Byrne frees vital as Aghamore down 'Robe for opening Mayo League win

GAA - MAYO SFL DIVISION TWO

Aghamore 0-14

Ballinrobe 1-5

In Aghamore

In truth, when the cut and trust of the Mayo Club Championships is upon us, this Saturday evening meeting in Aghamore won't be at the forefront of minds in either Ballinrobe or Aghamore.

That said, the home side will take a degree of confidence from the way they went about putting their guests to the sword in this Division Two League encounter.

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The hosts have the long-range kicking of Adam Byrne to thank for this one.

His ability to put the squeeze on Ballinrobe kick-outs as an extra body around the middle, as well as his panache for kicking booming two-pointers, were a big factor in taking the game away from the travelling soldiers before the break.

A Cian O'Connell penalty with five minutes gone in the second half injected a touch of spice for a brief spell. However, the race was run, and both Aghamore and Ballinrobe can look to regroup for Round Two meetings next Saturday with Mayo Gaels and Davitts, respectively.

Mayo hurling star Liam Lavin converted a free to open the scoring on a day where ring-rust took a while to dissipate, before John Enda Flannelly surged up the other end of the turf to equalise.

Ross Egan edged the East Mayo hosts ahead, while Jack O'Connor got in on the act to double the advantage with eleven minutes on the clock.

Cian May converted a first-class '45 from near the left sideline to bring it back to the minimum, but that would be as good as it got for the Robesiders in the opening period, as they failed to trouble the scoreboard operator for the rest of the half.

All too often, they were gobbled up on breaking ball by their senior opponents, while fluidity in attack was hard to come by.

In contrast, Aghamore were clinical when moving the ball to inside forwards and making their maroon-clad opponents pay.

Lavin and O'Connor added more blows, before the deadly accuracy of 'keeper Adam Byrne came to the fore.

His 0-12 tally in last year's Senior Championship made him his side's joint-top scorer, and he was inch-perfect with three two-point frees in a row tonight to push the gap out to four.

O'Connor's third of the evening had the gap out at ten as both teams sought refuge from the cold in the dressing rooms.

Whatever input Ballinrobe manager Eoin Hughes had to say to his charges at the changing of ends seemed to reinvigorate them, and they made the opening statement as May brought the deficit back into single figures.

The Aghamore bench were incensed by the decision of match referee Declan Corcoran to award a free to Ballinrobe for over-carrying.

That chagrin went up a notch when the man in the middle signalled for a penalty to the visitors in the same phase of play.

Cian O'Connell won the penalty, took it himself, and made no mistake in sending Byrne the wrong way and firing into the bottom right corner for his first score of the clash.

Lavin found an apt response to the gap being narrowed to six, before O'Connell added a white flag to his green one.

There was a small chance of a competition breaking out as the final quarter loomed, but the side managed by Paul Hickey did enough to keep any resurgence from the Southerners at bay.

In the end, Aghamore were satisfied with their Saturday evening exploits. Not excellent, but not bad, and with league points on the board as they look towards the waiting adventures.