JAFC: Shane O'Donovan in top form as Mayfield beat Passage

Mayfield 3-18 (3-3-12) Passage 1-14 (1-2-10)

Mayfield remain in pole position with two wins from two in the AOS Security Seandún Junior A Football Championship after they defeated Passage at Ballinlough.

Passage remain in second place ahead of Whitechurch on scoring differences.

Passage made the better start, before Mayfield seized the initiative in a one-sided second half, where they restricted Passage to three points.

The opening half was evenly contested as Passage led 0-5 to 0-4 before Shane O’Donovan put Mayfield in the driving seat with a two-pointer from play.

Ryan Carroll levelled matters for Passage, before Passage regained the lead, courtesy of a two-pointer from a free by Shane Burke.

Passage continued to have Mayfield on the back foot as James Kind tagged on a point from play, followed by Passage’s second two-pointer by Killian Murphy.

Shane O’Donovan set up Paul Condon for the game’s opening goal for Mayfield in the 28th minute, to reduce the margin to two points.

A minute into stoppage time at the end of the first half, Tom O’Neill set up Sean Harrington for a goal for Passage, which restored their five-point advantage. This gave Passage an interval lead of 1-11 to 1-6.

The second half was one-way traffic in Mayfield’s favour.

Condon opened the scoring with a pointed free and Sean Harrington replied with a point from play, before Mayfield had Passage pinned back.

Shane O’Donovan slotted over his second two-pointer, before wayward kick-outs were proving to be Passage’s undoing. Dean Grainger won possession from a Passage kick-out in the 36th minute to set up Nicky Kelly for Mayfield’s second goal.

Mayfield scored five unanswered points from play, before Calvin O’Donovan added a third goal.

Shane O’Donovan and Kelly each tagged on points for Mayfield, followed by their third two-pointer by MJ Coffey.

Passage replied with two late points in stoppage time.

Scorers for Mayfield: S O’Donovan 0-9 (2 2pt); N Kelly 1-2; P Condon 1-1 (0-1f); C O’Donovan 1-0; MJ Coffey 0-2 (1 2pt); R O’Keeffe 0-2; D O’Donovan, D Grainger 0-1 each.

Passage: S Harrington 1-1; S Burke 0-4 (0-1 f, 1 2pt f); K Murphy 0-3 (0-1 f, 1 2pt); T O’Neill 0-2; R Carroll, K Burke, J Kind, S Coughlan 0-1 each.

MAYFIELD: E Bond; D O’Neill, B O’Leary, E O’Callaghan; A Hegarty, J Courtney, MJ Coffey; E O’Sullivan, S O’Donovan; N Kelly, J Gibson, D Grainger; R O’Keeffe, D O’Donovan, P Condon.

Subs: C O’Donovan for D O’Donovan (42), D Gibson for Condon (49), C O’Mahony for J Gibson (51), C Bond for O’Leary (53), A Walsh for Coffey (54).

PASSAGE: C Finnegan; N O’Connor, T Harrington, A Murphy; J O’Donoghue, R Harrington, D Barrett; J Kind, S Harrington; T O’Neill, K Burke, S Burke; N McCarthy, R Carroll, K Murphy.

Subs: J Canty for A Murphy (h/t), S Coughlan for Barrett (48, inj).

Referee: Cormac Dineen (Douglas).