Boland breaks Swinford hearts as Gaels grab quarter spot
Swinford’s Danny Molloy and Northern Gaels James Forde vie for possession.
With only one game taking place in the county junior football championship last weekend, all eyes were on James Stephens Park to see who would grab the quarter-final spot that was up for grabs. Regulation time, extra-time and the final kick of the ball were all needed to separate Northern Gaels and Swinford in what was an exciting contest from beginning to end.
Ultimately, it was the Gaels who prevailed, thanks to a dramatic last gasp intervention by Cathal Boland.
Playing with a strong wind at their backs, Swinford opened the scoring when Liam Moran fired over a two pointer, but they would have to wait a further eighteen minutes to add to their tally. James Forde and Cathal Boland both landed points for Northern Gaels to level the contest before they raised the only green flag of the contest. Tommy Clarke flew off on Forde’s shoulder to take the pass and let rip with a shot that nestled into the top left corner of the Swinford net.
Liam Ruddy and Ruairi McDonnell concluded the Gaels unanswered 1-4, which had them leading by five points with twenty minutes on the clock.
Swinford almost found the net themselves amongst the Northern Gaels rout but Colin Dempsey saw his goal-bound effort tipped onto the post after a fingertip save from Daire Devine.
After struggling to find the target, Swinford hit a triplet of doubles with Moran adding his second and third two pointers of the afternoon and Ronan Murphy also firing over from long range. This four-minute hit and run combination saw Swinford regain a one point lead.
Northern Gaels swung the lead back in their favour, raising three white flags in as many minutes. Clarke added a couple, including a sweet score off the outside of his left boot, and Mark Munnelly pointed after being introduced off the bench. His introduction came at the loss of Niall McDonnell who had played a pivotal role in the North Mayo side’s journey in this year’s championship so far.
The half ended as it started however, as Swinford levelled the contest with their fifth two pointer as Liam Moran punished a Northern Gaels breach.
The action resumed with Swinford seeing red as substitute Jack Murphy was given his marching orders for an off the ball altercation. The sides went blow for blow over the following twenty minutes as neither team could edge away from their opponents. Daniel Walsh opened his account with a point from play for Gaels and Ruairi McDonnell added a couple more while points by Moran, one from play and one from a free, along with Colin Dempsey splitting the posts, helped keep Swinford level.
Before Northern Gaels could return to their full complement after Ciaran Loughney was flashed a black card, Moran converted two frees to leave Swinford in the driving seat. Unfortunately for them however, the score of the day came in the 57th minute with an orange flag being waved beside their goalmouth. Tommy Clarke lined up a two-point effort from a 50-metre free and the centre-forward dropped it over the bar with ease.
Both sides saw late opportunities to seal the victory go a begging and extra-time was on its way in Ballina, with Northern Gaels and Swinford deadlocked at 1-12 to 0-15.
Swinford were further depleted when Jack Ferguson was shown a black card four minutes into extra-time. Gaels used their extra bodies to good effect by leaving themselves ahead by two points at half-time of extra time, with Clarke adding a further free and McDonnell pointing from play.
Swinford only needed a couple of minutes to find the couple of scores that levelled the contest after the resumption of play for the second-half of extra-time. Moran pointed another free and Forkan struck over his third point so then, with the return of Ferguson to the fray, Moran pointing from play to regain Swinford’s lead and Darren Campbell winning a penalty, after an inch perfect pass from Thomas Tuffy, it looked finally as though this was going to be Swinford’s day.
Daire Devine disagreed however, and the Northern Gaels netminder got down to the bottom left corner of his net and pulled off a fine save to deny Seinford captain Liam Moran from the spot, giving Gaels a renewed sense of belief.
With 81 minutes played, Cathal Boland lined up a two-point effort and as his shot dropped over the black spot, referee Kieran Barnicle’s final whistle sounded.
Scorers – Northern Gaels: : Tommy Clarke 1-1-3 (1tpf, 3f), Cathal Boland 0-1-3, Ruairi McDonnell 0-0-2 (1f), James Forde, Liam Ruddy, Mark Munnelly and Daniel Walsh 0-0-1 each.
Swinford: Liam Moran 0-4-6 (2tpf, 4f), Mark Forkan 0-1-1, Colin Dempsey 0-0-1.
Northern Gaels: Daire Devine; Ronan Murphy, Shane Loughney, Fergal McHale; James Forde, Mark McDonnell, Owen Loughney; Liam Ruddy, Craig McCormick; Niall McDonnell, Tommy Clarke, Ciaran Loughney; Ruairi McDonnell, Michael Lynott, Cathal Boland. Subs used: Mark Munnelly, Daniel Walsh, Sean McKeown, Adam Lavin, John McLoughlin.
Swinford: Niall Cassidy; Mark Forkan, John Dunleavy, Alan McLoughlin; Sean McDonagh, Jack Ferguson, Danny Molloy; Barry Brennan, Luke McNicholas; Jason McLoughlin, Liam Moran, Thomas Tuffy; Josh Smith, Colin Dempsey, Kevin McDonagh. Subs used: Jack Murphy, Michael Daly, Sean Brady, Darren Campbell, Paul McNicholas, James Lavin.
REF: Kieran Barnicle (Breaffy)
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Seven of the eight places in the Mayo junior ‘A’ football championship quarter-finals have now been confirmed, with Northern Gaels the latest team to secure a last eight spot. The remaining quarter-finalist will come from the Group 1 clash between Ballycastle and Ballycroy next Sunday (Tom Langan Park at 12pm, Declan Leonard), which will determine who finishes third in that five-team group. Ardagh and Bonniconlon are already assured of progressing from Group 1 in advance of their meeting next Saturday (Ardagh at 5pm, Paddy Chambers). Tourmakeady, Kiltimagh, Shrule-Glencorrib and Eastern Gaels are the other confirmed quarter-finalists.
