Six talking points from the opening round of the Mayo Club Championship
Ballaghaderreen's Cian Hanley in possession as Knockmore's Darren McHale approaches. Ballagh' caused a mighty shock in beating the 2020 and 2021 senior champions. Picture: SJ Walsh Photography
It is hard to draw conclusions after one round has been played but some of the those deemed ‘favourites’ before a ball was kicked will be hoping for a vast improvement going forward with many playing well below par.
Knockmore and Castlebar Mitchels both failed to make winning starts in this year’s Senior Championship with the former beaten by Ballaghaderreen and the latter being held by Charlestown. Next up for Knockmore is a home tie with Claremorris, who will be buoyed by hitting 21 points against Belmullet while Castlebar face a tough trip to Garrymore, who did the hard work early on with two goals in five minutes against Ballyhaunis.
Westport beat Balla as expected but the two-point margin of victory was surely one of the standout results of the weekend from a Balla perspective; many had expected them to get trounced. It suggests two things; Balla have improved or Westport have to improve.
Ballintubber struggled to a draw against Aghamore which was to be expected in the absence of Cillian O’Connor and his brother Diarmuid from the starting XV, although DOC was brought on late on.
Ballina Stephenites performed as expected and dispatched Mayo Gaels well.
17-year-old Claremorris forward Darragh Beirne is being touted as a star of the future after his 0-7 display (0-5 from play) against Belmullet.
He had a quiet enough first half against the men from the Barony but really came into his own in the second half, hitting scores expertly off his left boot.
His point in the 57th minute exemplified his performance and showed a level of skill beyond his young years. Beirne received a pass from Darragh Joyce about 25 metres from goal and Belmullet’s Colin Barrett tried to pounce but Beirne sold him an outrageous dummy to buy himself more than enough space to send a left-footed effort between the posts.
It was arguably the standout attacking performance in the senior Championship over the weekend and Beirne appears to be the cream of the crop amidst a really strong group of young players in Claremorris at the moment, Rio Mortimer, Niall Hurley and Paul Gilmore to name but a few.
As mentioned, Knockmore struggled against Ballaghaderreen and that was more about the Ballagh’ performance than the Knockmore performance.
In the last couple of years, it had felt as though Ballaghaderreen had fallen down the pecking order, particularly after the retirement of talisman Andy Moran and successive failures to reach the latter stages after reaching the 2019 Moclair Cup Final.
Sunday’s results has cast aspersions on that perspective and Ballaghaderreen have now put the whole county on notice with a seriously impressive performance that would have made the late John O’Mahony extremely proud.
Kuba Callaghan hit 0-8, including four from play and the performance of Sharoize Akram caught the eye. It takes a big effort to breach Knockmore, one of the more defensively sound teams in the Senior Championship but a big effort was put in by Tomas Morley’s side; the manager praised the ‘pure grit’ his team showed in our match report on the following pages.
The 2023 Mayo Senior Club Championship was accused of being a bit on the boring side throughout and that is really a matter of perspective.
From a scoring statistics point of view, things are looking a bit more positive when compared to the first round last year. A quick crunch of the numbers show that 7-161 was scored in the eight games of round 1 of the 2023 SFC in Mayo, a total of 182 points.
That has risen this year to 11-196, a total of 229 points. We have seen an overall increase of 4-35, or 47 points or if you want to talk percentages, about a 25% increase.
Whether that data suggests better forwards or leakier defences will become clearer as the Championship progresses but it is a positive step if you enjoy your football on the attacking side. When we get to the business end of the competition, it can be expected that teams will play more cautiously and try to win at all costs.
But this tally coming on a weekend when Ryan O’Donoghue (scorer of 2-20 in last year’s competition) and intercounty football’s all-time leading scorer Cillian O’Connor did not play indicates that we are in for a vastly improved Championship in terms of entertainment value.
There was no result in the Intermediate Championship that caught too many by surprise, perhaps the margin of Hollymount/Carramore’s victory against Kiltimagh, a point, was one of few. Kiltimagh had a torrid 2023 and are keen to get moving in the right direction again; remember, this is a team who contested the 2020 Intermediate final.
There were some good battles up and down the IFC but a lot of one-sided results as well. Crossmolina had a seven-point win over neighbours Lahardane and in the same group, Moy Davitts hit three goals in a four-point win over Louisburgh.
A late Mitchels ‘B’ penalty put a lot of gloss on a four-point defeat to Davitts and Kilmaine pulled away to pick a six-point win over Kiltane.
Parke and Ballinrobe played out an entertaining draw, a real good game of football that already has punters anticipating the two running it back later down the line in the competition, should they progress.
Ardnaree enjoyed a three-point win over The Neale, a good win to get on the board after struggles in the last few years while in the same group, Burrishoole squeezed past Islandeady.
Cill Chomain put in a dogged defensive display to overcome Swinford in a low-scoring game while Bonniconlon overcame some early hoodoo to beat Kilmovee Shamrocks. They hit a frankly astounding seven wides in the first eight minutes against Shamrocks but had more than enough firepower to secure the win.
The fairytale continues for the amalgamated Northern Gaels. After beating Shrule/Glencorrib in the opening round, they marched on with another big win away to Ballycroy. Shrule’s season took another bad turn after a surprise defeat to Tourmakeady.
Killala versus Achill was the sleeper hit of the weekend. A hugely entertaining game that attracted an unbelievable crowd was won by the home side in the end, thanks to goals from Sean Gildea and Iarla Quinn. Eastern Gaels lived up to the favourites tag so many have placed on them; the Brickens-based outfit went up to Ballycastle and stormed to an eleven-point victory.
