No surprises on opening day of Mayo Super League

There were no shocks in the opening day of the Super League as Ballina Town, Ballyheane, Kiltimagh/Knock United and Castlebar Celtic all won while Manulla and Westport drew in Carramore.

In the early morning Elverys Sports Super League kick-offs, Castlebar Celtic had a 2-0 win over Glenhest Rovers in Beltra thanks to goals from Johnnie Cocozza and Jordan Loftus.

Cocozza opened the scoring after 16 minutes to give Celtic the lead at the break and Loftus secured the points on 54 minutes when he broke though down the left hand side of the penalty area before curling the ball over the keeper with the help of a slight deflection and into the top right hand corner of the net.

Celtic could have added a third when Luke Kelly’s effort was cleared off the line with 20 to go but they will be happy with the win at a ground they were beaten on last season.

In the other morning kick-off, Kiltimagh/Knock United got the better of newly promoted Conn Rangers for the second time in a week with a narrow 1-0 victory in Mount Falcon. The only goal of the game came just after the hour mark through defender Dan Duffy as he headed in a freekick to give Kiltimagh/Knock the points as they started their league campaign with an away win.

The other newly promoted side Crossmolina were back in the Super League for the first time in 15 years and they gave Champions Ballyheane a run for their money despite Ashley Stevenson’s side running out 2-0 winners.

The goals both came early in the game as captain Sean Kilcoyne slotted home a penalty on twelve minutes after Aiden Dunleavy was fouled in the box and the second coming nine minutes later through a brilliant free-kick from Dara Ludden. Ballyheane will host the other promoted side Conn Rangers next Saturday evening under lights for the first time at Pat Quigley Park.

Ballina Town showed they mean business this season with a convincing 5-0 win over neighbours Straide & Foxford United at Green Road as Benny Lavelle was once again the star of the show hitting a hat-trick to get his season off to the perfect start.

Last season’s top scorer opened his league account for this year with a goal after only three minutes and he doubled their lead on 33 minutes after been set-up by Jamie Cawley. Lavelle completed his hat-trick on 65 minutes and Ballina closed out the game with two further goals as Raff Cretaro set up both Chris Maughan and substitute Ryan Moran to put further gloss on the scoreline.

The first draw of the new season took place in Carramore as Manulla and Westport couldn’t be separated after 90 minutes for the second time in eight days. The two goals came just two minutes apart midway through the second half as Manulla took the lead on seventy minutes as Mark McDonagh deflected a Gavin Jennings right wing corner into his own net but Darren Browne hit back immediately as he pounced on an error in the Manulla defence to bury the ball past Jack Livingstone from just inside the area.

Cillian McGlade received his marching orders in the final ten minutes for two yellow cards but neither side could find a winner and had to settle for a point each on the opening day of the season.

In the CastleCourt Hotel Premier Division, Swinford put last weekend’s cup defeat to Kilmore behind them with an excellent 3-1 away win over Westport United B at United Park.

Jack Murphy gave them the lead after 20 minutes and despite Ted Horan getting an equaliser for Westport before half-time it was Mark Beattie’s side that pushed on in the second half to get their first three points of the season.

Conor Devaney put Swinford back in front with 20 minutes to go and the substitute Keith Kavanagh sealed the win with a goal on 82 minutes.

Claremorris lived up to their league favourites tag with a comfortable 4-1 win over Ballyhaunis Town at Concannon Park despite losing keeper Keith Saunders to a red card after 20 minutes as he was sent off for a last ditch challenge on Octavian Turcu.

Before that Simon Butler had given Claremorris the lead on six minutes and Calvin Joyce added a second minutes after his side were reduce to ten men. Joshua Webb pulled a goal back for Ballyhaunis just before half-time but Butler ensured Paul Burke’s side would earn all three points as he scored twice more in the second-half to complete his hat-trick with his third goal of the day coming from the penalty spot.

Kilmore began their return to the second tier of Mayo League football with a 3-0 win over Fahy Rovers at Solar 21 Park.

Evan Ivers gave them a first half lead as he headed in a right wing corner from Colin Barrett as Kilmore had the better of the opening period. Fahy were much better in the second half but failed to really trouble Pat McHale in the Kilmore goal and after the introduction of Justin Healy they looked much more dangerous on the break and it was Healy who got the crucial second goal on 66 minutes as he got on the end of a through ball from Sean Brogan to calmly round the keeper and roll the ball past the last defender and into an empty net.

Kilmore’s third goal came from Kyle Holmes who got his first for the club as he was quick to react after Fahy failed to clear another set piece on 81 minutes.

Ballyglass look a much improved side on last season and came from a goal down to earn a 7-2 win over Moy Villa. John Durkan had given Villa the lead after only two minutes but Liam Hughes levelled matters for the home team just a minute later. Scott Hamilton gave Ballyglass the lead on 31 minutes and two further goals from Conor Heneghan had Ballyglass firmly in control at the break.

They added another as a Moy Villa defender turned the ball into his own net ten minutes into the second half and it was six 10 minutes later as substitute Kevin Warde scored a minute after entering the field of play.

John Judge hit an excellent free-kick to pull a goal back for Villa before Liam Hughes completed the scoring with 12 minutes remaining.

Ballinrobe Town secured their first win of the season as they struck three late goals to earn a 5-2 win over Kiltimagh/Knock United B despite been down to ten men having used all their substitutes when Jake Mulcahy went off injured with five minutes remaining.

Sean Niland opened the scoring for Kiltimagh/Knock United with a terrific strike from thirty years left Gillen Jennings with no chance in the Ballinrobe goal. Ballinrobe hit back to level the scoring just before the break when centre back Darren McDonnell got on the end of a ball from David Kerr and the away side took the lead early in the second half through Joe Lydon.

Dylan Webb got Kiltimagh/Knock back on level terms with 20 minutes to go and after Ballinrobe had to play the final few minutes with ten men it looked like the home side looked the more likely winners. It didn’t turn out this way as Ballinrobe went back in front on 86 minutes as Darren McDonnell got his second of the day and substitute Liam Burke added two further goals in added time to give Pat O’Sullivan and his Ballinrobe side the perfect start to life in the Premier Division.

- Report courtesy of the Mayo Football League

*Full match reports from all Super League games in tomorrow’s print edition of The Connaught Telegraph.