Visitors record impressive victory in Mayo intermediate football championship

Ballinrobe got their Mayo intermediate football championship campaign back on track after they defeated The Neale 0-19 to 0-12 in Cong.

This Group 2 fixture drew a large attendance to the picturesque venue for what was an eagerly awaited south Mayo derby clash.

The Neale notched the opening score of the contest inside the first minute through a point from play by Robbie Hughes, however, a fine two-pointer free from Sequoyah Duffy shunted the visitors into a slender lead after just two minutes.

Ballinrobe continued to make inroads and four points on the spin from the sharp-shooting Cian O’Connell (two frees) helped muster a 0-6 to 0-3 lead for the maroon and yellow after 13 minutes.

The locals began to win some breaking ball and an awesome two-pointer from near the side-line by Mayo star Tommy Conroy helped reduce the deficit to just a point (0-7 to 0-6) after 23 minutes.

The Robesiders could well have added a goal during the first half, however both Joe Burke and Aaron Crowley were left ruing their luck, with the latter’s effort flying inches over the crossbar.

The Neale’s Tom Lydon landed a free just before the break, however, Ballinrobe were the happier at the interval as they held a slender 0-9 to 0-7 lead.

Aided by a strong breeze during the second half, Ballinrobe gradually began to force turnovers, and this helped set up four points on the spin from Crowley, Burke (2), and O’Connell.

Lydon tried to salvage the situation for The Neale, and he added three points (two frees), but there was to be no denying Ballinrobe and Kevin Quinn’s two-pointer mustered a commanding 0-17 to 0-11 lead for his team-mates after 49 minutes.

Ballinrobe closed out the game impressively and they will take plenty of positives from this performance.