When the league seasons comes to a conclusion last weekend's round of action in the Elverys Sports Super League could well be seen as one of the pivotal rounds of action. Champions Westport United were held to 0-0 draw by Ballyheane on Saturday night, that left Ballina Town knowing that if they could see off Castlebar Celtic at home the following day, they would move to within two points of the champions at the top of the table and still have a game in hand.
But that was not how things transpired in Belleek on Sunday afternoon when Castlebar Celtic somehow managed to turn a two goal deficit after half an hour into a 4-3 win. Celtic have been far from hitting top form for much of the season, but they have now moved themselves to within two points of both Ballyglass and Ballina Town who are currently sitting in second and third place respectively in the league.
On Sunday Ballina went into the lead through a Darragh Quinn goal after 15 minutes, and 14 minutes later when Keith Duffy found the back of Celtic's net again for the hosts it looked like it was game over. But Celtic kept their composure and three minutes into injury time Jordan Loftus found the back of the net to cut the gap back to one. Eight minutes into the second half and Paul Fitzpatrick poked the ball home from close range. Things went from bad to worse for the home-side with 23 minutes to go when a defensive mix-up saw Fitzpatrick finishing to an empty net to put the Hoops into the lead. Paul Moran made it four goals for Celtic 12 minutes before time and it was curtains for Ballina Town. Stephen Moyles did pull one back for his side before the end, but no equaliser could be found before Damien McGrath blew his full time whistle.
Conn continue to drive up the table
The Conn Rangers revival continues at pace and last weekend they picked up another win, when they turned over early season high flyers Ballyglass in central Mayo. The Mount Falcon men who looked to be in dire trouble early on this season have fairly turned things around in the recent weeks, and picked up their third win in the league thanks to Shane Bourke's strike in the first half. That defeat will come as a hammer blow to Ballyglass who now find themselves five points behind leaders Westport United with the same number of games played.
Iorras Aontaithe are another side who had a tough start to the season, but they have found a good patch of form over the past few rounds of action, and last weekend they saw off a Manulla side who themselves had been in pretty decent form. Three second half goals from Ryan Ruddy, Jason Boylan, and David Reilly was enough for Iorras to head home with the points and leave themselves just three points behind Manulla in the table.
Athletic move off the bottom
In the battle of the bottom two last weekend, Charlestown Atheltic were the ones celebrating as their 3-2 win over Straide and Foxford United in Green Road was enough to move them off the bottom of the table and send their opponents to the foot of the Super League. Much like Ballina Town, Straide and Foxford United will be wondering where it all went wrong after they were leading 2-0 at the break through goals from John O'Hara and Micheál Smyth. But Paul Kenny pulled one back early in the second half and when Tom Meehan levelled it up 10 minutes from time, the wind was behind the visitors, and five minutes from time James Kilroy made it 3-2 to the guests and sealed the win.
