Aidan O’Shea inspires Breaffy to victory over Ballintubber

Mayo Senior Football Championship

Breaffy 1-16

Ballintubber 0-11

In Clogher

BREAFFY secured their place in the championship knockout stages with a statement of intent in Clogher this afternoon, where a large crowd gathered to witness them defeat the five-time county champions with plenty to spare.

In the absence of the suspended Cillian O’Connor, Ballintubber struggled to find their rhythm and recorded numerous wides.

Breaffy, in contrast, produced an inspired display, with Aidan O’Shea hitting 1-5 of their tally.

The victors scored 1-4 in the first ten minutes, with the game’s only goal coming when an Aidan O’Shea free kick fell short, and Ballintubber goalkeeper Brendan Walsh fumbled the ball into his own net.

Pierce Deane and Davitt Neary were also to the fore for Breaffy, but Ballintubber showed some resilience, with scores from Stephen O’Malley, David McHale and Noel Geraghty, reducing the deficit to 1-8 to 0-7 at halftime.

Ballintubber began the second half with determination and quickly scored two early points through Gavin, including another free. However, they soon lost their momentum and went scoreless for the next 18 minutes..

Breaffy sealed their win with three outstanding scores in added time courtesy of Conor O’Shea and substitute Conor Golden (2) to secure a commanding eight-point victory.

Ballintubber now faces a challenging path ahead, needing a victory over Kilmeena and hoping for a Breaffy win over Aghamore to maintain their quarter-final aspirations.

A full report plus will be carried in Tuesday’s Mayo News Sport.