Ardleathmaigh make historic breakthrough
Ardleathmaigh celebrate winning the FBD Connacht U17 'B' Championship Final. Picture: Conor McKeown
Most saplings need a little bit of support in order to take root and grow to their potential, and the combination side of Ardleathmaigh, very much a sapling in the Mayo underage football scene, now finds itself strapped to the best possible stake as it begins its journey to maturity.
For the years ahead, as they continue to implant themselves in the hearts and minds of devoted club members from Ardagh, Lahardane and Moygownagh, this fledgling project is now anchored by the stake of provincial silverware, earned on foot of a memorable championship final win that will live long in the memory of all involved.
In their semi-final win over Western Gaels of Roscommon, this Ardleathmaigh group proved that they had the football, and the conditioning, to overwhelm a weaker opponent. This final wasn’t that type of game.
St James’ had plenty of possession in this game, and when the story of this game was recounted around Mervue on the east side of Galway city, the focus will have been on the scoring opportunities that they left behind. There were ten wides, seven in the first half alone that included two glorious goal chances, and that’s not including Joe O’Boyle’s goal-line block to repel a Brian King shot midway through the second half; then there was the late breach offence that allowed Ardleathmaigh to settle and register a Conor Carey free in response to the second St James’ goal.
Add in Declan Moran’s goal for the Mayo side, where the green flag flew after a long discussion between referee Dermot McDermott and his umpires about the possibility of a square ball infringement, and the argument from the Galway side would be that they left this one behind.
The alternative view of that, and a reasonable one as well, would be that this was Ardleathmaigh showing incredible survival instincts, dining on scant rations, and playing a huge part in forcing those wides – case in point, Alan Corcoran blazing to the right of the post with the goal at his mercy, when his dummy hop at full speed took Rory Moore out of the game. Sam Lattimore kept Corcoran honest however, chasing him to the end, and there was also great pressure exerted on most of those St James’ kicks, as evidenced by just two white flags coming from play in the whole game, both early on.
Meanwhile Conor Carey and Tadhg Coyne led an attack that made the most of what came their way. Carey caught the eye with a stunning soccer-style finish for the opening goal after 12 minutes, rifling the ball into the bottom left corner from nearly 20 metres out to finish off Cillian Reilly’s well-floated sideline, and Coyne delivered a killer blow of a point for the next score after Corcoran’s wide.
Carey and Adam Sweeney combined to set up Declan Moran’s goal to make it 2-5 to 0-3 approaching half time, but two Shane Fahy frees, one from outside the arc, undid the damage.
Ardleathmaigh could have had more too, and Ross Gallagher was unluckily denied a goal before half-time, though it felt like it wouldn’t matter when the North Mayo combination rattled off the first four points of the second half.
Reilly got them going with a fine strike from 35 metres, Jack Rooney poached a kickout to set up a score for Gallagher and then Coyne and Carey each got in on the act to make it 2-9 to 0-6 five minutes into the second half, giving them just enough cushion to withstand a huge surge from St James.
The Galway side had been fortunate to narrowly overcome Tubbercurry/Cloonacool on the back of four second half goals in their semi-final, but the reintroduction of Connacht Rugby academy player Dara McGrath to their team added huge cutting edge and he arrived late to score the first goal that turbo-charged their revival.
Corcoran made up for his first half miss with a superb solo goal, and when Fahy landed the third of his three two-point frees with four minutes to play, there was just a point between the sides and all the momentum was one way.
But though this Ardleathmaigh project is young, the players involved are made of stern stuff, and they stood tall in the mist and rain, holding firm defensively and wrapping up the win through Coyne’s third point of the day, neatly swung between the posts from a narrow angle in the left corner.
If there were any reservations about this collective project in the three clubs before last week, that insurance score didn’t just secure a provincial title, it silenced all but the most intransigent of objectors for a long time to come.
Scorers – Ardleathmaigh: Conor Carey 1-1-5 (3f), Declan Moran 1-0-1 (1f), Tadhg Coyne 0-0-3, Cillian Reilly and Ross Gallagher 0-0-1 each.
St James: Shane Fahy 0-3-3 (3tpf, 3f), Dara McGrath and Alan Corcoran 1-0-0 each, Finn O’Reilly and Brian King 0-0-1 each.
Ardleathmaigh: Rory Moore; Sam Lattimore, Darragh Moore, Fintan Reape; Joe O’Boyle, Byron Leonard, Keaton Walsh; Cillian Reilly, Adam Sweeney; Jack Rooney, Conor Carey, Shane Murphy; Ross Gallagher, Declan Moran, Tadhg Coyne. Sub: Geoffrey Hurst (for Murphy 46).
St James: Evan Molloy; Oisín Murphy, Conor Conneely, Cormac Murphy; Ryan Connolly, Niall McHugh, Oisín Gorham; Finn O’Reilly, Calum Oliver; Brian King, Dara McGrath, Eoghan Quirke; Jamie Corcoran, Shane Fahy, Alan Corcoran. Sub: Naoise Gorham (for O’Murphy ht).
REF: Dermot McDermott (Roscommon)
