Bonni’ out to Cill another dream of junior glory

Fri, 25 Oct, 2024 - 15:24

Preview Anthony Hennigan

Treanlaur Catering Mayo JFC Final

Saturday, October 26

7pm at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar

Cill Chomáin v Bonniconlon

REF: Kieran Barnicle (Breaffy)

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Both teams here are on missions that are anything but straightforward. Cill Chomáin reached the final of the county junior football championship in both 2021 and 2022 yet were unable to close out the deal; Bonniconlon are aiming for an immediate return to the intermediate grade after their relegation last year for the first time in a generation.

At first glance, the formbook would appear to point towards a Cill Chomáin win, but the Gaeltacht men had plenty of backers too when taking on Kilmeena and Islandeady in those previous finals mentioned yet here they remain, still in junior but back in the decider for the third time in four years and praying history doesn’t repeat itself.

There was no shame in a three points loss to Kilmeena in ’21, as the St Brendan’s Park outfit would add Connacht and All-Ireland titles to their cabinet on the same run, but the Cill Chomáin we knew just never turned up 12 months later when faced by another West Mayo opponent in Islandeady. If they focus on their performance first and foremost next Saturday, let the result take care of itself.

The side managed by Knockmore natives Nigel Reape and Sean McLoughlin are actually bidding for their third win against Bonniconlon this season alone. They first met all the way back on May 19 in Round 3 of Mayo SFL Division 2A at which point both teams had lost their opening two games; Cill Chomain triumphed 2-08 to 0-11 and would pick up three more wins and one draw (that coming against intermediate quarter-finalists and Division 2 finalists Ardnaree Sarsfields) whereas Bonni’ ended up as one of three teams to finish on five points, just two clear of bottom placed Knockmore ‘B’.

Their next encounter came in the final round of Group 1 in this current junior championship, the caveat to Cill Chomáin’s 1-12 to 0-09 win being that with three teams qualifying from the group to the quarter-finals, both were already safely through.

The clean sheet of Cill Chomáin that day is one of six posted by the Black and White so far. Put another way, they have yet to concede a championship goal in 2024. Furthermore, out of the fourteen junior teams who set out in search of the McDonnell Cup, they are the only one to have won every game. And while they might not be the most prolific of scorers, Cill Chomáin haven’t had any great need to be, quite simply because their defence has been absolutely rock solid.

Those clean sheets have contributed significantly to the Gaeltacht side conceding a miserly average of just over six points per game (38 points in total), having limited opponents to just three points on three separate occasions, namely Swinford, Moygownagh and Tourmakeady.

And yet it’s not as though Bonniconlon’s statistics are all that shoddy either. Nobby McLoughlin’s men have actually scored eight points more than their upcoming opponents across their six matches (84 to 76) despite scoring two goals less, much of which is attributed to them shooting 2-14 against Moygownagh and Cill Chomáin just 0-13, when both conceded 0-3.

The Blues have also conceded a total of just 60 points, or 2-54 (exactly 10 per game), but finishing third in their five-team group behind Cill Chomáin and Swinford, who beat them by three points in the opening round, is sure to have Bonniconlon entering next weekend’s match as underdogs. And yet, it’s arguable their semi-final win against Eastern Gaels was one of the results of the competition to date.

Gaels were keeping pace with Cill Chomáin as the only team to win every one of their matches and increasingly, many were touting them as serious contenders to go all the way in this championship, until they ran into the Blue Wave last time out. They were forced to surrender a four points half-time lead as wind-assisted Bonniconlon outscored them 0-13 to 0-4 in the second-half in Parke.

Ciaran Gaughan and hardworking midfielder Jonathan Lavelle hit nine points between them in that second period and if that pair along with the likes of Conor Igoe, Sean Neary, Ronan Neary and James Harrington, can hit a similar rhythm in the wide expanses of MacHale Park, there’s nothing to say bonfires won’t be blazing in the foothills of the Ox Mountains.

But it’s whether the defence has the collective ability to nullify the Healy brothers, Justin and Jack, and Luke Tighe, whose 48th minute goal helped swing the semi-final against Swinford the way of Cill Chomáin, that could be the making or breaking of Bonniconlon’s dream. Also confronting them is the ability of the Mason boys, Joe, Lorcan and Seamus, the guile of evergreen Brendan Moran and the complementary midfield partnership that has formed between Liam Maloney and Sean Murphy.

In search of their first county junior title since 2012, Cill Chomáin might just have enough to make it third time lucky.

Paths to the final…

Round 1:`

Bonniconlon 0-10 Swinford 0-13

Round 2:

Cill Chomáin 0-8 Swinford 0-3

Bonniconlon 1-13 Kilmovee Shamrocks 0-7

Round 3:

Cill Chomáin 2-07 Kilmovee Shamrocks 0-9

Bonniconlon 2-14 Moygownagh 0-3

Round 4:

Cill Chomáin 0-13 Moygownagh 0-3