Iorras Aontaithe were the only Mayo winners in last weekend’s Connacht Cup action. The north Mayo men booked their place in round six of the competition with a 3-1 win over fellow Mayo League side Conn Rangers in Carnenash. Iorras took the lead early in the second half through a Brendan Nallen freekick. The Mount Falcon men pulled themselves level just after the 65 minute mark when Shane Maughan found the back of the net. However the homeside went back into the lead around 10 minutes before the end when Jason Boylan pounced, and the win was made safe not long after when Peter Murphy grabbed their third goal.
Westport United bowed out of the competition at the fourth round stage in Sligo when they lost out by the odd goal in five against City United. Westport United fell behind early on to a Gareth Kelly goal, but they tied things up through David Hoban and then went into the lead when a deflected effort went past the City United keeper. However the man whose deflection put his side behind Colin Jinks hit the back of the right net not long after to level the game up. Ten minutes into the second half the hosts scored the decisive goal when Gary Rooney scored from the spot after the controversial awarding of a penalty to the hosts.
After the game, Westport United managerial duo James Fahy and Kieran Mulchrone stepped down from their position after four years in charge of the side. Under their tenure, United picked up two Super League titles, three Mayo FA cups, three divisional cups and one Connacht Junior Cup.
The club commented on its Facebook page following the departure of the duo that “Westport United would like to go on record to thank Kieran Mulchrone and James Fahy for everything they have done over the last four seasons, and the club would like to wish the pair the very best of luck for the future, as they have rightly earned themselves a spot in Westport United folklore. The club will be having a meeting later in the week and from there, a process will be initiated to appoint a new manager or management team for Westport United, details of that will be released in due course.”
Castlebar Celtic also exited the competition at the fourth round stage when they were beaten by Galway Hibs 6-5 on penalties after the game finished 1-1 after extra time. Keith Ward put the visitors into the lead when his corner kick arched into the net directly. Stevie Ryan levelled the game up not long after for the Hoops, but neither side could find another goal to win it, even with Celtic ending up with nine men and Hibs nine before the game went to penalties.
Iorras’s win puts them into the sixth round of the competition with Ballyheane and Manulla looking to join them in that round when they play their fifth round ties over the next few weeks.
