Ardagh find all the answers in double despair for Aghamore

AbbVie Mayo SFL Division 3 – Final 

Ardagh 1-13 

Aghamore ‘B’ 0-12 

Darragh Walsh in AbbVie Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar 

The last of the weekend’s Mayo SFL finals took place on Sunday as Ardagh and Aghamore ‘B’ capped off an entertaining festival of football before the county enters a three week wait for the start of championship.

Six points behind early in the second-half of this Division 3 showdown, Ardagh mounted an impressive comeback to serve the Aghamore club their second league final defeat in less than 24 hours, after their first team lost the Division 2 final on Saturday evening.

Although playing against the wind, James Carr began the scoring for the North Mayo side, fisting over the bar after two minutes. Aghamore replied a couple of minutes later with the first two pointer of the day as Ross Egan converted a free from long range. Hallam Coen, a used sub in his club’s Division 2 final appearance the previous evening, quickly doubled Aghamore’s advantage, applying the finishing touch to a quick counterattack after a fine turnover from Iarla Carty.

The game’s early scoring continued as the opposing number 13s exchanged points, Lee Traynor raising a white flag for Ardagh and Egan converting a free for Aghamore. Carr scored his second point before Traynor had the chance to raise a green, but his volleyed effort narrowly missed the target.

The following five scores came Aghamore’s way with Liamie Walsh splitting the posts and Egan finding the other four. The accurate corner-forward pointed twice from play and added a couple of frees to extend his side’s advantage to six. Ardagh had one score left to chalk before the interval, however, as former Mayo attacker Carr rose highest to Ruairi O’Boyle’s cross-field ball and finished on the turn to leave five in it as Walter Doherty’s half-time whistle sounded.

Aghamore quickly picked up where they left off with Padraig Mooney adding a point within a minute of the restart. His side almost found the back of the net soon after, as a punched effort from David Hession forced a fine save from substitute goalkeeper Gary Kenny.

Owen Pritchett replied with a single for Ardagh, who had been boosted by their captain Stephen Rochford joining the fray over half-time, before they almost found the back of the net with Carr forcing Darragh Hunt to get down low to his right-hand side to pull off a fine stop. They wouldn’t be denied for long however, as Tom Varkonda rattled the net in the fourth minute after initially starting the move in his own backline.

Ardagh went on to kick the next five points unanswered. Rochford picked off an interception and punished, Traynor volleyed over the bar, Carr curled over a ’45 and Kevin Moran added a couple of singles, one from play and the other a free. In the midst of Ardagh’s scoring riot, Aghamore came close to raising a green flag. Brendan Carr dived on the boot of Oisin Duffy’s shot and this deflection forced a quick reaction save from Kenny to force the ball onto the post.

As the game entered the final two minutes Aghamore showed they weren’t ready to wave the white flag just yet as Egan converted a couple of frees in as many minutes to reduce the deficit to one.

Their chance to level the contest came as a miscommunication in the Ardagh backline saw Rochford pass the ball back to his goalkeeper, resulting in a 13-metre free. But Aghamore couldn’t punish this error.

With this near miss averted, Ardagh ensured the result with Moran adding another couple of scores, applying the finish to a slick team move with one point before slotting over a two point free to leave his side the victors by four.

Scorers – Ardagh: Kevin Moran 0-1-3 (1tpf, 3f), James Carr 0-0-4 (1 ’45), Tom Varkonda 1-0-0, Lee Traynor 0-0-2, Owen Pritchett and Stephen Rochford 0-0-1 each.

Aghamore: Ross Egan 0-1-7 (1tpf, 7f), Hallam Coen, Liamie Walsh and Padraig Mooney 0-1 each.

Ardagh: John Cafferty; Declan O’Boyle, Fionn Barrett, Liam Pritchett; Ruairi O’Boyle, Brendan Carr, Tom Varkonda; Sean Moore, Paddy Walsh; Adam Foody, James Carr, Daragh Gough; Lee Traynor, Enda O’Hora, Owen Pritchett. Subs: Gary Kenny (for Cafferty), Stephen Rochford (for Gough), Kevin Moran (for Traynor), Oisin McAndrew (for O’Boyle).

Aghamore: Darragh Hunt; Liam Cassidy, Darragh Mulkeen, Conor Morley; Liamie Walsh, Iarla Carty, Padraig Mooney; Rob O’Flaherty, Brian Breslin; Johnny Conlon, David Hession, Hallam Coen; Ross Egan, Shane Crinnigan, Oisin Duffy. Subs used: Jack Concannon (for Walsh), Jack O’Connor (for Conlon), Eoghan Duffy (for Hession), Keith Cassidy (for Breslin).

REF: Walter Doherty (Balla)