Mayo Gaels 2-14 Knockmore B 2-15
Our intermediate team ended their Division 1D league campaign with a disappointing defeat at home to Knockmore B at a sun soaked
The away team flew out of the blocks and had three points from play on the board after just two minutes. The Gaels finally woke up after five minutes when a good run and fine finish to the net by Danny Burke levelled the sides. Knockmore responded with a point from play. The Gaels squandered three good free opportunities before Danny Burke finally landed a free and Johnny Morrin kicked a good point from play after good work by Damien Quinn. The sides swapped the next six scores with the Gaels scores coming from two Damien Quinn points from play and a Mallie Byrne free. This left the half time score 1-5 0-7 in favour of the Gaels.
The Gaels started the second half brightly with a Mallie Byrne free and a Jonathan Griffin effort from play. Knockmore responded with two handy frees before a Danny Burke free pushed the Gaels two clear. Two Knockmore points from play levelled that game again. The ding dong nature of the game continued when the Gaels pushed two points clear with two scores from play from Niall Brett and Johnny Morrin before Knockmore levelled again to leave the score 1-10 0-13. With then minutes remaining points from play by Adrian Heneghan and Joe Gilroy left the Gaels two clear before this lead was cancelled out by a Knockmore goal. Again the Gaels responded with points from play by Johnny Morrin and Danny Burke to leave them a point up 1-14 1-13. Knockmore levelled with a point from play with time up on the clock.
The five minutes of injury time played by the referee saw the game swing both ways. A fine run and finish by young Joe Gilroy seemed to have given the Gaels victory with the score at 2-14 to 1-14. But a Knockmore point from play left two between the sides. As the old saying goes two points is a dangerous lead and this proved to be the case for the Gaels. They lost possession in the middle of the field and Knockmore were some how allowed to move the ball through the Gaels defence and finish to the net to give them a one point victory on a final score line of 2-14 to 2-15.
A disappointing end to the league campaign for the Gaels that saw them win four, lose four and draw one game. They now face two hard weeks work on the training pitch as a repeat of this performance against championship favourites
Mayo Gaels team: Paul Mannion, Brian Adams, Jonathan Walsh, Keith Walsh, Jonathan Griffin (0-1), Anthony Byrne, Alyan Brett, Barry Commins, James Fallon, Mallie Byrne (0-2, 2f), Damien Quinn (0-2), Niall Brett (0-1), Sean Boyle, Jonathan Morrin (0-3), Danny Burke (1-3, 2f). Subs. Cathal Vahey for Keith Walsh, Dermot Browne for Alyan Brett, Joe Gilroy (1-1) for Damien Quinn, Adrian Heneghan (0-1) for Sean Boyle.
