Mayo teams march on in FAI Junior Cup 

CASTLEBAR Celtic, Ballyheane, and Westport United all came home victorious after long away trips in the latest round of the FAI Junior Cup. 

One goal was the winning margin for all three Mayo teams on their respective trips outside Connacht in Round 4 of Ireland’s premier junior soccer tournament over the weekend. 

Castlebar Celtic banished the ghosts of their last FAI Junior Cup game in Limerick when they secured a 2-1 win over Aisling Annacotty. 

The reigning Connacht Cup champions saw their last FAI Junior Cup campaign ended by another Limerick side, Pike Rovers, the last time Stevie Gavin travelled to the Treaty County. 

This time, they reversed their fortunes after a cracking game of football that was decided by two goals from star striker Jordan Loftus. 

Aisling Annacotty did themselves no favours when they lost winger Leon Daly to a second yellow card in the 38th minute. 

The hosts matched the Hoops for much of the game, but once the visitors took the lead they never looked like relinquishing it.

Celtic broke the deadlock on 51 minutes when Jason Hunt’s corner kick was met superbly by Jordan Loftus.

The same two players combined again fifteen minutes later to double the visitors’ lead when Hunt was upended in the box. Loftus stepped up and blasted home the resulting spot-kick.

Aisling Annacotty continued to poke and prod and got a consolation goal in injury time when Joel Coustrain played Conor Coughlin through to slip the ball home.

“We learned our lesson from last year,” Castlebar Celtic manager told The Mayo News. “We didn’t play for the first 45 minutes and we left the half behind us and you can’t do that against teams like Pike [Rovers] or Aisling Annacotty. Right from the first whistle, we were at it and we hit our levels, that was a big difference, so it was important that we learned our lesson, that we progressed as a team and we learned our lesson and we progressed in the competition.

“We had confidence and belief in ourselves and we had a gameplan and the lads executed it perfectly. We’ve had a great year in Mayo and we’re provincial champions and this is the national competition, we wanted to put our best foot forward and progress in it,” added Gavin. 

Elsewhere in the competition, Celtic’s neighbours Ballyheane journeyed east to north Co Dublin where they overcame Donaghamede-based Ayrfield United with a 3-2 win. 

Ashley Stevenson’s man went behind in the 16th minute but went ahead before half-time thanks to strikes from Alan Hegarty and Mayo star Ben Edeh. 

The hosts levelled again when centre-back Ian Sandford bagged his second goal. However, Dylan Stevenson struck the winner for Ballyheane mere minutes later and the 2021 and 2022 Mayo Super League champions held on for the win. 

Westport United’s cup trek to Carlow town ended with a 1-0 victory courtesy of a Darren Browne strike.