Cross’ continue winning ways with rout of Burrishoole

Mayo SFL Division 1B – Round 4 

Crossmolina 2-25 

Burrishoole 2-13 

Maggie Chambers in St Tiernan’s Park, Crossmolina 

Crossmolina’s impressive start to the 2025 Mayo SFL continued on Saturday as they maintained their unbeaten league run with a sharp-shooting display against Burrishoole at St Tiernan’s Park. It was a strong all-round showing from the reigning All-Ireland intermediate champions which just proved too much for Burrishoole, who scored two very late goals yet still lost by a dozen points.

From the first whistle, Crossmolina looked sharp. Oisín Deane and Josh Moyles split the posts in the opening two minutes, setting the tone for what was to come. Burrishoole responded through Adam Rehill, thanks to some great play from Michael O’Malley, but Rehill was being closely marshalled by the returning Conor Loftus, who led from the back throughout the game.

By the eighth minute, the Maroons had landed their first major blow. After tidy build-up play through the middle, Oisin Deane came to the fore to slot the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal, giving his side a 1-3 to 0-1 lead. Points followed quickly on both sides; Dylan Flynn, Kobe McDonald and James Maheady added to Crossmolina’s tally, while Rehill, two points, and Fintan McManamon kept Burrishoole in touch.

The hosts were playing free-flowing football. Their attacking intent and sharp passing was carving holes in the opposition’s defence. One of the most impressive feats of Crossmolina’s performance was their spread of ten different scorers throughout the hour. They kicked three further points without reply before the 20-minute mark through Patrick Leddy, Deane and Maheady. A two-pointer from Fintan McManamon offered some resistance, but singles from Cillian Fergus and Maheady extended the hosts lead again.

Fionan Duffy was called into action early after Diarmuid Coggins suffered an injury. Duffy made an instant impact, pointing before the interval, while James Maheady, two, and Burrishoole’s Fintan McManamon both added to their tallies to leave the scoreboard reading 1-14 to 0-8 at half-time.

Burrishoole made a promising start to the second-half, with James McManamon pointing inside the opening minute. However, Crossmolina quickly responded with two scores of their own to restore their advantage. Adam Rehill added his third point of the game, but it was the All-Ireland champions who continued to dominate.

Oisin Deane and James Maheady both found the target before the hosts raised the green flag for the second time. Kobe McDonald burst through the heart of the Burrishoole defence with a powerful run and unselfishly laid the ball off to Maheady, who palmed it into the net to extend the lead.

It was, however, a more evenly matched second period as the Burrishoole defence put in some excellent tackles. James McManamon, who had a fine second-half, kicked a two-pointer for the West Mayo outfit in the 57th minute, but it was quickly cancelled out by a Kobe McDonald two-pointer from a free. Ronan Walsh and Fionan Duffy both raised whites for Crossmolina as the game was all but wrapped up.

Burrishoole showed some late fight. Rehill and Colin Guilfoyle found the back net in the 56th and 58th minutes after some lapses of concentration in the Crossmolina defence. However, these goals only flattered the scoreline.

Fionan Duffy got the final point as the North Mayo side closed out an extremely impressive performance.

Scorers – Crossmolina; James Maheady 1-0-8 (3fs), Oisin Deane 1-0-4, Kobe McDonald 0-1-1 (1tpf), Fionan Duffy 0-0-3, Dylan Flynn 0-0-2, Josh Moyles, Patrick Leddy, Cillian Fergus, Mikie Loftus, and Ronan Walsh 0-0-1 each.

Burrishoole; Adam Rehill 1-0-4 (1f), Fintan McManamon 0-1-3 (1f), James McManamon 0-1-2, Colin Guilfoyle 1-0-0.

Crossmolina: Patrick Loftus; Diarmuid Fox, Conor Loftus, Kevin Mulhern; Mikie Loftus, Josh Moyles, Sean Og McGuiness; Patrick Leddy, Cillian Fergus; Dylan Flynn, Kobe McDonald, Diarmuid Coggins; Kevin Keane, James Maheady, Oisin Deane. Subs: Fionan Duffy (for Coggins 17), Ronan Walsh (for Leddy ht), Danny McDonald (for Loftus 41), Fergal Gill (for McGuinness 43), Adam Mills (for K McDonald 53).

Burrishoole; Eoin Mullarkey; Charlie Brown, Patrick Rowland, David Nevin; Patrick Cannon, Colin Guilfoyle, Caolan Moran; Michael O’Malley, James McManamon; Aaron McDermott, Adam Rehill, Jay Ryder; Liam McNulty, Fintan McManamon, Eoghan Wright. Subs: Cillian Murphy (for Mullarkey ht), Joseph Hughes McLoughlin (for Ryder 38), Diarmuid McNulty (for L McNulty 45), Dillon Coughlan (for Moran 47), James Walsh (for Nevin 51).

REF: John Walker (Cill Chomain)