Ballintubber hold off Kilmeena to secure opening day win

FOOTBALL MAYO SENIOR LEAGUE DIVISION 1B

Kilmeena 2-11

Ballintubber 1-15

St Brendan's Park, Kilmeena

A game that seemed to be meandering towards a comfortable conclusion ended in a welter of excitement when Kilmeena launched a late charge to almost overhaul a Ballintubber team who had looked to be on course to a solid victory. In the end it took a late point from substitute Matthew Fox to hold off the quickly-closing Clew Bay boys.

Ballintubber had the better of the first half and shoud have enjoyed a greater advanatge than the 0-8 to 0-4 lead they had at the interval. Full-forward Stephen O'Malley was the star of the show with Ciaran Gavin and Jason Gibbons also getting on the scoresheet.

Caolach Halligan and Johnny McGlynn were Kilmeena's scorers but Ballintubber pulled further clear in the third quarter when the men in red were much more efficent in front of goal as the home side struggled with their application at the other end.

Ballintubber were doing the simple things well while Kilmeena were missing chances and turning over possession at crucial moments.

A well-taken goal from Gavin after 47 minutes left Ballintubber almost out of sight as the Abbeysiders enjoyed a 1-13 to 0-7 lead. However, Kilmeena slowly came to life thanks to a much more competitive edge around the middle. McGlynn kicked two points before Halligan almost burst the net with a goal shot after 57 minutes.

That closed the gap to five, 1-14 to 1-9, and it got even better for the home boys two minutes later when Joey Smyth lashed the ball to the net after fine play from Darragh Keaveney and Sean Ryder.

The healthy crowd were loving the excitement, but Ballintubber were in no mood to be caught. They swept forward for Fox to put three between the teams in the opening minute of injury time but Kilmeena refused to throw in the towel.

They moved the ball up the pitch for McGlynn and Conor Kelly to kick points and leave just one between them before time ran out and left Ballintubber with two well-earned league points to their credit.