Ballintubber opened up their account in the Breaffy House Senior Football League with a nine point win over Breaffy in a West Mayo derby on Saturday evening. The senior county champions were short a number of their key men going into the game with Cillian O’Connor, Alan Dillon and Jason Gibbons all ruled out of the match due to injury. The hosts had a strong side out for this league opener but with 12 minutes gone on the clock, Breaffy had been reduced to 13 player after both Seamus and Aidan O’Shea were both shown straight red cards by referee Kevin Connelly who was left no choice in the matter by either player.
Ballintubber went in leading by 1-7 to 0-5 at the break as a battling performance from the 13-man Breaffy side held out as well as they could against their opponents with the full complement. If Breaffy goalkeeper Robert Hennelly and full back Colm Kelly hadn’t got their wires crossed in the 24th minute the gap would have been even closer at the turn around. The two players collided when both went to collect a long ball in to the danger area and from the resulting collision the ball fell Ballintubber’s Ruaidhri O’Connor who had the easy task of finishing the ball to an empty net. Ballintubber were good value for their lead with Ray Geraghty, Damien Coleman, Diarmuid O’Connor and Declan Larkin all scoring points from play.
The half-time break allowed Breaffy to reorganise and get their house in order following the two sendings off as they came out with a more defensive approach and looked to work scores on the break. They succeed for the early stages of the half in shutting down Ballintubber’s attacking play. Conor O’Shea, Tommy Reilly and last years Mayo minor midfield pairing of Gary Walsh and Matthew Ruane worked hard covering the ground from front to back, while Michael Hall marshalled the defence. But they could only hold out so long and only for a couple of great saves from Robbie Hennelly, one in particular from Diarmuid O’Connor there could have been more goals for last years senior champions. Without a number of key men, Tony Duffy will be happy enough with how his side saw out the game with the likes of Danny Geraghty,Alan Plunkett and Ray Geraghty putting in good showings. As for Breaffy losing their two big men to red cards needlessly is something they will hope they don’t regret as the league moves on over the next few weeks.
Intermediate sides turn the tables on seniors
Last years beaten senior county finalists Castlebar Mitchels came unstuck on the road on Saturday night when Kilmaine scored a surprise win over the county town men with a late, late show in south Mayo. Mitchels led 0-10 to 0-4 at the break, but were only able to add on two more points in the final 30 minutes. However they still were in front by three points down the home stretch, but former Mayo senior man Brian Maloney found the back of the net with a rasper of shot to tie the contest up and then right at the death, Paraic McDonnagh kicked the winning score for Kilmaine to leave the home side winners on a score of 1-10 to 0-12.
Another of the intermediate championship sides also turned over one of the big guns of Mayo football when Hollymount-Carramore went to James Stephens Park on Saturday night and saw off the North Mayo men by a single point with a 0-11 to 1-7 win. The beaten intermediate finalists from last year were in front at the break leading by 0-10 to 1-2, and although they were only able to add on one more score in the second half, they did enough to hold out for the win.
Mac is back and late drama in North Mayo
Knockmore and Kiltane played out an exciting clash in St Joseph’s park where the home side stole a draw at the death thanks to a last minute Kieran Langan goal to share the spoils on a scoreline of 1-8 apiece after the 60 minutes.
Fresh from his appearance on RTE’s Second Captains Live TV show last week, Ciaran McDonald lined out for his native Crossmolina Deel Rovers against Claremorris at home on Saturday night. They ran out 2-14 to 0-10 winners over the south Mayo men. McDonald chipped in with point while the younger stars of the club like Fionán Duffy, Conor Loftus and Cathal Carolan were doing the heavy lifting on the scoreboard.
Garrymore pick up the points in South Mayo derby
In the South Mayo derby the bragging rights went to Garrymore who had a 1-11 to 0-6 win over Davitts in Garrymore. The home side had eight different scores on the evening with Enda Varley chipping in with four points and Shane Nally getting an all important goal in the first half which ended with Garrymore leading by 1-5 to 0-4. Other players to kick scores for the victors included Jimmy Killeen, Caolan Crowe and David Dolan in the victory.
