April 21st 2019 - Mayo Junior Football Championship Round 1
Ballintubber 2-13 Killala 1-8
Our juniors got their Championship campaign off to a superb start today with a thoroughly convincing win over Killala. The young side which lined out today (nearly all under the age of 25 and with two still Minor) coupled with the experienced heads of the likes of Kevin Shannon, Stephen Broderick and former Senior captain Tom Earley, had this one all but wrapped up at half-time. With Finian Burke and Noel and Hugh Geraghty all having featured for the seniors the day before, this was a proper 15-man performance from Michael Kerrigan’s men. Despite hitting somewhat of a lull in the second half in the face of a notorious Atlantic breeze our lads had this one all but wrapped up at half-time with a tally of 2-7 compared to a single point for the hosts.
We made a statement straight out of the traps when rookie corner-forward Alan McHale delivered a lovely lateral kick to Matthew Fox, who proceeding to fire home our first goal of the game. From there we took advantage of the wind and reeled off seven more unanswered scores. The Geraghty brothers were in fine form, helping themselves to four points between them while midfielder David McHale also split the posts. Alan McHale then turned scorer, landing his tally of 1-2 in eleven minutes. His goal came when Matthew Fox returned McHale’s earlier favour by setting him up with a fisted pass which he eventually rifled home along the ground.
At the other end, a rare positive moment for Killala anti-climaxed when David Lowther hit a penalty kick to the left and wide of Niall Staunton’s goal. They did tap over a simple free in the final minute of the half, leaving them to trail by 12 points at half time with no way back in sight.
We kept up the momentum early in the second half, with Hugh Geraghty landing two very impressive frees into the breeze while David McHale and full-forward Darragh McGovern landed a point each. Killala were then denied a genuine goal chance when Niall Staunton smothered a shot on goal before John Kerrigan deflected the rebound out for a ’45. The North Mayo men then proceeded to land 1-2 without reply. Their only goal came when Stephen Broderick made a rare mistake in giving away the ball before it ended up in the back of the our net after only two passes.
However, Ballintubber’s adopted son made amends four minutes later with a fine point down at the other end. Noel Geraghty added our final score from a free while brother Hugh was unfortunate to get sent off. However there was no way back for the home side as we would prevail by an eight-point winning margin.
Ballintubber team that lined out: (1)Niall Staunton (2)Jack Walsh (3)Kevin Shannon (4)Finian Burke (5)Gavin Roache (6)Tom Earley (7)John Kerrigan (19)David McHale (0-2) (9)Stephen Broderick (0-1) (10)Noel Geraghty (0-4, 2f) (11)Hugh Geraghty (0-3, 3f) (12)Jarlath Staunton (13)Matthew Fox (1-0) (14)Darragh McGovern (0-1) (15)Alan McHale (1-2, 1f)
Substitutions used: Aaron Lally for Finian Burke, Dean Loftus for Darragh McGovern