Moran finding his range for Ballagh

Mayo manager James Horan will have been encouraged to hear that county captain Andy Moran took another big step on his road to recovery last Saturday evening.

The 28-year-old, who only returned to competitive action last month after nine months out with a cruciate knee ligament injury, played a starring role for his club in the county championship.

Moran started for Ballaghaderreen for the first time in 11 months in their Mayo SFC second round victory at home to Garrymore and came through the 60 minutes unscathed and helped himself to 1-2 from play for good measure as the defending county champions put their visitors to the sword.

Ballagh ran out 2-16 to 1-11 winners on a wet and miserable evening on the Mayo/Roscommon border, with first-half goals from Moran and Barry Regan setting them on the road to victory.

However, Mayo fans will also have taken note of the fact that Ballina goalkeeper David Clarke and Ballintubber’s Alan Dillon both sat out their respective club’s victories yesterday. The duo both picked up knocks during Mayo’s recent win over Roscommon and were not selected by their clubs.

Mayo forward Evan Regan hit 3-1 as Ballina Stephenites saw off Claremorris by 4-7 to 2-11 to record their second victory of the competition.

Sean Prendergast and Mark Sullivan netted for Claremorris but it wasn’t enough to prevent them crashing to their second successive defeat.

County midfielder Jason Gibbons chipped in with 1-2 for Ballintubber as last year’s beaten county finalists cruised to an easy win at home against Shrule/Glencorrib. Peter Ford’s side ran out 1-16 to 1-4 winners with Padraic O’Connor, brother of injured Mayo star Cillian, shooting seven points from frees.

Former Mayo minor Shane Hennelly grabbed the consolation for the South Mayo side.

Ballintubber and Ballina booked their place in the quarter-finals as a result of their respective wins, and will meet in the next round to decide who tops their group.

Meanwhile, Crossmolina got back to winning ways with a hard-fought 1-10 to 0-10 victory over Davitts.

Mayo minor Conor Loftus, lining out in his second game in 24 hours, gunned 1-5 for the Deel Rovers. Injured Mayo forward Michael Conroy, named among the Davitts substitutes, didn’t feature.

Ballinrobe are also back in the mix for the quarter-finals after their dramatic one-point victory away to Aghamore. Micheal Keane landed the winning score in the dying moments with Mayo panellist Alan Murphy scoring the goal.

Ballinrobe’s first win sets them up for a massive tie at home to Ballagh in the third round while the winner of the clash between Aghamore and Garrymore could also sneak into the play-offs.

Elsewhere, last year’s Mayo IFC champions, Charlestown, caused an upset when they beat 14-man Knockmore away by 0-9 to 0-5 on Saturday evening.

This was a second win in succession for the East Mayo side who flew former Mayo midfielder Tom Parsons home from Britain to line out at midfield.

Westport got back to winning ways with a facile 1-11 to 0-6 victory in the West Mayo derby away to Tourmakeady.

All Star Lee Keegan, who lined out at midfield alongside Mayo defender Kevin Keane, scored their goal. Damien Keane justified his decision to fly home from Scotland for the game by kicking five points from frees.