Ryan O'Donoghue leads Belmullet into Mayo semis

Belmullet will play Garrymore in the semi-finals while Castlebar Mitchels meet near-neighbours Breaffy. 

Ryan O'Donoghue scored eight points in Belmullet's Mayo SFC quarter-final victory over Claremorris. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Footballer of the Year frontrunner Ryan O’Donoghue played a leading role as Belmullet booked their place in the Mayo SFC semi-finals in fine style on Sunday.

The Erris men, who have never won a county senior championship title, upset the odds in spectacular fashion as they cracked in five goals to beat Claremorris by 5-13 to 0-20.

O’Donoghue chipped in with eight points for the North Mayo side as they ended a five-year wait to get back into the final four in the race for the Moclair Cup.

Fionn O’Donoghue netted twice in the opening half with Mayo panellist Seamus Howard also raising a green flag to leave Belmullet ahead by 3-4 to 0-9 at the break.

Claremorris’ hopes of a comeback were dashed in the second half as Belmullet attackers Eamonn McAndrew and Anthony Barrett both goaled, while the home side also saw a Niall Hurley penalty saved by the outstanding Shane Nallen.

Elsewhere, Breaffy also booked their place in the semi-finals with a fully-deserved 2-18 to 0-18 victory over last year’s beaten finalists Westport.

The sides were meeting in the championship for the sixth time in the last seven seasons, and it was Seán Deane’s Breaffy, who are also chasing a first ever senior championship success, who came out on top.

A brilliant first half goal from Gareth Dunne had the home side ahead by 1-10 to 0-12 with the likes of Daire Morrin, Aidan Cunningham and man of the match Conor O’Shea, who finished with six points, all hitting the target.

The pick of Westport’s scores came from former Mayo full-back Kevin Keane, who kicked three points, while Finbarr McLaughlin and Joe O’Grady also landed brilliant two-pointers.

But Breaffy were always able to keep their noses in front and a penalty from Robbie Fadden in the 50th minute turned out to be the game-breaking score.

Westport manager Pat Holmes did introduce the 2016 Footballer of the Year, Lee Keegan, and the Moran brothers, Colm and Mark, in an effort to get his team back into the game.

But they were unable to reel Breaffy back in.

Meanwhile, Castlebar Mitchels got the better of Aghamore by 0-19 to 1-10 to seal their semi-final spot on Saturday.

Kevin Filan’s charges led at half-time by 0-13 to 0-5 with James Durcan and Joe Forry both landing two-pointers for the visitors.

An Aghamore goal after the restart from Conal Hession did throw the home side a lifeline, but Mayo All-Ireland winners Donnacha McHugh, Paddy Durcan and Bob Tuohy were all to the fore for Castlebar as they powered on to victory.

The fourth semi-final spot will be filled by Garrymore who edged out Crossmolina by 0-14 to 0-12 on Saturday evening in front of a crowd of over 4,000 people in Garrymore.

Belmullet will now face Garrymore in the semi-finals while Castlebar Mitchels meet near-neighbours Breaffy. Both games will be played in two weeks’ time.