Knockmore enjoy Bank Holiday

Knockmore enjoy Bank Holiday

DIVISION 1B
Knockmore0-12
Castlebar 0-11

SEAN RICE
CASTLEBAR

THE vigilance of Brian Gibbons denied Castlebar Mitchels a winning goal five minutes from the end of this first round league tie at MacHale Park on Monday. To Dwayne Flynn fell the chance to send the Mitchels into the lead for the first time, but as his partially blocked kick rolled menacingly towards the net, substitute Gibbons came to Knockmore’s rescue with a timely sweeping clearance.
Castlebar, with the help of the wind, were trailing by two points at the time. For the previous ten minutes they tested the Knockmore defence with high probing balls. But the visitors met every attack with some ferocious tackling, and while the home team cut the lead to a single point, Knockmore deserved their one-point lead at the end.
Trailing by four points at the interval, the home team looked set for victory in this opening match of their league campaign. Against the howling North wind they showed an appetite for the game, had been on level terms after eighteen minutes and had used the ball intelligently.
Only a couple of minutes had passed in the second half before Barry Moran and Sean Ryder cut two points off their deficit . Everything was in place for victory.
But with the grit for which they are famous, Knockmore grew bolder and more determined, and slowly stifled Castlebar’s first half fluency. A brilliant performance by Aidan Kilcoyne inspired the visitors. The Mayo star scored eight points, all but two from frees.
The football in general was poor but in the arctic conditions it was difficult to control the swirling ball. Both teams played better against the gale, and you would have fancied Castlebar after the first twenty minutes.
They lost Colm Gavin in the early minutes through injury, and were it not for a fine save by goalkeeper Niall Canavan from Barry Moran, the visitors might have found themselves trailing in the opening minutes.
But Kilcoyne had the opening score from a free in the 8th minute, and that was matched by a prodigious kick against the gale by Richie Feeney. Kilcoyne shot Knockmore ahead on two further occasions, but each time his score was neutralised by Dwane Flynn and Alan Joyce.
Alan Butler fired the visitors into the lead once more in the 24th minute, and for the first time Kilcoyne put them two ahead, added a further brace with his immaculate place-kicking, before Patrick McHale, a former Ballina player, secured their eighth point just before the interval.
Richie Feeney did pull one back for the Mitchels from a free, and while four points – 0-8 to 0-4 – divided them at the interval, Castlebar must have been hopeful that with the wind behind them they could overcome that lead.
But after Moran and Ryder reduced the lead to two points, they failed to find their first-half rhythm. Damien Munnelly  may have had a hand in that. Inspirationally, he wormed his way along the end line to score a dramatic point, and Knockmore were visibly renewed.
The same player restored Knockmore’s half-time lead a couple of minutes later, and Castlebar were fighting it more difficult to find the posts. For long periods, the home side were on top, and it was no fault of Rory O’Grady or Ronan Burke, or Alan Joyce, or Alan Feeney in defence that they were unable to translate that edge into scores.
But the Knockmore defence was all fired up. Super performances by Dermot Keane, John Brogan, Kevin McLoughlin, Darren Reape and Trevor Howley denied Castlebar the room to create the vital scores.
Points by Diarmuid Byrne and Alan Nolan brought the Mitchels some hope, but Kilcoyne had Knockmore ahead by three by the 25th minute. Just after Alan Nolan reduced the lead once more to two points Dwayne Flynn’s goal effort was dramatically cleared by Gibbons, but Alan Joyce did manage to shrink the lead to a singly point three minutes before the end.
Foolishly, Castlebar did conceded a free, and with Kilcoyne in such devastating form a score was inevitable. And although Nolan reduced the lead to one, no time remained for a further offensive.

Knockmore
N. Canavan; D. Keane, J. Brogan, K. McLoughlin; P. Clarke, D. Reape, T. Howley; G. Higgins, J. Ruddy; C. Butler, A. Butler (0-1), D. Sweeney; P. McHale (0-1), D. Munnelly (0-2), A. Kilcoyne (0-8).
Castlebar Mitchels
R. Byrne; J Conlon, A. Feeney, P. Healy; A. Joyce (0-2), R. O’Grady, R. Burke; S. Fitzmaurice, B. Moran (0-1); R. Feeney (0-2), S. Reilly, S.Ryder (0-1); C. Gavin, K. Filan, A. Nolan (0-3).
Subs used: D. Flynn (0-1) for C. Gavin; D. Byrne (0-1) for K. Filan; E. Kennedy for S. Reilly.
Referee: M Murphy (Ballinrobe)