Joe Brolly’s Knockmore off to winning start in Mayo League opener

LGFA - MAYO SENIOR LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

Knockmore 3-8

Castlebar Mitchels 0-7

In St Joseph’s Park

Knockmore, under the tutelage of new manager Joe Brolly, took their first steps to avenging their painful loss to Westport in last year’s Mayo Senior Championship final off to a fine start on Sunday afternoon.

The women from under the shadows of the Ox Mountains are hell-bent on stopping what could prove to be a juggernaut of a Westport side in their tracks.

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They will be hoping that the addition of one of the most recognisable faces in Gaelic games can help spur them on to bring the Jimmy Corbett Cup back to the shores of Lough Conn at the end of the season.

Their opening game of the league season may not have been sparkling, but it didn’t need to be.

It may be a lot of the same faces on the field, but the new players in the dugout will see the league as an invaluable opportunity to implement their masterplan to dethrone Pop Geraghty’s sky blue army when championship comes around.

In the end, Knockmore got the result they were after. Some shone, some didn’t, but in a results business, they did the business against a Castlebar side who showed healthy signs in spells.

Unlike in most their home championship games last season, Knockmore spent the first half playing into the ferocious wind blowing down the field.

Often, they found themselves overplaying and forcing the goal option, where they were crowded out by an excellent defensive first-half display by the Mitchels, with Kathryn Sullivan at their core.

Lara Sweeney opened the account for the saffron and blue within three minutes, and the first goal chance came soon after.

Amy ’Goals’ O’Connor may have rattled the net eleven times in last year’s Championship, but she had to settle for a point on this occasion as her rasper was tipped over by Ava Murray.

Gráinne Flynn offered a retort to half the deficit, but the county town contingent were unable to repel the next three-point effort. Sarah Mulvihill strolled up the field, and within seconds Sweeney was rattling the onion bag.

Emma Keane and Lara Sweeney exchanged singles, before Lucy Molloy left just the seventh-minute green flag in it.

While some early ring rust could be seen at the top end of the park, the back division for last year’s county finalists was exemplary in snarling at the heels of any Castlebar attacker who dared cross their path.

Mitchels were excellent in snuffing out the majority of the Knockmore attacking threat, however they were powerless to stop O’Connor in minute 25, when some slick interplay saw her roll the leather along the carpet to widen the chasm at the changeover.

O’Connor raised a white flag after the changeover, before two tried-and-tested Knockmore techniques bore fruit to maximum effect.

The first was a tight squeeze on the opposition kickout against the breeze. The second was feeding O’Connor, who rattled the net to give Mitchels a mountain to climb.

Hannah Reape, among the Mayo players cleared to line out for their clubs, got in on the act, while O’Connor and Emma Keane traded blows on the scoreboard.

Brolly and his backroom ran the bench in the second half, handing minutes to players, including a debut for county underage star Emily Coleman.

Before the full-time whistle shrilled, the opening league points were secured, and Knockmore's season was off and running.

A report will be carried in Tuesday’s edition of The Mayo News.