Buoyant Bonni’ consign Northern rivals to the drop

Mayo SFL Division 2 Relegation Playoff 

Bonniconlon 0-11 

Ardagh 0-4 

Daragh Coyle in Ardagh 

Not a classic by any means, but a tactical masterclass from Bonniconlon saw them fire away in the second-half and retain Division 2 status through being the more clinical of the two sides in Friday’s relegation playoff with Ardagh. The visitors impressively pressed Ardagh’s build-up by hunting in packs with clear structure, and with the home side deploying a sweeper, Bonniconlon took advantage of the space in the middle of the field to carve out clearer chances, and the scoreline reflected their success in this all-North Mayo clash.

Bonniconlon put the first score on the board in the fifth minute, with Darragh Fox sending the ball swerving over after teammate Noel Judge intercepted Joseph Carr’s handpass out of Ardagh’s defence. Fox was central to the second point too, bursting onto a kick-pass and handpassing the ball to James Harrington who quickly moved it onto Sean Neary. Neary dummied through contact and found the space to send the ball over from just 10 metres off his left.

Stephen Rochford got Ardagh up and running just before the end of the game’s first quarter, as after a ball was launched into him on the counter, the centre-forward duly turned quickly and fired a classy score over from around 30 metres.

Brian O’Malley duly tapped over the game’s first free from close range for Bonniconlon, and that was added to when Cillian Upton ended a nice passage of play after claiming midfielder Johnathan Lavelle’s high hand pass into the middle, turning and sending the ball high and over. Rochford attempted to reply with a free off the floor but it was wide to the right.

Sean Neary then made it 0-5 to 0-1 to the Sky Blues by converting a free from the right, curling over off his left delightfully. Lee Traynor replied for Ardagh with a similar curled free also off his left, and the home side cut the lead to two before the break with Brendan Carr’s beautiful long-range score. From just inside the 45-metre line, Carr laced the ball having raced forward from midfield, and his effort sailed over the bar and the half-time whistle sounded shortly after.

Bonniconlon began to race away in the second-half, but not before James Harrington missed a golden one-on-one goal chance which was tipped round the post by Ardagh netminder Sean Finan. Harrington, however, got goal side of Donal O’Boyle in the left corner to drill over and make amends.

With the visitors now showing supreme aerial superiority on kickouts, Ardagh struggled to launch attacks and the away side surged. Niall Greavy collected the scraps of a broken kickout to fire over off his left and put Bonniconlon four ahead. Stephen Rochford turned Jonathan Lavelle and won a free, and Lee Traynor received his kick-pass into the left corner in a pocket of space, firing high over from a tight angle, but that would be Ardagh’s final score of the game, with relegation looming over them.

Ronan Neary would add a superb double salvo off the bench for Bonniconlon, as he dummied inside to score from 20 metres before following that up with a long range right-wing point on the run, both off his right boot. A point from O’Malley followed, with Sean Neary’s interception providing the chance, and they secured the win with four unanswered points as substitute David Walsh was the last name entered into the scoring ledger.

Scorers – Bonniconlon: Ronan Neary, Sean Neary (1f) and Brian O’Malley 0-2 (1f) 0-2 each, Darragh Fox, David Walsh, James Harrington, Niall Greavy and Cillian Upton 0-1 each.

Ardagh: Lee Traynor 0-2 (1f), Stephen Rochford and Brendan Carr 0-1 each.

Ardagh: Sean Finan; Donal O’Boyle, Joseph Carr, Liam Pritchett; Ronan McAndrew, John Cafferty, Ruari O’Boyle; Brendan Carr, Paddy Walsh; Diarmuid Barrett, Stephen Rochford, David Cassidy; Lee Traynor, Luke Gilmartin, Kevin Moran. Subs used: Fionn Barrett, Kevin Gordon, Fionn Gill.

Bonniconlon: Aidan Doherty; Eoin Fox, Eoghan Greavy, Martin Boyd; Darragh Fox, Conor Redmond, Thomas Walsh; Richard McKenzie, Johnathan Lavelle; Noel Judge, Niall Greavy, Cillian Upton; James Harrington, Brian O’Malley, Sean Neary. Subs used: David Walsh, Ronan Neary, Ronan Conlon, Rory Upton, Conor Igoe.

REF: Declan Corcoran (Islandeady)