Castlebar Celtic are on the look out for a new manager after Stevie Gavin stepped down from his position after their 7-2 win over Straide and Foxford on Sunday afternoon in Green Road. The news of Gavin’s departure will come as a shock so early in the season, which is only two games old.
Gavin told Mid West Radio on Sunday evening that he and his wife had just had a newborn baby during the week and now with three young children finding the time between work and family he wasn’t going to be able to do it anymore. Celtic romped to the win thanks to the Paul Fitzpatrick finding his form and banging in the goals against his former club. He found the back of the net five times over the 90 minutes as Celtic steamrolled the home sides challenge. Fitzpatrick opened the scoring early on, but Straide and Foxford did level the game up not long after through Chris Downey. Another former S&F man, Paul Moran found the back of the net not long after to put Celtic back in front and from then on it was all about the Hoops, with Fitzpatrick hitting the net another four times, with Ioseph O’Reilly grabbing the other Celtic goal. The Green Road outfit did pull another goal back before the end when Mark Moyles scored from the penalty spot late on.
Westport United bounced back from their surprise opening day defeat away to Ballina Town with a comprehensive 6-0 win over Iorras Aontaithe at home on Sunday afternoon in a sun kissed Sports Park. The outcome of the game was never in doubt from as early as the opening ten minutes when Phil Keegan found the back of the net from close range after knock-down from a Westport United corner. With just over half-an hour gone on the clock, Pat Fitzgerald scored a top drawer overhead kick from the edge of the penalty area. Fitzgerald’s effort took everyone by surprise including Iorras Aontaithe keeper Harry Reilly who could only watch as the ball looped into the top corner of his net. A couple of minutes later David Hoban made it 3-0 with a neat finish after some good build up play.
Not long after the restart Pat Fitzgerald grabbed his second goal of the game with a crisp finish from the edge of the area as the game became a training exercise for new Westport United manager John Brennan. He rung the changes not long after with Jamie Fallon, Vinny O’Malley, Darren Browne and Jordan Ring all getting some game time. It was the veteran O’Malley who made the biggest impact finishing off his appearance with two goals to his name. His first came about after a quick break down the left hand side of the park and his second was a deadly finish from the edge of the area, reminding everyone of the quality that has seen him terrorise defences across Mayo and beyond for a long time now. There was one twist left in the contest as Westport United attempted to give sub goalkeeper Micheal Gibbons some game time between the posts but it took two efforts to change the custodian, with referee Damien McGrath not letting Gibbons on as his shirt didn’t have the number 16 on his back as he had been marked as wearing on the game card. But thanks to some quick work on the sideline with some white tape, a number six was added to the number on the back of the shirt and Gibbons was finally allowed to enter the action.
All in all it was a good day out for Westport United and they’ll be happy to have got back to winning ways after losing to Ballina Town last weekend, but in all reality the north Mayo men weren’t able to keep up with Westport at all during the game and if United had kept the foot down they could have grabbed a few more goals.
Ballyglass had a 5-1 win over Charlestown Athletic at home on Saturday evening. The home-side were given an early lead through a Danny Broderick penalty. Alan Plunkett doubled that lead not long after coming on for JP O’Gorman at the break. The game changer had arrived just after the break when Charlestown Athletic were reduced to ten men when Paddy McDonnell got a straight red card. Even after Plunkett’s goal, the visitors kept plugging away and Martin Taylor cut the gap to just the one goal. But Ballyglass overran their opponents in the closing stages with Plunkett adding his second and Liam Hughes also scoring a brace to wrap up the win.
Balllina Town made it two wins from two thanks to a 2-1 win over Ballyehane on Saturday night. Two goals just before the break from Jamie Cawley and Dylan McKee was enough to hold out for the win, with Chirs Maughan cutting the gap back to just one midway through the final period, but Ballina held on for the points.
Manulla got their league season off to a winning start with a 2-1 win over Conn Rangers thanks to a goal in either half from Gary Durkan and Shane Durkan after Conn Rangers Johnny Cocooza had put the north Mayo men in front early on.
