Breaffy settle an old score to leave ‘Tubber in trouble

Mayo SFC Group 1 – Round 2 

Breaffy 1-16 

Ballintubber 0-11 

Nathan Guilfoyle in Ray Prendergast Memorial Park 

Ballintubber have largely dictated this rivalry with Breaffy, especially in club championship meetings, however, the script was well and truly flipped on Sunday as the home side received a trimming. Played in front of a huge crowd anticipating a great spectacle, it’s fair to say this was anything but that. Breaffy turned up, played the game on their own terms and bullied Ballintubber from start to finish, in stunning fashion.

With two-time Connacht U17 winning manager Sean Deane now at the helm, taking over mid-season from James Fallon, Breaffy were inspired throughout, making it now five wins on the bounce in Deane’s tenure. This was certainly the most impressive.

Breaffy were excellent and if not spectacular, then ruthlessly efficient and worked tirelessly throughout. There were strong performances all over the field, from Robbie Fadden and James Minogue in defence, Mattie Ruane in midfield, and Aidan O’Shea, Davitt Neary and Pierce Deane spearheading a super attack. O’Shea was the game’s best player and top scorer, with 1-5 to his name.

In contrast, Ballintubber were toothless in attack and kicked numerous wides, badly missing Cillian O’Connor through suspension. They played with the breeze at their backs during the first-half but were lacking in ideas going forward, while Breaffy were clinical and enjoyed the majority of possession around the middle of the park.

Ciaran Gavin kicked a free to open the scoring for Ballintubber but Breaffy hit them back with 1-4 in the opening 10 minutes. Aidan O’Shea, who was marked at full-back for the first-half by Bryan Walsh, kicked two points, one from play and one from a free, before Davitt Neary danced through the defence to kick a great score. Breaffy got their goal in bizarre fashion when an O’Shea free dropped short on top of goalkeeper Brendan Walsh, only for Walsh to spill the ball into his own goal.

James Minogue put his side six points up with a great point from corner-back to end the first quarter.

Ballintubber chose to operate Jason Gibbons on the edge of the Breaffy square in the opening exchanges and badly missed his physicality in the middle. They did stop the rot with a free apiece from Gavin and Stephen O’Malley before Gavin got another score after his goal-bound shot was deflected smartly over by the impressive Breaffy goalkeeper John Vahey.

Breaffy were superior however, and Neary got his second point soon after, before Pierce Deane kicked three excellent scores, including two frees, to put Breaffy seven points up with five minutes to go in the first-half.

Ballintubber enjoyed a purple patch soon after however, and finished the half strongly through scores from O’Malley, David McHale and Noel Geraghty, to trail 1-8 to 0-7 at the interval.

Ballintubber came out of the second-half looking to extend their purple patch and they did, through two early Ciaran Gavin scores, including a pointed free. However, they then went 18 minutes without a score.

Breaffy took over the control of the game and brought in Mayo U20 wing-back Yousif Coghill from the bench, who added extra energy to their play.

Tommy O’Reilly and Aidan O’Shea pushed the gap back out to four points and the gap kept growing, through further scores from O’Shea, two, and Pierce Deane.

Ballintubber never gave up and had closing scores from Gavin and substitute Jamesie Finnerty, and also had numerous wides down the stretch. But a comeback never really looked like it was going to happen and they simply couldn’t get through the excellent defensive structure that Breaffy deployed.

The Blues ended the game with three super scores in stoppage time, from Conor O’Shea and substitute Conor Golden, two.

Last year’s county finalists have reminded everyone that they have not gone away, with two wins in their opening two games. Ballintubber will now have to beat Kilmeena and hope Aghamore lose to Breaffy in order to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Scorers – Breaffy: Aidan O’Shea 1-5 (0-3fs), Pierce Deane 0-4 (2f), Conor Golden and Davitt Neary 0-2 each, Conor O’Shea, Tommy O’Reilly and James Minogue 0-1 each.

Ballintubber: Ciaran Gavin 0-6 (4f), Stephen O’Malley 0-2f, David McHale, Noel Geraghty and Jamesie Finnerty 0-1 each.

Ballintubber: Brendan Walsh; Jack Walsh, Brian Murphy, Michael Plunkett; Conor Finnerty, Gavin Murphy, Noel Geraghty; Jason Gibbons, David McHale; Ciaran Gavin, Bryan Walsh, Diarmuid O’Connor; John Kerrigan, Joe Geraghty, Stephen O’Malley. Subs: Joe Geraghty (for Finnerty ht), Jamesie Finnerty (for N Geraghty 39), Gary Loftus (for Walsh 39), Jack Prendergast (for McHale 48), Eoghan Breslin (for J Geraghty 60).

Breaffy: John Vahey; Conor Melly, Mark Dervan, James Minogue; David Livingstone, Robbie Fadden, Keith Mulchrone; Niall Carter, Matthew Ruane; Aidan Cunningham, Conor O’Shea, Davitt Neary; Tommy O’Reilly, Aidan O’Shea, Pierce Deane. Subs: Yousif Coghill (for Mulchrone 33), Conor Golden (for Livingstone 44), Gavyn McManamon (for Cunningham 48), Ben Murphy (for O’Reilly 48), Paul McDermott (for Neary 56).

REF: Jerome Henry (Castlebar Mitchels)