Last Sunday, Outside the Box made its way along to Ballyglass for the clash of the top two in the Premier A division and did not leave disappointed, as Swinford held out against their hosts to record a 3-2 win and send them top of the table by two points. The game itself was the proverbial game of two halves with Swinford looking home and hosed 10 minutes before half time after going into a 3-0 lead, but the straight red card needlessly picked up by midfielder Padraig Noone just before the break turned the game on its head. Up to that point Val Kenny’s men had been bossing the game with their number nine Alan Carter the main man on the pitch, scoring two goals and causing all kinds of problems for Tom Connolly’s side.
The second half saw Ballyglass throw everything at their visitors and two goals in seven minutes between the 53rd to 72nd minutes from Ballyglass sub Alan Plunkett set up a frantic finish, where Ballyglass went close on a number of occasions through Plunkett, Scott Hamilton, and Danny Broderick, but they were not able to find the third goal they needed to rescue the point. Both sides are due to meet again in Swinford in round 17 of the league at the end of August, and if they keep up their previous form it is sure to be an exciting day in east Mayo. The win put Swinford two points clear at the top with 20 points, and saw Ballyglass joined on 18 points by Conn Rangers thanks to the north Mayo men’s 3-1 win over Killala on Saturday night. The Rangers this weekend will be away to fifth place Partry Athletic, while Swinford host Castlebar Celtic B, and Ballyglass will expect to get back on the winning track when they face bottom of the table Urlar United away.
Tight contests all
around in round eight
It was business as usual on Saturday night for the league leaders in the Elverys Sports Super League, Westport United, who were made work hard for their three points against a dogged Manulla team in Carramore. But Dave Hoban’s goal was enough to see his side pick up their eighth win out of eight games in the league. Second placed Ballina Town picked up their fifth win thanks to a 3-1 win over Ballyheane in Quigley Park. Brendan Lavelle put the visitors into the lead against the run of play 38 minutes in, and Paul O’Boyle put them two clear with a finish from the inside the box on 57 minutes. The game was finished off when Dara O’Boyle swept home his side’s third goal 25 minutes from time and even though Ballyheane pulled one back through Chris Maughan they could not close the gap any more before the end.
Moy Villa moved into fourth place in the table with a 4-3 over a battling Fahy Rovers side in Attymass The hosts came from 3-2 behind to score goals from Barry Molloy (who had started the game in goal before being thrown up front ) and Stephen Melvin.
Castlebar Celtic picked up their third win in the league thanks to an injury time winner from Ronan O’Boyle which saw them beat Charlestown Athletic 4-3. Celtic led 3-1 at the break, but the home team battled back to pull the game level before O’Boyle broke their hearts at the death. Iorras Aontaithe picked up their first win of the season last weekend as they try to pull themselves away from the relegation trap door. Their meeting with Straide and Foxford was another seven goal thriller in a contest that saw three spot kicks awarded.
