Defending senior county champions Castlebar Mitchels got their league campaign off to a winning start on Saturday evening in Josie Munnelly Park with a 2-12 to 0-10 win over Charlestown Sarsfields. Mitchels place kicker Aidan Walsh was the top man on the scoreboard at the end of the day with seven points (two in the first half and five in the second ) over the hour. Danny Kirby chipped in with two goals for Mitchels, one in either half, the second one from the penalty spot. Mitchels went in at the break leading by 1-6 to 0-5 with Colm Maye kicking five points for Charlestown in reply to Mitchels opening salvo which saw Richie Feeney kick two points in the first 30 minutes with Cian Costello and James Durcan also getting in on the act. Kirby's second half penalty killed off the challenge of the visitors who kept their scoreboard ticking over with scores from Gareth O'Donnell and Maye to keep the gap down to eight points at the end. Next up for the county champions is a short trip to Breaffy next Saturday evening for a repeat of last years county final.
Breaffy will go into the game looking for their first win after losing on the road to Ballintubber on Saturday night in Clogher. The home team had Cillian O'Connor to thank for their win with the two time Young Footballer of the Year kicking eight points over the 60 minutes. O'Connor's composure in front of the posts was the big difference between the sides as Breaffy found scores hard to come by and whenever they seemed to get close to Peter Ford's side, Ballintubber were able to push on again. Breaffy lost the services of Seamus O'Shea for the second half after he picked up a knock early on in the contest. Ballintubber were leading by four points with three minutes to go, but the gap was brought back to the bare minimum when Aidan O'Shea palmed the ball home from close range. But once again Ballintubber rallied up the field and were able to tack on another point to seal the two point win.
Ballaghaderreen saw off the challenge of Ballina Stephenites in their meeting with ten points to spare, the east Mayo men were 4-11 to 2-7 winners on the day. There was some interesting news for Mayo supporters with David Clarke back in action between the posts for Ballina on the night. Ballaghaderreen were always in control of the contest and were leading by 2-7 to 1-5 at the break before they pushed that gap out over the last half an hour.
Kiltane welcomed Knockmore to Bangor Erris on Saturday night in a tough battle between the two north Mayo rivals. It was honours even at the end with three-goal Kiltane being held 3-13 to 2-16 at the final whistle. The nip and tuck affair saw the visitors leading by 1-10 to 1-6 at the break, before Kiltane tore into the lead in the last 30 minutes and secured the point.
There was plenty of drama in south Mayo too, with the derby game between Davitts and Garrymore going right to the wire. It was the Ballindine/Irishtown men who were left celebrating at the end as the game finished with a one point win for Davitts on a score of 1-10 to 1-9. The contest which was played in very wet conditions, saw Garrymore race into an early 1-2 to 0-0 lead before Davitts outscored them by 1-8 to 0-2 over the closing stages of the first half.
Claremorris and Crossmolina Deel Rovers meet on Sunday at noon in the last game in round one of division 1A.
