Photo: Memories thru a Lens

The county’s hurlers battled hard this afternoon to keep their Christy Ring Cup campaign on track but in the end they just came up short. In a match played at James Stephens Park in Ballina today they lost out by 2-14 to 1-15 to Kildare, a result that means they cannot now progress to the play-offs. Instead, they next face Roscommon – who lost today to Wicklow by 2-16 to 0-16 in the day’s other Group 1 tie – in what will effectively be a relegation play-off.

Today’s match against Kildare was tight from the word go. With a breeze at their backs, the Mayo lads raced into an early six-point lead with ten minutes played but, by half-time, that advantage had been cut to just two points, the home side ahead by 0-10 to 0-8.

Kildare broke through for their first goal a few minutes after the restart but from then until the finish there was little or nothing between the teams. Late goals at either end made for a frantic finish in Ballina and, with just a point separating the sides as the match entered injury time, a draw looked a real possibility. Kildare, though, had the last say, with an injury time point sealing the two-point win for them.

The hurlers’ final Group 1 match in this year’s Ring Cup takes place this day fortnight at Athleague, where throw-in in that crunch match against Roscommon will be 3pm.

I’ve no match reports, I’m afraid, to point you in the direction of for this game but there are some great photos from Ballina, including the one above, courtesy of Memories thru a Lens that are worth looking at – they’re here.