Gales left foggy as Lahardane power to Connacht crown
A moment to savour for Lahardane MacHales as they celebrate their second AIB Connacht Club JFC triumph.
While freezing fog descended over Mayo this weekend, the bonfires raged in parish of Addergoole as Lahardane MacHales won a second Connacht club junior football title after beating a valiant Owenmore Gaels in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park.
Such was the intense fog, the game was almost postponed as visibility was a major issue in Castlebar before officials gave the go-ahead an hour before throw-in, going so far as to source orange footballs to combat the poor visibility.
Despite the tough conditions, both sides deserve immense credit for their performances and while Lahardane emerged as deserving victors in the end, the Gaels more than played their part in a thrilling contest.
In the end, the greater share of scorers proved critical as seven Lahardane players found their range and only one of their scores coming from placed balls. On the flipside, the Sligo men were reliant on the half-forward line of Daire Callaghan, Aaron Mullen and Sligo U20 star Dillon Walsh for scores and the Gaels also had to deal with an inspired showing by Lahardane goalkeeper Joe Queenan, who denied them goals on four occasions and the first of these came inside the opening minute when he denied Mark Walsh.
Pressing the Lahardane defence up high, they opened the scoring through Aaron Mullen’s first free before Matthew Maughan levelled from a mark.
James Maughan and Mullen, a free, traded efforts before the lively Callaghan nudged Owenmore ahead with a fine point off his left boot at the start of the second quarter as Lahardane struggled with the pace and power of the Owenmore attack, while Barry Leonard also saw his game end prematurely on 14 minutes due to a hamstring injury.
Shane Finnerty levelled it for the third time but Gaels continued to keep their noses in front through another Callaghan point, a free. Lahardane supporters found their voice on 19 minutes when Kyran Jordan, who was beginning to find his stride, played in Matthew Maughan to palm into the net and Jordan quickly followed it up with his first score of the afternoon, Owenmore responded through a terrific strike by Dillon Walsh over the bar only for Lahardane to fire in a second goal on 23 minutes when Jordan ran a full 40 yards before firing into the corner.
It was a cruel blow for Owenmore, and they also lost goalkeeper Shaun O’Boyle to injury following Jordan net-crusher but they responded well through another Mullen free and Walsh’ second point moments after Queenan denied him a shot on goal to leave three between the sides at the break, 2-4 to 0-7.
As the fog began to subside, their advantage was doubled inside seven minutes of the second half through efforts by Adrian Leonard, Mark Noone and Darragh Walsh. Callaghan pulled a point back when Dillon Walsh was again denied by Queenan and the rebound was cleared off the line. Mullen brought it back to four from a free before Noone nailed his second point of the half and it appeared all but over on 47 minutes as a long ball from deep found Noone and he flicked it over the stranded O’Boyle for Shane Finnerty to palm it into an empty net.
Although they were now eight points down, the Gaels showed why they are champions of the Yeats County and were back to three with seven minutes of normal time to play. Mullen’s sixth point, and first from play, was countered by a fisted effort by the relentless Jordan. Mullen nailed another free when Dillon Walsh raced through to finally beat Queenan with a wonderful individual goal. When Mullen hit his sixth and final free, the Collooney travelling faithful found their voice once more.
But it would be the final score of the game as Lahardane held off wave after wave of attack. Noone set up Adrian Leonard for the insurance score and Benny Joyce blocked a near-certain goal by Mullen as Lahardane joined Kilmeena as two-time winners of the Connacht junior football championship.
