Local Notes: Staff of Charlestown Swimming Pool displaying their support for Mayo ahead of All Ireland final.
Staff from Charlestown Swimming Pool displaying their support for Mayo ahead of the All-Ireland Senior Football Final.
Charlestown Sarsfields qualified for the division 1 county championship semi-final after overcoming Castlebar Mitchels in an enthralling encounter played at Fr O’Hara Park with the Sarsfields squeezing home on a 6-9 to 5-11 score line. This was a game that contained all that was good about football at this grade as fortunes fluctuated wildly throughout with the home side 12 points down five minutes into the second half and, to all intents and purposes, down and out as the Mitchels were moving with real intent and had the green and white in all kinds of bother in the most of the key areas of the pitch.
The Sarsfields started well enough with an MJ Donoghue goal giving them just the boost they needed as they held their own with the Mitchels for the most part in the opening ten minutes or so. The visitors started to get a grip in the middle third however, with their superior size and physicality starting to make a real difference and the scores flowed as a result as they piled 2-5 on the scoreboard without any significant reply from the Sarsfields save for a couple of points from Freddie Doherty and Daithi Gethins respectively.
The Mitchels continued to dominate the exchanges and another 1-2 blast left the Sarsfields in dire trouble as they were taking in water in several positions and were finding it difficult to repel the Mitchels strong running from deep. A splendid Freddie Doherty goal offered the Sarsfields some respite but the Mitchels hit the Sarsfields with another goal, their fourth of the half which dealt a real blow to the home side’s hopes with a sole Luke McDermott point on the stroke of half-time the only riposte the Sarsfields could muster to leave the Mitchels in a position of real control as they led 4-7 to 2-3 at the first whistle.
The Sarsfields needed a good start to the second half to ignite their challenge, but the opposite transpired as the Mitchels kicked the first two points to add another layer of difficulty to the already steep mountain facing the young men wearing green and white. Were they up for the challenge was the question running through the minds of management, and supporters alike as the game looked to be drifting towards an inevitable facile Mitchels victory.
The young Sarsfields lads tore up the script however and hit the Mitchels with a tsunami of scores in a blistering eight-minute spell which saw them bag 2-4 without reply. Goals from Luke McDermott and Alex Pugaciov galvanised the young men wearing green and white as they roared back into the game with some thundering, heavy metal football. A fifth goal from Luke McDermott saw them incredibly hit the front for the first time in the match with the visitors stunned at the blitz that was coming at them from all ends of the field. Further points from the superb Daithi Gethins and the elusive Luke McDermott saw the Sarsfields surge into the lead with the game having been completely turned on its head by a powerful Sarsfields comeback.
The visitors finally stopped the rot with a brace of points to reduce the deficit to one once again with everything up for grabs with victory for either side putting them in pole position in the group.
The Sarsfields put together another sizzling move with the ball finishing in the hands of Alex Pugaciov who finished coolly to the net to extend the Sarsfields lead to four once again. Another terrific point from Daithi Gethins had the Sarsfields supporters crowing to high heaven as the team continued to attack right through the heart of a porous Mitchels defence.
The game was far from over however, as the Mitchels launched one final onslaught as they camped in and around the Sarsfields goal in a desperate search for scores. They banged over a point which just cleared the crossbar as the Sarsfields struggled to escape from the all-out press of the visitors was imposing in their last gasp attempt to salvage something from the contest.
Their efforts were rewarded when they were awarded a stoppage time penalty which they duly converted as the gap was reduced to the minimum once more. There was time for a further Mitchels raid but the Sarsfields managed to repel it and clear their lines with referee Ronan Guerin sounding the final whistle seconds later to bring a wonderful game to a thrilling conclusion with the Sarsfields edging home by a point in a contest that had some much to recommend such was the quality on show on both sides.
The Mitchels were gallant in defeat but full credit to the Sarsfields lads who hauled themselves off the canvass early in the second half and turned around a twelve point deficit to eke out a victory that looked nigh impossible at halftime and beyond. It was a superb team performance bar none with keeper Jack Brennan once again excelling as he made some marvellous stops in both halves. The full-back line of Conor Davern, Mikey Larkin and Rian O’Connor were excellent all through and were brave and committed in their defending. Conor Breheny, Michael Haran and Ross Duffy were very good in the half-back line and really upped the ante in the second half and thundered into the game at vital moments.
Daithi Gethins was superb in the middle of the field and drove the team forward with relentless energy. Senan Tiernan stormed into the game in the second half and won lots of hard ball and used it wisely at all times. In attack Luke McDermott and Alex Pugaciov were the scoring heroes netting a brace each with their movement and pace proving pivotal to the Sarsfields stunning second half comeback.
Freddie Doherty was magnificent in the first half and weighed in with some big scores when the Sarsfields were struggling to get any kind of traction in attack. MJ Donoghue won an amount of ball in both halves and always picked the best and most sensible pass with Frank Muldoon and Tom Naugthon working tirelessly on the flanks winning all kinds of dirty ball with the last named enjoying a brilliant last twenty minutes.
Subs Callum Kenny and Anthony Byrne also made a good contribution when introduced with this victory securing the Sarsfields a place in the last four with just Claremorris left to play in the final round of group games.
Congratulations to the Charlestown Sarsfields senior ladies’ team and management on their epic victory over Claremorris in the final of the Melissa Patterson League final played at the Centre of Excellence, Bekan recently. This was a ferocious struggle between two evenly matched teams with extra-time needed before a winner would emerge. It was the Sarsfields ladies who hung tough as they managed to dig out a slender one-point victory against a very brave and spirited Claremorris team who pushed the Sarsfields to the wire in a game where there was never more than a score between the teams at any given juncture.
It was a pulsating contest throughout and a good advert for ladies football in the county with both sets of ladies investing every drop of sweat and energy in their bodies before a winner would finally emerge.
The ladies went into the game minus their inspirational leader Ella Brennan who is recovering from the dreaded cruciate ligament injury she sustained on county duty with the Mayo ladies and her loss is incalculable as she is the team’s standout performer and we all join in wishing her a speedy recovery and hope to see her back in club and county colours in the very near future. The Sarsfields had to drive on and plan accordingly and this they did with courage and ambition as they took the game to their South Mayo counterparts from the throw-in.
Both teams traded scores at regular intervals as the see-saw nature of the contest persisted throughout a tense and high octane sixty minutes. The Sarsfields were in good shape at half-time as they led 1-6 to 1-2 with Sona Mahon the Sarsfields goal scorer but Claremorris fought back well in the second half and surged back into the game and the two sides couldn’t be split as they were deadlocked at 2-8 apiece at full-time. Siofra McGuiness netted for the Sarsfields in what turned out to be a thrilling second half of football.
Two periods of extra-time saw the scores dry up considerably as bodies started to tire and cramp took hold among several ladies on both sides. The tension and pressure remained high however, but it was the Sarsfields who managed the game slightly better with an infusion of youth helping them considerably as they outscored Claremorris 0-2 to 0-1 in a game of very tight margins.
Credit to the Charlestown ladies who found the necessary stamina and resolve to get the job done in a game of inches with the green and white coming out the right side of a 2-10 to 2-9 score line with both camps going through contrasting emotions when the final whistle sounded.
The death took place in London, England recently of Colm Swords formerly of Barrack Street, Charlestown. Deepest condolences are tendered to the bereaved.
The next community coffee morning takes place on Friday, August 7, in the Arts Theatre, Barrack Street, Charlestown from 11am-1pm. Lift access is available and all are welcome for a cuppa and a chat.
The 2026 Eugene McLoughlin Memorial Run will take place on Sunday, August 16. This is the undoubted highlight in the town’s summer calendar and draws large crowds far and wide who come to admire and marvel at the spectacular display of machinery that always turns up on the day. The event is in its fourteenth year and continues to grow and thrive with a very progressive and hardworking committee working tirelessly behind the scenes to improve and enhance the product which appeals to all and sundry in the community and beyond. All proceeds from the event go toward CROI which is a most worthy and heartwarming cause worthy of your support. There will as always, be plenty of entertainment for young and old on the day with a kiddies fun run also taking place so bring your pedal bikes, tractors, go-karts etc. Music will also be available in abundance with Pat’s Country Roadshow, Stuart Moyles and Mad for Ceol among others doing their stuff and keeping everybody entertained in their own inimitable fashion. Registration takes place between 11am and 12.30pm at McLoughlin’s Pub, Barrack Street
Ben McDonnell, son of Paddy and Ashley McDonnell, Cloonlyon, Charlestown had a great thrill of lining out in the Croke Park Mini Go Games Exhibition that took place at half-time in the Mayo v Kerry All-Ireland final. This was a fantastic honour for young Ben, his family and the Sarsfields GAA Club where he’s a prominent member of the Sarsfields U14 panel. Ben acquitted himself very well and enjoyed the whole experience and was treated to a great day which will live long in his memory as he was part of an historic day where Mayo finally broke through their seventy-five year wait to bring Sam back to the West. I’m sure Ben will savour the memories and experience forever as to be running out on the hallowed turf that is Croke Park at such a tender age is some feat and one he will be enjoying relaying to his friends and family for many a long day in the future. To have two Charlestown lads taking part in the showpiece occasion that is the All-Ireland final day is one the town and club will cherish forever as Paul Towey and Ben McDonnell’s names are etched in the match programme which will become a collector’s item for years to come.
The annual Mass will be celebrated at St. Attracta’s Well on Tuesday, August 11, at 8pm.
The Diocesan Pilgrimage of Achonry and Elphin to Knock will take place on Sunday, August 16. Ceremonies begin at 2.30pm with the Anointing of the Sick and concelebrated Mass at 8pm.
Sunday, July 26, will be forever etched in the hearts and minds of all Mayo people as we finally ended a lifetime of heart break and suffering in a stadium that provokes emotions and reactions like no other the world over.
When Jack Coyne hoisted Sam high into the summer air at five o’clock or thereabouts, the crescendo of noise which accompanied it reverberated into every town, village and homestead in Mayo not to mention the people of a Mayo persuasion the length and breadth of Ireland and those across the globe who were tuned in in their millions as we poked history in the eye and reached the holy grail we have gotten so close to scaling since our last dalliance with Sam Maguire.
It was a privilege and an honour to be perched high in the Hogan Stand as a Mayo team went about their work with a conviction and belief that belied all pre-match predictions and scripts.
The ferocity, passion and tumult which Mayo brought to Croke Park was magnificent as we went toe to toe with the kingdom, the great aristocrats of our national game and knocked them off their stride and this all the more laudable and commendable after our horror of horror starts which saw us bleed 1-5 in the first ten minutes as Kerry once again attempted to trample all over our dreams and ambitions.
We looked at one another in the stands and terraces and felt a cold shiver of reality surging down our spines as old memories of 2004 and 2006 flooded into our membranes and memory banks as we waited for the blitz to come in torrents.
The new rules, however, have transformed the game with the advent of the two-pointed score infusing hope into teams that would previously have been left bereft tyring to reel in a lead of that magnitude under the old system.
Jack Carney’s two- pointed score steadied the ship and provided a pathway for Mayo to navigate their way back into the game and this they did with aplomb as, led by Ryan O’Donoghue, we started to make inroads on the Kerry kick-out and adopted a full court press when they went short to their full-back line.
The forwards, with O’Donoghue the chief orchestrator, hit the Kerry defenders hard, forcing turnovers as balls were coughed up and spilled into Mayo hands which injected new energy into the team with the huge Mayo crowd following in kind.
Mayo dominated the final fifteen minutes of the half and outscored Kerry 1-6 to 0-2 as inspirational points flowed from the boots of Beirne, and O’Donoghue to leave us just one in arrears at half-time with Kerry relieved to get to the sheds as they were pummelled in the frenzy Mayo whipped up in the second quarter of the half.
The second half performance was one to savour as we went after Kerry and eye balled them in every line of the pitch. Right from the get-go we set the tempo as we thundered into tackles, foraged for breaking balls like hyenas on the Serrengetti with our pace, athleticism and downright cussedness unsettling Kerry as they struggled to cope with our utter relentless.
Ryan O’Donoghue’s move to the half-forward line was a masterstroke on Andy’s behalf as he became the conductor and controlled the flow and tempo of the game a la Messi as he drove at Kerry and continued to take the fight to them at every conceivable opportunity. He had some able and willing lieutenants as Flynn, Kobe, Beirne, Carney, McBrien, McGreal et all all responded to his promptings and ran at Kerry exposing some chinks and weaknesses as the scoreboard took on a distinctly red and green tinge. The Mayo crowd fed off what was playing out on the field as rousing chants of Mayo Mayo imbued the players with belief and refreshed their energy levels with Kerry wilting in the face of this sustained Mayo onslaught.
As the clock ticked past the sixtieth minute we stared in disbelief at one another as neutrals sitting in front, behind and beside us suddenly abandoned their neutrality and became fully fledged Mayo fans in the final tortuous few minutes as time sure moves slowly when you’re chewing a Texan bar to cue an old advert from my teenage years on TV.
People from Monaghan, Laois and two dear old pals from Derry roared Mayo home as Kerry, or more to the point, the Cliffords started to make inroads into our lead. With three left on the clock, it was down to a one score game as all our worst fears and nightmares stared us square in the face again.
This team however, with Andy at the helm, were in no mood to bend the knee as we stood tall, manned up and cleared our lines one final time with the ball ending in Kobe’s hands as he fisted a pinpoint pass to Tommy Conroy in acres of space with The Neale man fisting the ball over the bar cueing a roar that shook the stadium to its very core as the roof almost lifted above me. The hooter sounded and with that pandemonium, delirium, chaos, wonderment, awe and disbelief took hold as the Green and Red of Mayo boomed across the big house.
Grown men and women sobbed openly as our emotional bottle banks burst open and we floated on that great cloud of euphoria as all our scar tissue from past defeats was rinsed away in one blast of that hooter. It’s an occasion that will never be topped and a day like no other as I reflect on some great Mayo people who have passed to their eternal reward in my own club and every other club in Mayo for that matter.
The victory will do wonders for football in the county as GAA, without disrespecting our soccer and rugby cousins, remains the number one game in our genealogy and will always occupy that premier position.
The stadium shuddered when President Jarlath Burns handed the cup to captain Jack Coyne. Then we knew it was real as our dreams became a reality and Mayo had reached the summit. What a journey we have been on since 1989. We have spent thousands travelling to Croke Park, left utterly broken and dejected, been subjected to slagging and ridicule which we have sucked up and taken with good humour and grace but no more, we have climbed the winner’s podium and put all the taunts and merciless jokes and jibes to bed. We are Mayo, we are All-Ireland champions and we did in in a swashbuckling fashion and style that will make this All-Ireland victory inforgettable and it will never be forgotten by all priveleged enough to have had a seat to view it.
We did it in style, there was no parking the bus, no massed defence, no sitting back inviting Kerry on. We pressed them high, hunted them down, went man to man while playing with our customary flair and panache. We used our pace, speed and athleticism to get at Kerry. We took it to them in every line, played smart, intelligent football, we did it the Mayo way and thrilled every one of the eighty-two and half thousand people who were privileged to witness a spectacle that will be relived and replayed in the minds of Mayo folk forever.
To quote Dick Clerkin, the former Monaghan stalwart who was there with his two young sons "It was an experience like no other and one that will stay with me forever " ....Need I say more? Mayo are Magic. ....Mayo Abu.......Thank You Andy and Friends....
There was no winners of the Charlestown Sarsfields GAA lotto jackpot of €23,100 on Sunday, July 26 and the following were the four numbers drawn : 14, 16, 29, 32. The winners of the 3 x €50 prizes were the following - John Neary (Online), Sean Honan (Lucky Dip) and Niall Towey (Lucky Dip). The jackpot in the latest draw held on Sunday, August 2, was €23,200.
Congratulations are extended to Liam McCaffrey, son of Sean and Siobhan McCaffrey Sonnagh, Charlestown who celebrated his eighteenth birthday recently with a small party at his residence with family and neighbours in attendance. His birthday coincided with Mayo winning the All-Ireland so this was perhaps the best present of the lot as it added an extra layer of celebration to a special occasion for Liam and family. I’m sure his mother Siobhan had a cake to commemorate the occasion and I’m equally sure there isn’t a crumb left for yours truly to get his teeth into. We wish Liam every good wish for the future, health and happiness and many more celebrations of this ilk in the years ahead.
