In a repeat of last years county final Breaffy and Castlebar met in round two of the Mayo GAA SFL league in Breaffy on Saturday night and it was the hosts who came out on top with a 2-13 to 0-7 win over their neighbors. The visitors lined up without Richie Feeney and Barry Moran at their services, while Breaffy weren't able to call on Seamus O'Shea who picked up a knock in their defeat against Ballintubber the previous week.
But there was no doubting that the boys in blue deserved their win, with Rory Martyn and Aidan O'Shea their key men on the day. Martyn covered nearly every inch of the pitch and used the ball smartly to set up a number of attacks, while O'Shea was the dominant force in the middle of park and got back to support his defence when needed throughout the hour.
Breaffy went in at the break leading 2-4 to 0-3 and it could have been much more if they took more of the chances that came their way, they kicked nine wides in the opening 30 minutes.
The decisive few minutes in the game came between the 25th and 29th minute when they plundered 2-1 to turn a contest that was level into a seven point lead at the break. Peter Dravins was struck the first goal when he was quickest to react to a 45' from Robert Hennelly that came back off the post, he showed a great finishers instinct to rifle the ball past Ciaran Naughton form close range. Three minutes later Dravins and Conor O'Shea linked up to put Brian Howley in the clear and the wing-back showed great composure to find the back of the net, Dravins followed that up with a point from close range to close out the half.
The game had started off in nip and tuck fashion on the scoreboard with Liam Irwin putting Breaffy in front before, Aidan Walsh leveled it up after a nice move from a quick 45'. Conor O'Shea drove over a huge point from well out to put his team back in front before Patrick Durcan made it all square again on the 12 minute mark. Paddy Collins put Breaffy back in front with a good score from the right hand side after he'd been picked out by a pin-point pass from Rory Martyn. Mitchels captain Donal Newcombe tied the game up again eight minutes before the turn around, but shortly after Breaffy took control of the contest.
Any designs that Mitchels had on getting back into the game after the break were killed off by a four point run from Breaffy inside the first eight minutes of the second half with Alan Durcan, Michael Hall and two Liam Irwin points pushing the gap out to 11 points. It was a matter of running the clock down for Breaffy from that point on and they were able to see out the game and add on five more points before the end, with Alan Durcan chipping in with three and Gareth Dunne and Peter Dravins one each. Mitchels managed to tack on four points of their own in the second half with James Durcan, Neil Douglas, Aidan Walsh and Kevin Filan getting on the board.
Both sides will have all eyes now on championship action next weekend with Breaffy taking on Aghamore on Sunday at home at 4pm and Castlebar Mitchels involved in game of the weekend, when they travel to Clogher to take on Ballintubber next Sunday at 2pm.
Breaffy: R Hennelly; C Kelly, D Gavin, P Collins; M Hall, M Jennings, B Howley; A O'Shea, M Ruane; R Martyn, C O'Shea, P Dravins; L Irwin, G Dunne, A Durcan. Subs: E Conroy, G Jennings, T Reilly, R Fadden.
Castlebar Mitchels: C Naughton; R Burke, A Feeney, D Newcombe; R O'Malley, T Cunniffe, P Durcan; G McDonagh, D Kirby; S Hopkins, N Douglas, F Durkan; C Costello, A Walsh, N Lydon. Subs: S Irwin, J Durcan, S Keane, K Filan.
Ref: L Devenney (Ballina )
Ballintubber make it two from two
Peter Ford's men are the only team left in Division 1A of the Mayo SFL with a one hundred per cent record after the opening two rounds of games after they saw off the challenge of Ballina in James Stephens Park on a scoreline of 1-10 to 0-9 on Saturday evening. Ballintubber led by 1-5 to 0-5 at the break and were able push on in the second half to leave themselves out alone at the top of the table early on in the league. That win leaves Ballina routed to the bottom of the table as the only side without a point yet to their name.
Garrymore shook off last weekends derby defeat to Davitts to see off the challenge of Kiltane in Garrymore with seven points to spare on Saturday evening. The hosts got out of the blocks early and had built up a five point lead in the first half before Kiltane had managed to register a single score in reply and went in leading by 1-6 to 0-2 at the break. Kiltane did come back strong in the early stages of the second half and bring the gap back to a single point at one stage when the score was 1-7 to 1-6, but the home team put their foot down again and were able to outscore their visitors by 1-4 to 0-1 over the closing stages. Last weekend Knockmore were held to a draw by Kiltane, but on Saturday night in St Joseph's Park, they were rand close but went home 1-14 to 2-8 winners over Ballaghaderreen.
Crossmolina Deel Rovers followed up their draw on the road last weekend against Claremorris with a three point win over Davitts in Crossmolina in round two of the league. The teams went in level at the break at three points each and went point for point in the early stages of the second half, before the Deel Rovers were able to reel off five unanswered point to put themselves into a 0-10 to 0-5 lead, which Davitts couldn't pull back over the closing stages. Charlestown got off the mark on Saturday night with a comprehensive 2-10 to 1-3 win over Claremorris in Fr O'Hara Park. The home team did the damage in the first half when they went in leading by 2-5 to 1-0 at the break and they were able to keep the south Mayo teams challenge at arms length over the closing 30 minutes.
P W D L F A Dif Pts
Ballintubber | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 18 | 6 | 4 |
Knockmore | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 36 | 3 | 3 |
Crossmolina Deel Rovers | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 16 | 3 | 3 |
Breaffy | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 18 | 10 | 2 |
Bealach an Dóirín | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 29 | 8 | 2 |
Garrymore | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 23 | 6 | 2 |
Charlestown Sarsfields | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 24 | 2 | 2 |
Davitts | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 22 | -2 | 2 |
Castlebar Mitchels | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 29 | -4 | 2 |
Kiltane | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 32 | 39 | -7 | 1 |
Claremorris | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 25 | -10 | 1 |
Ballina Stephenites | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 36 | -15 | 0 |
Senior Championship Fixtures
The Treanlaur Catering Mayo GAA senior football championship throws in next weekend with games on both Saturday and Sunday. The fixtures for the senior championship are:
Mayo SFC Group 1
Ballintubber v Castlebar Mitchels (Sunday, May 25 at 2pm in Clogher )
Shrule-Glencorrib v Crossmolina Deel Rovers (Sunday, May 25 at 2pm in Shrule )
Mayo SFC Group 2
Garrymore v Ballinrobe (Saturday, May 24 at 7pm in Garrymore )
Kiltane v Knockmore (Sunday, May 25 at 7pm in Kiltane )
Mayo SFC Group 3
Ballaghaderreen v Davitts (Saturday, May 24 at 7pm in Ballaghaderreen )
Westport v Charlestown (Saturday, May 24 at 7pm )
Mayo SFC Group 4
Claremorris v Ballina Stephenites (Sunday, May 25 at 4pm in Claremorris )
Breaffy v Aghamore (Sunday, May 25 at 4pm in Breaffy )