Ballina Town striker Michael Duffy has been called up to the Irish junior side, the north Mayo hit man has already picked up one international cap in 2008 against the USA, during a period when he was in a rich vein of goal scoring form. But over the past two seasons he has suffered from a number of bad injuries which curtailed his playing time. He did come back last season to help Ballina Town finally claim the Super League title. Duffy has been called up for a quadrangular tournament involving the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man which will take place in County Down from next Wednesday April 21 to Saturday April 24.
Champions get off to winning start
Ballina Town got the defence of their Super League title off to a winning start last weekend despite going 2-0 down early on to new league new boys Swinford. Ballina trailed by two after half an hour thanks to goals from Trevor McDonnell and Tom Kavanagh. Ballina pulled one back through Brendan Lavelle before the break and the striker bagged two more in the second half to seal the points and a great comeback.
Iorras Aontaithe picked up their first win of the season under new manager Michael S Togher when they held out against Ballyheane to record a 1-0 win in Carne. Pat Barrett’s goal just before the half hour mark was enough to seal the win for the Erris men.
While Westport United’s clash with Castlebar Celtic would has been one of the marquee games in the Mayo League for years, it has lost a bit of its glamour over the past season with Celtic concentrating on bigger things. But these games are never going to be easy for Westport and they were made to work hard to claim the points in the Sports Park last weekend. First half goals from Gerry McLoughlin and Dave Horkan were the difference for Barry Kilgannon’s side in his first league game in charge. For a full list of this weekend’s Mayo League fixtures see www.advertiser.ie/sport, also see the website on Sunday evening for the match report from one of Sunday’s Super League games.
Straide and Foxford bow out
Mayo’s interest in the Connacht Cup ended last weekend with Straide and Foxford’s elimination from the competition at the semi-final stage. Despite having home advantage, the Green Road men were unable to make it count against Galway Hibs and finished the game up with nine players after Michael Costello and Chris Downey were sent off during the contest.
Celtic find the difference between A league and A team
Castlebar Celtic had the unusual task of facing the same club twice in the space of a couple of days in different cup competitions, and face completely different sides. Last Saturday night Celtic hosted Finn Harps A league side in the Newstalk Cup group stages and ran out resounding 7-2 winners at home with Sean McHale bagging four goals and Shane Hynes, Alan McDonnell, and Stevie Gavin chipping in with one each. On Tuesday night they hosted Finn Harps once again, this time it was their first team in the EA Sports Cup and it was a completely different challenge. Whereas at the weekend Celtic disposed of the Donegal men’s challenge with ease, on Tuesday night a far classier Harps side dominated the game from the off limiting Celtic to only a handful of half chances. Goals from Thomas Bonner and Mark Brolly had the visitors 2-0 before the break, they pushed that lead out to three thanks to a glorious finish by Matthew Crossan 70 minutes in. Celtic pulled on back in injury time through a Shane Hynes penalty. On Sunday at 2pm Celtic will travel to Galway United in the second round of the Newstalk Cup.
Westport United games cancelled this weekend
All games involving Westport United down for this coming Sunday April have been postponed due to the death of club stalwart Mary Gannon.
