed to Round 4.
Castlebar Celtic are also in the hat for the next round draw after they too had an impressive 3-1 win over West United at Celtic Park. Paul Walsh gave them a first-half lead and he doubled his tally for the day early in the second half as his deflected freekick wrong-footed the West keeper to find the bottom left-hand corner of the net. West pulled a goal back with twenty minutes remaining but Celtic had the final say as Luke Kelly continued his good run of form in-front of goal as he sealed the victory in the final minutes.
Westport United needed a penalty shoot-out to see off Renmore in their third-round tie as their game finished 1-1 after extra time in Galway on Sunday afternoon. Westport were seconds away from winning the game in normal time after Dylan O’Malley’s wonder strike midway through the second half, but Renmore struck a late equaliser as they bundled home a corner kick in the dying moments. O’Malley’s goal was one to remember as his left foot strike from twenty-five yards found the top left-hand corner of the net as the young striker continues to make waves with the first team after his impressive early season form with Westport United C. Patrick Moran, O’Malley, and Caoimhin O’Toole scored the spot-kicks for the away side as Gary Cunningham saved two and saw another one go wide.
Manulla were on the wrong side of the lottery of penalties in their match against Tuam Celtic in Tuam as the home side progressed after a 2-2 draw after extra time. Colin Quinn gave Tuam the lead after twenty minutes, but Padraic Beirne had Manulla back on level terms just nine minutes later. Graham Fallon gave Celtic the lead for the second time, but Manulla hit back once again as Aiden Dunleavy forced the tie into extra-time. There were to be no more goals and Tuam had the better of the spot kick battle as Manulla exited the cup.
Claremorris had a big win away against Renmore B as they put ten past the Galway side with youngster Mark Maloney having an incredible day in front of goal, scoring six goals, a hat-trick in each half. Danny Broderick hit a brace with one coming from forty yards and Ryan Mcloughlin and Finnian Brady rounded off the scoring for Paul Burke’s side.
Straide & Foxford United also had little trouble against Galway opposition as they put five past Cois Fharraige without reply at The Green on Sunday afternoon. Johnnie Cocozza struck a brace for Aiden Flatley’s side with the other goals coming from Cathal Clarke, Darren Flatley and Tony McDermott.
Kiltimagh/Knock United looked like they could cause an upset as they held a 1-0 lead at the break over Mervue United but the Galway side hit three goals in the second half to secure their passage into Round 4 at CMS Park. Darragh Hanlon gave Kiltimagh/Knock the lead on ten minutes but second half goals from Enda Curran, Tommy Walsh and Jay Molloy were enough to see the away side through.
Premier division side Fahy Rovers saw off League One side Crossmolina with a 7-2 win at Abbeyview. Simon Duffy and Gary Concannon and Ciaran Kilcoyne all scored twice with the other goal coming from Jason Monaghan as Rovers secured a big win away from home.
Swinford exited the cup at the first attempt as they lost 4-2 against Mervue United B in a tough encounter at James McEvaddy Park. Paddy O’Donnell and James Devanney scored the goals for Swinford while Tommy Molloy (2 ) and Danny Kemp scored for Mervue, with the fourth coming from an unfortunate own goal.
