Ard’ work sees Sarsfields secure trip to last eight
Ardnaree's Liam Jones breaks through a packed Castlebar Mitchels 'B' defence during the Egan Jewellers intermediate championship match in Foxford last Sunday. Pictures: David Farrell Photography
Ardnaree Sarsfields secured top spot and a home quarter-final in the county intermediate championship after a massive come-from-behind victory over Castlebar Mitchels ‘B’ in Foxford on Sunday.
Despite trailing by seven points at the break, the North Mayo side were full value for their win as their accuracy in front of goal in the second-half ensured they turned things around impressively.
The Castlebar lead never looked to be enough at the half-time break with such a strong breeze blowing into the Green Road end of Moy Davitts’ home pitch – and that proved to be the case.
A missed goal chance by Fionan O’Reilly on the stroke of half-time, which would have left ten points between the sides, came home to haunt the county town men as Ardnaree pulled back the deficit as quickly as possible following the restart.
It was a slow start to the game by Castlebar despite playing with the aid of a strong breeze, but a point by Steven Keane and Paul Walsh’s two pointer had them in a two point lead after 17 minutes.
John Kennedy then grabbed the game’s first goal a minute later, getting onto a long ball from midfield before firing into the bottom corner past goalkeeper Ronan Connolly.
Eoghan Hughes followed that up with a two pointer to push the lead out to seven points and Jason Crean and Calum Filan traded points, leaving Mitchels with that sizeable advantage at the break.
It was a lead, however, that was wiped out within the first six minutes of the second-half as Ardnaree Sarsfields took full advantage of the strong breeze which was now at their backs. Ethan Convey and Fionan O’Reilly traded points in the opening minute before Jason Crean and Cathal Noone brought the gap down to three with a pair of two point efforts. Convey then added a point before swinging over a two-point shot from out on the left wing to level the match.
Castlebar Mitchels managed to get themselves back into the lead as Ardnaree went ten minutes without a score and Eoghan Hughes knocked over a pair of frees, but once Sarsfields regathered momentum there was no stopping them.
Ethan Convey levelled the game again with a free from outside the arc and in the 51st minute, Dylan Sweeney struck what proved to be the winning score for Ardnaree when he smashed the ball to the net from close range.
John Timlin, Dylan Sweeney and Shane Timlin added further scores before Steven Keane pulled one back for Mitchels. Keane had a chance at goal in the 58th minute but his shot from a tight angle flew across the face of goal and wide.
Peter Timlin and Jason Crean added late points for Ardnaree before the final whistle to secure a seven points victory.
It was a second-half performance which will make any of the second placed teams in the championship not look forward to travelling to the banks of the River Moy in two weeks’ time.
Scorers – Ardnaree: Ethan Convey 0-2-2 (1tpf, 1f), Dylan Sweeney 1-0-1, Jason Crean 0-1-2, Cathal Noone 0-1-0, Nathan Roddy, John Timlin, Shane Timlin and Peter Timlin 0-0-1 each.
Castlebar: Eoghan Hughes 0-1-2 (2f), John Kennedy 1-0-0, Paul Walsh 0-1-0, Stevie Keane 0-0-2, Fionan O’Reilly and Calum Filan (f) 0-0-1 each.
Ardnaree: Ronan Connolly; Keith Gillespie, Pat Mills, Kenzie McKee; Liam Jones, Jack Regan, Stephen Jackson; Ronan O’Malley, Jason Crean; Jonathan Doherty, Dylan Sweeney, Nathan Roddy; Cathal Noone, Ethan Convey, John Timlin. Subs: Shane Timlin (for Noone 44), Peter Timlin (for Regan 44), Mark Forbes and Lee Grant (for Mills and Gillespie 56), Chris Walsh (for Doherty 60).
Castlebar: Peter Basquille; Joe Tuohy, Paul Walsh, Kylum Chambers; Jack O’Reilly, Ruairi Burke, Seanie O’Reilly; Brendan Gaughan, Fergal Durcan; Fionan O’Reilly, John Kennedy, Mark Durcan; Calum Filan, Eoghan Hughes, Steven Keane. Subs: Ciaran Mylett (for Filan 37), Eoghan McHale and Luke Roddy (for Walsh and M Durcan 44), Sean Coyle (for O’Reilly 56).
REF: John Glavey (Aghamore)
