Aghamore and Ballintubber share the spoils

SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GROUP 1

Aghamore 0-12

Ballintubber 1-9

AGHAMORE

A late point from Ciaran Gavin saw Ballintubber come away with a hard-fought draw from their visit to East Mayo on Saturday evening.

On an emotional day for the East Mayo men, as they remembered their late teammate James McNieve, Liam Lavin almost led them to a famous victory over the five-time senior champions.

Aghamore led from the third minute all the way to injury time and will feel it was a point left behind rather than a point gained such was their performance. They were five up at one stage in the first-half despite playing against an ever-strengthening breeze.

Lavin excelled at corner forward, hitting eight points, six of them coming from play, as he was almost unstoppable throughout.

Gavin had a similar impact for Ballintubber, hitting four points from play and a free, filling the sizeable hole left by the absence of Cillian O’Connor due to suspension.

Michael Plunkett’s 35th minute goal brought Ballintubber roaring into the contest at a time when it looked to be going away from them, but both sides found it difficult to score in the second-half. Aghamore went 15 minutes without a score and Ballintubber took even longer. All of this made for an exciting finish.

It looked like a Lavin point in the 49th minute was going to be enough to win the game for Aghamore but late scores from Diarmuid O’Connor, a second-half substitute, and Gavin meant the spoils were shared.

Lavin, Brendan Harrison and Tom O’Flaherty impressed the large crowd for Aghamore while Gavin, Michael Plunkett and Diarmuid O’Connor were best on show for Tom Mulderrig’s side.

A full report will be published in Tuesday’s Mayo News.