Knockmore stun Breaffy as champions suffocate Ballintubber

WE had two contrasting county senior semi-finals at MacHale Park in perfect conditions today (Sunday) as champions Castlebar Mitchels secured their final place, while Knockmore reached their first final in seven years by stunning a disappointing Breaffy side in a game which ended in some ugly scenes.

 

 

Knockmore 0-12

Breaffy 1-7

Knockmore produced the shock of the Mayo senior football championship when they finally broke the seven-year barrier to reach their first final since 2009 by edging out Breaffy in a tough semi-final in the first of a double header at MacHale Park.

Knockmore were hanging on by a thread with a one-point lead when Robbie Hennelly’s attempted ‘45 to draw the game drifted just wide, Peter Naughton securing the win deep in injury-time in a game that was marred by some ugly scenes after the game as players from both sides became embroiled in scuffles.

It was no less than Knockmore, who had Andrew Keane sent off on a double yellow card four minutes from time, deserved as they had two chances early to pull four points clear but Keith Ruttledge fisted a ball inches wide as Kevin McLoughlin saw his 30-yard free drift wide of the post.

Knockmore had set their stall out from the start by tackling in numbers and went five points clear at one stage, a fine goal from Tom O’Reilly bringing Breaffy back into the game to leave just a point between the sides at half-time -1-4 to 0-8.

Knockmore went three clear at one stage but were pegged back to the minimum before Naughton sealed the deal with an injury-time point.

 

 

Castlebar Mitchels 1-11

Ballintubber 1-5

A goal by Danny Geraghty deep into injury-time for Ballintubber only disguises the gulf there was between these two great rivals as Castlebar Mitchels finally ended a losing streak over their opponents which stretched back to 2010.

All of Ballintubber’s points came from the boot of Cillian O’Connor and all from frees as Castlebar threw a blanket across the Ballintubber attack in a game of very poor quality which produced three black cards, two for Ballintubber players.

Ballintubber were held to just two points in the opening half, but the story of that half was the total dominance of Castlebar, with Neil Douglas kicking all but one of their points, scoring three from frees, while Cian Costello also hit the target as both teams lost players to black cards - Aiden Walsh (Castlebar) and Damien Coleman (Ballintubber).

Although well out of it in terms of possession, Cillian O’Connor had an untypical miss from a free in injury-time to reduce the deficit to three, but Douglas also missed three kickable frees which would have given the county champions a far more comfortable cushion at the break.

Castlebar failed to put their opponents away and almost paid the price for it when the gap was down to just two points with 10 minutes remaining, but back-to-back scores from Douglas, who finished the game on 0-8, and a superb point from Donal Newcombe had Castlebar back in control as David Stenson found the net just before the end of normal time to finally seal a win and a final meeting with Knockmore next Saturday night at 7 p.m.