Calamitous night for Knocked-out Garry’

Mayo SFC Quarter-Final 

Knockmore 3-8 

Garrymore 0-5 

Anthony Hennigan in Garrymore 

Followers of Mayo football are accustomed to anti-climaxes but unfortunately the affliction is not limited to the county team, with this eagerly awaited clash of Garrymore and Knockmore failing to catch the imagination like all the ingredients suggested it might.

Garrymore has people and a football pitch – and a beautiful one at that. It’s floodlights attracted hundreds like bees to honey on Saturday night, all in expectation of the home side asking some very serious questions of the 2020 and ’21 Mayo senior champions and possibly even beating them.

The pristine surface sparkled with its dew and in the stilly September air, as cavalcades of cars winded their way through the darkness to the South Mayo hilltop, spectators were chattering over the breaking news that former Mayo star Kevin McLoughlin was ruled out through injury. Nor were Shane McHale or Connell Dempsey going to be fit to play for Knockmore while equally good talents like Peter Naughton and Sean Holmes were confined to the bench.

That all only seemed to strengthen the case for an upset for while Garry’ might have been listed in some quarters as favourites to win, semi-final appearances for the once giants of Mayo club football have become as rare as the corncrake. When next they’ll have an opportunity as good as the one they left behind last weekend is hard to know.

Knockmore controlled the scoreboard from the sixth minute until the finish, aided greatly by some calamitous Garrymore defending and some woeful Garrymore finishing. The visitors were a dozen points to the good by the 28th minute in a first-half tale of goal chances taken, untaken and gifted.

The early indications, however, had been that Garrymore were ready to carry the fight to the North Mayo men. The Nally brothers, Shane and Trevor, had both kicked wides by the fourth minute but in between, there was an excellent point by Mark Gibbons after a storming run up the wing by corner-back Colin Commins.

Knockmore’s opening score, however, was a goal, which handed them a lead they were never to surrender. Enda Hession was happy to steer Aiden Orme onto his right boot towards the endline except that the Mayo defender ended up outpaced by his former county teammate who fisted low across the goalmouth for Darren McHale to boot home. A point by Caolan Hopkins in the eighth minute left three between the sides but Knockmore weren’t to score again for nearly 15 minutes.

Garrymore could – and should – have capitalised except that Conor Lydon had a shot for goal blocked on the line by Darren McHale while midfielder Gary Golden, after Darren Quinn broke the high ball, blasted another goal chance wide to the right. There were also chances of points wildly missed by the experienced Caolan Crowe and David Dolan, all before a disastrous spell saw Garrymore obliterated by the concession of 2-3 in six minutes.

Ciaran McGrath was dispossessed 25-metres from his posts and fortunate that Aiden Orme whipped the ball over instead of under the crossbar but worse, much worse, was to follow for the Garrymore goalkeeper. Whether it was the lurking presence of Orme or the glare of the floodlights or a combination of both, McGrath allowed a kick from out near the sideline by Darren McHale to drop into his net, and coming in between points by Caolan Hopkins, a free, and Colm Reape, a ’45, that saw Knockmore lead by nine.

But McGrath’s misfortune wasn’t done yet; the ex-Corofin star’s short restart was slow to pass outside the ‘D’ which allowed Darragh Staunton nip past full-back David Dolan and square the ball to Keith Ruttledge who side-footed to an empty net from 20-metres.

The Parish of Backs now led 3-4 to 0-1 and while Mark Gibbons eventually broke a 27-minute scoreless spell with his and Garrymore’s second point, there was still time before the interval for them to squander another goal chance. There was an argument that Enda Hession, after a searing run through the Knockmore defence, should have shot himself but instead he overcooked a handpass inside to Crowe who would have had the net at his mercy.

By half-time, the hosts had hit six wides. By full-time, that had increased to thirteen, compared to Knockmore’s three.

Remarkably, the Reds began the second-half just the way they had finished the first, by missing yet another goal chance, with Cathal Slattery, one of their better performers on the night, getting in behind the Knockmore full-back line inside 20 seconds but sending the ball agonisingly across the square. Absolutely nothing was going right, with even the post denying Darren Quinn, while at the other end Hopkins was lofting over a magnificent point off his left boot, to restore Knockmore’s 12 points advantage.

Quinn, a free, and half-time substitute Eoin McGreal did hit back-to-back points for the locals and Mark Gibbons kicked a fine reply to a point by Aiden Orme, but the last scores belonged to Knockmore as Charlie Bourke, who earlier had a fisted goal effort cleared off the line, and Caolan Hopkins, from a free, split the posts, to send Aidan Kilcoyne and John Brogan’s team through to the semi-finals with consummate ease.

Scorers – Knockmore: Darren McHale 2-0, Caolan Hopkins 0-4 (2f), Keith Ruttledge 1-0, Aiden Orme 0-2, Colm Reape (’45) and Charlie Bourke 0-1.

Garrymore: Mark Gibbons 0-3, Darren Quinn (f) and Eoin McGreal 0-1 each.

Garrymore: Ciaran McGrath; Pat Hession, Caolan Crowe, Colin Commins; Enda Hession, Liam Og Horkan, David Dolan; Gary Golden, Cathal Slattery; Shane Nally, Mark Gibbons, Conor Lydon; Darren Quinn, Aaron Hughes, Trevor Nally. Subs: Kenneth Lydon, Eoin McGreal and Jamie Hession (for Golden, Hughes and C Lydon ht), Micheál Connolly (for T Nally 55), Jamie Oates (for P Hession 60).

Knockmore: Colm Reape; David McHale, Kieran King, Adam Battle; Nathan Armstrong, Conor Flynn, Declan Melvin; Darragh Staunton, Pearse Ruttledge; Charlie Bourke, Darren McHale, Keith Ruttledge; Liam Durcan, Aiden Orme, Caolan Hopkins. Subs: Sean Holmes (for Battle 43, inj), Peter Naughton (for Bourke 52), David McHale and Adam Naughton (for D McHale and Staunton 57), Nathan Hardy (for K Ruttledge 60), Dylan Coleman (for Orme 60+3_.

REF: Paul Lydon (Kiltimagh)