Mayo Super League title race set for dramatic finale

Castlebar Celtic continued their quest for the Super League title after they recorded a convincing 6-1 victory at home to Ballyheane. The star of the show for Castlebar was hat-trick hero Dylan Edwards, who posed Ballyheane plenty of problems over the 90 minutes.

The torrential rain during the first half made playing conditions difficult for both sides, however, Castlebar seemed to make better use of the extra zip on the playing surface.

Celtic took the lead after 11 minutes, when a neat lay-off from Aidan McHale set up Dylan Edwards and the latter applied a simple close-range finish.

Ballyheane almost levelled matters, but Liam Irwin’s snapshot had slightly too much elevation and the leather flew over the crossbar.

Castlebar then doubled their lead on 28 minutes thanks to a fine strike from Jason Hunt, and Ballyheane faced an uphill task.

Ballyheane’s evening then went from bad to worse when their manager Ashley Stevenson was banished from the dugout by referee Eric Eaton on 31 minutes.

The game was effectively ended as a contest on 36 minutes when Aidan McHale’s superb finish for Castlebar had too much purchase for the beaten Luca Meldrum in the Ballyheane goal.

Ballyheane managed to peg a goal back 18 minutes into the new half when Liam Irwin’s close-range header rustled the back of the net.

The green and black could have set-up an intriguing finale had they reduced the arrears to the bare minimum on 77 minutes, but Stefan Hester produced a smart save to deny Joseph Mulcahy’s attempt on goal.

Ballyheane were then caught on the counterattack three minutes from the end of the joust when Celtic super-sub-Luke Kelly added a fourth goal for his team-mates.

Edwards added his second goal of the tie on 89 minutes, and he completed his hat-trick from a self-won penalty during injury-time.

Second placed Castlebar are now just three points behind table toppers Westport United, and it looks like this title race will go down to the wire.