Achill attack curbs second-half Tourmakeady fightback

Achill withstood a second-half fightback from Tourmakeady on Sunday in Louisburgh to book their place in the Junior B final.

An eight-point lead was cut to just two by Tourmak’ but they could not find the extra effort to overcome Achill, who to their credit, pushed on with the help of their pivotal full-forward line.

The game was played with 14-a-side for the most part, after a player from each team was sent off following a scuffle between the two sides in the first half.

The day could have had a different outlook for Tourmakeady when their midfielder Darren Kelly rattled a shot just wide of the post with only 30 seconds played. It would be Achill’s James O’Hara who opened the scoring with three minutes played, firing over a free-kick.

Kelly responded with a point from play, at an angle that required referee Eamon McAndrew to seek clarification from the linesman and umpires to confirm it passed between the two posts. It would be their only point of the half.

O’Hara got a point from play before Brian Lavelle scored a brace. His first was a free and the second was a sweetly-struck effort with the outside of his left boot to give Achill a three-point lead.

Eamon McAndrew was kept busy, as the scoring dried up and gave way to a deluge of ill-discipline from both teams.

The rising tensions culminated in an all-out, hot-tempered fracas between the two teams five minutes before halftime that resulted in red cards being shown to Achill’s Stephen Grealis and Tourmakeady’s Stephen Staunton.

Peter Gallagher and Brian Lavelle scored deep into stoppage time to give Achill a five-point lead at the break.

They picked up where they left off and their advantage soon extended, as Martin McNamara scored just 22 seconds into the second half, Lavelle added his fourth from a free and Terence Dever got in on the action.

It was looking a long way back for Tourmakeady, now eight points in the hole, but they got a lifeline when Tom Staunton’s Hail Mary shot dropped and was spilled by the Achill keeper into the back of the net.

Martin McNamara and James O’Hara responded with scores for Achill but Tourmak’ soon enjoyed their best spell of the day inspired by the introduction, and subsequent removal, of Dylan Mulroy who was brought off the bench with 40 minutes played.

Three minutes later, he scored his team’s first point from play for nearly 40 minutes.

Then, he won a free that Padraig Ludden fired over.

The man Dylan Mulroy replaced, Oisin Fallon, soon returned to the field of play as a blood sub in place of Mulroy. Fallon made good use of this cameo, picking up a pass from Darren Kelly before sending a low shot trickling into the back of the net to cut the gap to two points.

Brian Lavelle’s free restored a three-point lead but Mulroy, now back on the pitch in a clean jersey, fired over a free kick of his own.

Tourmak’ pushed forward but couldn’t find a route to the goal or goalposts, as John Joyce’s point for Achill soon came as the final score of the game.

Scorers - Achill: Brian Lavelle 0-5 (4f), James O’Hara 0-3 (2f), Martin McNamara 0-2, Terence Dever, John Joyce and Peter Gallagher 0-1 each.

Tourmakeady: Oisin Fallon and Tom Staunton 1-0 each, Dylan Mulroy 0-2, Padraig Ludden (f) and Darren Kelly 0-1 each.

Achill: Martin Polak: Cian McCarthy, Eugene Doran, Terence Dever: Tiorlach Dever, Fionnbhar Gallagher, Diarmuid Cooney: Stephen Grealis, Conor English: Martin McNamara, Brian Lavelle, John Joyce: James O’Hara, Peter Gallagher, Tiernan Cooney. Subs: Michael Dara Sweeney (for T Cooney 40), Fionn Mangan and Colm Campbell (for McNamara and Terence Dever 50)

Tourmakeady: Mark Gibbons: Fionn Conway, Sean Burke, Michael Moran: Matthew Gibbons, Tom Staunton, James Walsh: Darragh McConnell, Darren Kelly: Oisin Fallon, Sean Staunton, Michael Joyce: Padraig Ludden, Stephen Staunton, Aaron Jennings. Subs: Sean Joyce and Sean O’Brien (for M Joyce and Conway H/T), Dylan Mulroy (for Fallon 40), Oisin Fallon (for D Mulroy 45, Blood), Aaron Connor (for Ludden 53)

Ref: Eamon McAndrew