SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP 2019 GAME 1

April 13th 2019 
Mayo Senior Football Championship
Ballintubber 0-18 Hollymount 1-3
Our defence of the Moclair Cup has gotten off to the perfect start in “The Saucer” today with an emphatic victory over Hollymount/Carramore. Leading by four points at half time we completely controlled the game in the second half, so much so that apart from a solitary Robert Molloy effort at the death, the home side failed to score in the second half. Fine displays in the Red and White jersey were too numerous to name, as we were on top in every single department. Mayo football was given a huge lift when Cillian O’Connor strode onto the pitch in the second half, chipping in with a point and was very unlucky not to finish with a goal. 
Playing with a powerful breeze at our backs we clocked up six unanswered points through Ciaran Gavin, Diarmuid O’Connor, Stephen O’Malley and Michael Plunkett in the first twenty minutes. Having struggled to seriously get going, the home side started to make a game of it when Kevin Feerick blasted home a goal and a point. A point from Darren Coen briefly brought it back to a one-point game. Indeed, it would prove to be one of the only occasions on which he bested Gary Loftus, who marshalled the Mayo panellist superbly all afternoon. A pair of points from Alan Dillon (including one superb score from distance) and a single from Stephen O’Malley left the scores at 0-9 to 1-2 in our favour at the break.
If anything, Kevin Johnson’s men went up a few gears facing into a formidable second half breeze. Our domination of possession and midfield was almost total, as Hollymount/Carramore could scarcely lay a glove on us at times. All nine of our second-half points were reeled off with barely as much as a whimper from the home side, who rarely even came close to scoring. Stephen O’Malley and Keelan McDonnell landed early points before D’OC split the posts with a screamer from a distance that beggared belief.
Mid-way through the second half and with the result all but secured, Padraic O’Connor made way for younger brother Cillian who got to work immediately. His first major contribution came when he shook the side netting of the opposition goalmouth with a serious attempt on goal. Another pair of points from Stephen O’Malley followed before Mayo’s leading point-scorer raised his first white flag of the year. Indeed, the Cranmore marksman might’ve made it a perfect comeback when yet another goal attempt walloped off the crossbar before finding its way to Jason Gibbons who settled for a point.
The hosts had been kept scoreless for an entire 31 minutes before Robert Molloy pointed a consolation, the only blot on what was an otherwise seriously impressive performance from our Seniors. 
Ballintubber team that lined out: (1)Tom McGing (2)Gary Loftus (3)Joe Geraghty (4)Myles Kelly (5)Damien Coleman (6)Michael Plunkett (0-1) (7)Ruadhri O’Connor (8)Jason Gibbons (0-1) (9)Diarmuid O’Connor (0-3, 1’45) (10)Ciarán Gavin (0-2, 2f) (11)Alan Dillon (0-3) (12)Keelan McDonnell (0-2) (13)Padraic O’Connor (14)Alan Plunkett (15)Stephen O’Malley (0-5, 2f)
Substitutions used: Brian Walsh for Ciarán Gavin (half-time), Jamsie Finnerty for Joe Geraghty (inj.), Cillian O’Connor (0-1) for Padraic O’Connor
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