With all the attention given to our free-scoring footballers today, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that two other Mayo teams were also in competitive action this afternoon. Both the hurlers and the county’s camogie team had matches against Roscommon, with the hurlers coming out on top while the camogie team lost out after a brave battle.

The hurlers were to the fore from start to finish in their NHL Division 2B clash with Roscommon at Dr Hyde Park. They opened the scoring and although it was level pegging at five points apiece after 25 minutes, by half-time the visitors had raced clear to lead by eleven points to five. Goalkeeper Gerald Kelly landed one of those from a free taken from inside his own ’45, while the final one was a ’65, driven over by Keith Higgins.

Roscommon had the ball in the net, though, within a minute of the restart. Cathal Dolan drove in a free from well out and Jack Lohan was on hand to flash the sliothar to the net and bring the Rossies right back into it.

Cathal Freeman responded with a point from play for us right from the restart and soon after he played in Tooreen clubmate Shane Boland for a goal chance. Shane was bundled to the ground, the culprit got the sin bin and we got a penalty. Cathal, however, drove the spot kick over.

Right from the restart, Mayo had another goal chance. Once again it was a Freeman/Boland double-act, with Cathal driving strongly at the home defence before offloading to Shane whose shot was deflected out for a ’65. Keith belted over the resultant ’65.

Roscommon got the next point but Derek Walsh’s team were now getting an ever firmer grip on proceedings. It was, then, no surprise when they finally broke through for a goal, their first of this NHL campaign.

There was more than a touch of good fortune about the goal, scored by Keith Higgins. The Ballyhaunis man did well to intercept a loose pass attempt and took off at speed towards the opposition goal. His shot didn’t have much venom but, in the wet conditions, the ‘keeper fumbled the sliothar and it skidded off his hurl and dribbled over the line.

From there on, the visitors were able to close out a comfortable win. By the second water break they were up by nine and they won by eleven points at the finish, on a scoreline of 1-20 to 1-9.

Today’s win makes it two wins from two for Derek Walsh’s team in this NHL campaign. They’re top of Division 2B and their next assignment is a trip to Letterkenny to face Donegal a week tomorrow.

It was a big day for the county’s camogie team, who were returning to the inter-county fray at competitive level for the first time in a good while. They battled hard against Roscommon at Ballyforan in today’s Division 4 Group 2 clash but the home side eventually prevailed by nine points.

Mayo got the dream start in this game, as they led by 1-1 to 0-1 coming up to ten minutes in. Roscommon hit back with a goal but a second goal for the visitors left them well placed, leading by a point at the break on a scoreline of 2-2 to 1-4.

As the second half progressed, though, it was the home side who came to the fore, in large part due to their ability to notch points more easily. When they broke through for a second goal Mayo suddenly found themselves five adrift and they were unable to prevent the home side from going on to seal the win by 2-11 to 2-2.

It was, nevertheless, a battling performance from Jimmy Lyons’ Mayo side, one they’ll take plenty of heart from as they gear up for further Camogie League challenges in the weeks to come.