Beirne's babes battle their way to big Mayo club win
Niall Hurley stars as Claremorris come out of the shadows to win on the road
MAYO SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Claremorris 3-11
Kilmeena 0-13
In St Brendan’s Park, Kilmeena
THEY came into this one as understrength, underdogs, but Claremorris left West-Mayo this evening with a clear and deserved seven-point win.
The boys in blue were missing a number of front-liners, including injured All-Ireland hero, Darragh Beirne, but they out-fought and out-thought the home side who had Jack Carney trying his heart out in the middle of the field.
Niall Hurley was the star of the show. The Claremorris full-forward scored a goal after 20 seconds and ended the game with an impressive 2-5 to his name.
However, the Claremorris victory was built on a savage work-ethic all over the pitch with numerous men coming to the fore all evening. Dara Hurley, James McCormack, Cathal Joyce, David O’Reilly and a myriad of others were instrumental in the success.
Kilmeena found themselves eight down after 15 minutes, but produced a fine second quarter against the wind to close the gap significantly before a two-pointer from Conor McGuinness just before the interval left the guests four clear at the break,
The home side hoped for a wind-assisted comeback after the resumption, but the Hurley brothers were on fire and after 45 minutes Kevin Beirne’s ravenous side were well clear 3-9 to 0-8.
Kilmeena had chances to get back into contention, but forced their attacking play and were wayward in front of the posts.
Darragh Keaveney, John McGlynn and Caolach Halligan kicked late points for the home side, but there was no catching Claremorris who deservedly got their campaign off to a flying start.
A full match report and reaction will be carried in Tuesday’s Mayo News.