Bonniconlon power on through to defeat Ballycastle
Bonniconlon’s Conor Igoe in action against Ballycastle’s Shane Maughan during the Treanlaur Catering Mayo JFC round 1 tie at Bonniconlon last Saturday evening. Picture: David Farrell Photography
Not at their best by any means, but last year’s junior runners-up Bonniconlon still had too much for a gutsy Ballycastle as both clubs got their Mayo Junior Football Championship adventures underway.
The home side were already 0-5 to 0-0 after five minutes thanks to Brian O’Malley and two-point efforts by Sean Neary and Conor Igoe but a high wide count saw them score only two more points over the next 19 minutes.
Ballycastle got off the mark on 12 minutes thanks to Fergal Forde and their other points in the first half came from Fionnan MacConghamhna and Thomas McNulty, but scoring chances were few and far between as they struggled to hold onto possession for any sustained period.
Just when it appeared Bonniconlon were letting their frustrations get the better of them, up stepped the impressive Ciaran Gaughan who kicked three points before the break, along with one from Sean Neary, to put the boys in blue 0-11 to 0-3 ahead at half-time.
As the weather conditions took a bad turn, the gap remained at eight points with 13 minutes played in the second half as the sides shared six points between them but another salvo from Ciaran Gaughan, as well as excellent scores from James Harrington, would put further daylight between them going into the final quarter.
Ballycastle battled until the end and Fergal Forde fired over a pair of two-pointers to put respectability on the scoreboard, but Bonniconlon signed off the win in style late on as Ciaran Gaughan’s point attempt was flicked on by Jonathan Lavelle into the net.
Scorers – Bonniconlon: Ciaran Gaughan 0-0-6 (3f), Sean Neary 0-1-3 (1 tp, 1f), James Harrington 0-0-5, Jonathan Lavelle 1-0-0, Conor Igoe 0-1-1 (1 tp), Brian O’Malley 0-0-1.
Ballycastle: Fergal Forde 0-2-1 (2 tp), Dermot Kelly 0-0-2, Fionnan MacConghamhna, Finn McDermott-Cox and Thomas McNulty 0-0-1 each.
Bonniconlon: Eugene Carlin; Eoin Fox, Lorcan Conlon, James McKenzie; Shane Tolan, Niall Greavy, Conor Igoe; Richard McKenzie, Jonathan Lavelle; Darragh Fox, Sean Neary, Ronan Conlon; James Harrington, Brian O’Malley, Ciaran Gaughan. Subs: Rory Upton (for Fox 19), Eoghan Greavy and Conor Redmond (for Tolan and J McKenzie 36), Noel Judge (for R Conlon 54), Daniel Tuohy (for O'Malley (58).
Ballycastle: Jason O’Neill; Paul Whelan, Richard Tighe, Keith Carden; Fionnan MacConghamhna, Kevin Healy, Michael Tighe; Michael Forde, Fergal Forde; Shaene Maughan, Finn McDermott-Cox, Dermot Kelly; Lorcan O’Donnell, Thomas McNulty, Liam Óg Barrett. Subs: Andrew Tighe (for R Tighe ht), Eoin McDonnell and Anthony Tighe (for McNulty and Maughan 57), Tom Tomas (for Kelly 60+2).
REF: Walter Doherty (Balla).
