Battle of the Sarsfields ends in survival for Charlestown
Paul Towey turned on the style by kicking 1-14 for Charlestown in their high stakes clash with Ardnaree.
Two superb individual attacking displays, one on either side, lit up Saturday’s relegation showdown between Charlestown Sarsfields and Ardnaree Sarsfields. Remarkably, this first win of the season, after eight consecutive defeats, was enough to see Charlestown avoid the drop to Division 3 for 2026. They may have finished joint bottom of the Division 1A table with Ardnaree on two points but this triumph meant that David ‘Ginger’ Tiernan’s side placed higher based on the head-to-head rule.
Ardnaree, who had new joint-manager Liam McHale on the line for the first time, have for the most part been competitive this season, losing by only three points to Division 1A toppers Breaffy and by one point to arch rivals Ballina Stephenites. They also served Parke-Keelogues-Crimlin their heaviest defeat of the entire campaign (nine points), but the table rarely lies – and a negative 62 points scoring difference tells its own tale.
What they would have given to have Cathal Noone back sooner. After several years spent overseas, Noone returned to the Ardnaree team and scored 2-8 in Saturday’s trip to Charlestown, a two-pointer among the 1-5 he scored from play. But at the other end, the home side had a forward not half bad either, with county star Paul Towey amassing 1-14 of Charlestown’s 2-18 tally in what was a wonderful display of shooting by the full-forward.
It took Towey only three minutes after the throw-in to land his goal, finishing an excellent team move to the net. John Timlin had at that stage already landed Ardnaree’s opening point and he added a second after the goal, but three points in reply by Paul Towey, including the game’s first two pointer, from a free, meant the locals were already four points ahead, 1-3 to 0-2.
But you could tell that Ardnaree Sarsfields were well up for this game and Cathal Noone’s opening two points were augmented by one from Ethan Convey, meaning the entire Ardnaree full-forward line had already scored from play by the 18th minute.
Now only one point adrift, it looked like the visitors were getting to the pitch of the game, however, there was a gear change by Charlestown that saw midfielder Thomas Holton shoot over from outside the arc and Jack Mahon and Paul Towey kick a single apiece, to restore their side’s four points advantage by the 23rd minute.
When that deficit was reduced by points from Cathal Noone and half-back Shane Timlin, those points turned out to be Ardnaree’s final contribution to the scoreboard before half-time. It didn’t help the North Mayo outfit then, that Charlestown finished the first-half strongly, as the ever-reliable Gareth O’Donnell, playing at centre-back, lofted over a point that was followed by three more from the boot of Towey, two of which were from frees.
That all gave Tiernan’s side a six point half-time lead, 1-11 to 0-8, and they would waste no time in stretching that upon the resumption.
Towey opened the second-half with two converted frees, one of which was of the orange flag variety, to extend the lead to nine points, but the rest of the third quarter was pretty much dominated by Ardnaree. Referee Declan Corcoran awarded a penalty that Cathal Noone slammed past Charlestown goalkeeper Kenneth Brennan, while points by Noone, two frees, and John Timlin helped narrow the arrears to three points, as Charlestown’s only other score during that period came via another Towey free.
It was all to play for entering the final fifteen minutes and as was to be revealed, there was another kick left in Tiernan’s charges.
A flowing move upfield resulted in substitute Niall Fleming picking out the unmarked Ben Crean who had the simple job of palming the ball to the Ardnaree net. Another pair of points by Paul Towey, both from play, saw the margin increase to eight points by the 53rd minute. And yet Ardnaree were nothing if not stubborn and they refused to go home or go down without a fight.
The exceptional Cathal Noone belted over a two pointer prior to drilling an excellent goal and with three minutes of normal time remaining, the gap was back down to four points. But that was as good as it got for the Rory Clarke-Liam McHale managed Moysiders, with the final say resting with Paul Towey whose 61st minute point capped a brilliant personal performance.
While Ardnaree will be disappointed at their demotion, there’s evidence aplenty that they could make life very uncomfortable for upcoming opponents in this year’s county intermediate football championship.
Scorers – Charlestown: Paul Towey 1-2-10 (2tpf, 4f), Ben Crean 1-0-0, Thomas Holton 0-1-0, Jack Mahon and Gareth O’Donnell 0-0-1 each.
Ardnaree: Cathal Noone 2-1-6 (1-0pen, 2f), John Timlin 0-0-3, Shane Timlin and Ethan Convey 0-0-1 each.
Charlestown: Kenneth Brennan, E. Fleming, Ben Conway, Tadgh Horkan; Sean Dunleavy, Gareth O’Donnell, Ruairí Cullen; Paddy Goldrick, Thomas Holton; Jack Mahon, Ben Crean, Ciaran Honeyman; Matthew Lenehan, Paul Towey, Paddy Lenehan. Subs used: Niall Fleming (for Honeyman), Niall Murphy (for P Lenehan).
Ardnaree: Ronan Connolly; Kevin Gillespie, Pat Mills, Kenzie McKee; Shane Timlin, Martin Rafter, Jack Regan; Seaghan Duffy, Jason Crean; Liam Jones, Adam Parsons, Nathan Roddy; Cathal Noone, Ethan Convey, John Timlin. Subs: Stephen Jackson (for S Timlin), Chris Walsh (for Parsons), Jonathan Doherty (for Duffy), Charlie Burke (for Rafter).
REF: Declan Corcoran (Islandeady)
