Covey comeback leaves Breaffy battered and bruised

Connacht Gold Mayo SFC Quarter-Final 

Westport 2-16 

Breaffy 1-16 

Stuart Tynan in Breaffy 

Breaffy have endured some painful defeats over the last fifteen years in the Mayo senior football championship. Some very painful defeats. None of them ever came close to this.

Pierce Deane’s converted free on 39 minutes put the home side 1-16 to 1-7 up against a Westport team that were down to fourteen players after the dismissal of goalkeeper Paddy O’Malley. They looked dead and buried and maybe that was the problem; that Breaffy thought it was all done and dusted and that all they had to do was manage the game out, like they had done so efficiently until then.

Yet a Westport team that still contains much of the side that won the Moclair Cup in 2022 – a feat that still eludes Breaffy – showed the ability, character and defiance required to reel in Sean Deane’s side. And then super sub Colm Moran inflicted the knockout blow, punching Conal Dawson’s two-point attempt into the net after it dropped short.

Both Moran and Dawson were outstanding in those final 20 minutes, so too Rory Brickenden, Killian Kilkelly, Eoghan McLaughlin and Lee Keegan, the latter having teetered on the brink of his own red card at times after picking up a yellow in the first-half.

Westport’s performance while a player down for most of the second-half was all the more inexplicable given their awful display with a full deck in the first. Breaffy were 0-4 to no score in front inside nine minutes, Pierce Deane accounting for two of the points, including a lovely score from the sideline.

At that stage, Westport were struggling to string over three passes together although a sign of what they were capable of was shown in their first real attack in the tenth minute. Eoghan McLoughlin played in a quick ball to Kevin Keane, whose shot took a deflection on the way, and Paddy O’Malley converted the ’45.

A minute later and they struck even harder. A poor pass by Breaffy corner-back Conor Beirne was intercepted and Rory Brickenden picked out Kilkelly with a lovely pass before the full-forward guided his shot into the bottom corner.

Any momentum Westport built was lost inside two minutes however, as a two-point free from Jack Livingstone and a single from Davitt Neary cancelled out the major. Matthew Ruane and Joey Holmes traded points, but Westport would then go a quarter hour without a score as a point from Daire Morrin, followed by a pair of two-pointers through Jack Livingstone (free) and Daire Morrin put Breaffy in control. Matters were not helped as before Livingstone’s strike, Eoghan McLaughlin was shown a black card for a needless pull down.

Conal Dawson eventually stopped the rot for the Coveys with a badly needed two-pointer, followed by a single from Ray Walsh on the stroke of half-time. In between, Davitt Neary was denied a goal by a brilliant save by Paddy O’Malley, but Breaffy still led 0-13 to 1-5 at the interval and Westport were grateful the gap was only five points.

That deficit increased to nine after a horrible start to the second-half for the visitors. After Conor O’Shea’s second point, Davitt Neary finally beat Paddy O’Malley to find the net for Breaffy after excellent play from Yousif Coghill.

Paddy O’Malley responded with a two-point free but his day would be curtailed shortly after. Pierce Deane punished Westport with two short frees, the first coming after Westport failed to keep three players up, and the second after O’Malley was shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball incident on 39 minutes.

Westport, a man down and nine points behind with nine minutes gone in the second-half, could have imploded but by the 47th minute they were back to within a point. Killian Kilkelly kicked a single before three two-pointers on the spin from Conal Dawson, a free, Colm Moran, with his first touch since coming on as a sub, and Finbarr McLaughlin, left Breaffy in a tailspin.

The hosts were now in a panic, with wides by Neary and Livingstone doing nothing to ease the nerves. A Killian Kilkelly free levelled it on 53 minutes and only one winner looked likely.

Westport continued to push on and on 58 minutes, Colm Moran captialised on Conal Dawson’s two-point effort when punching the dropping ball past Livingstone and into the net to give his side the lead for the first time.

Breaffy still had time to launch another last-minute rescue but Livingstone’s free went wide.

Another chance for a maiden Mayo senior title has fallen by the wayside for Breaffy for whom a long winter lies ahead. Westport, meanwhile, advance to the semi-finals despite only showing up for around 25 minutes of this game. They’ll need to produce more – but it’s well within them.

Scorers – Westport: Colm Moran 1-1-0, Killian Kilkelly 1-0-2 (1f), Conal Dawson 0-2-1 (1tpf, 1f), Paddy O’Malley 0-1-1 (1tpf, 1 ’45), Finbarr McLaughlin 0-1-0, Joey Holmes and Ray Walsh 0-0-1 each.

Breaffy: Davitt Neary 1-0-1, Jack Livingstone 0-2-0 (2tpf), Pierce Deane 0-0-4 (1s/l, 2f), Daire Morrin 0-1-1, Conor O’Shea 0-0-2, Robbie Fadden and Matthew Ruane 0-0-1 each.

Breaffy: Jack Livingstone; Conor Melly, Mark Dervan, Conor Beirne; Yousif Coghill, James Minogue, Daire Morrin; Matthew Ruane, Robbie Fadden; Aidan Cunningham, Conor O’Shea, Davitt Neary; Niall Carter, Aidan O’Shea, Pierce Deane. Subs: Oisin Tunney (for Fadden 33), Conor Golden (for Melly 45, inj), John Deane (for Carter 54), Ben Murphy (for Beirne 60).

Westport: Paddy O’Malley; Ben Doyle, Niall McManamon, Brian McDermott; Conal Dawson, Eoghan McLaughlin, Finbarr McLaughlin; Rory Brickenden, Lee Kegan; Brian O’Malley, Joey Holmes, Luke Tunney; Ray Walsh, Killian Kilkelly, Kevin Keane. Subs: Lorcan Silke (for Walsh 35), Conor Meaney (for Tunney 38), Colm Moran (for Keane 44), Liam Shevlin (for F McLaughlin 60+3).

REF: Liam Devenney (Ballina Stephenites)