Mayo cantered to a ten-point victory over Wicklow in a crucial match for both teams in the Christy Ring Cup at Aughrim.
Both counties sustained heavy defeats in the first round. The win keeps Mayo in the hunt for a place in the final, the defeat leaves Wicklow facing a battle to stave off relegation.
Even against the wind in the first half, Mayo dominated Wicklow to lead 0-13 to 0-7 at the break,Joe Mooney top scoring with 0-4 and Corner forward Shane Boland chipping in with three points, one from a free.
An early second half goal by corner-forward Eoin Kavanagh saw Wicklow cut the margin to the three after 42 minutes, but that's as good as it got for the Garden men. Wicklow were down to 14 men after 53 minutes, wing back James Byrne picking up a red card.
Keith Higgins was marshalling things for Mayo from midfield while Centre forward Joe Mooney, corner- forward Shane Boland, and midfielder kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely.
Scorers: Mayo – J Mooney 0-8, S Boland 0-6(3f), S Kenny 0-5 (2, 65s, 1 free), E Delaney 0-3, K Higgins, A Phillips, D Huane, K Feeney 0-1 each. Wicklow: E Kavanagh 2-0, J Doyle 0-4(3f), B Ryan 0-3 (65), E McCormack 0-2, J Toomey 0-1.
Meanwhile at St Conleth's Park, Kildare overcame a slow start to eventually record a comfortable 3-35 to 3-14 win over London, running up their highest ever tally in the Christy Ring Cup in the process.
They couldn’t have wished for a worse start when an attempted back pass in the first minute by cornerback Niall O’Muineacháin went over goalkeeper Paddy McKenna and into the net, Jack Goulding then scored London’s second goal in the 5th minute to make it 2-0 to 0-1.
Kildare recovered after that, aided by red card to London’s Paddy McNaughton in the 19th minute, and they led 0-18 to 2-5 at half time. Jack Sheridan (2) and Mark Delaney then scored second half goals as Kildare racked up a big score on their way to a second win in the competition, and Fiachra O’Keefe’s late goal for London was a mere consolation.
