Island men pip Gaels by the ocean
James Forde of Northern Gaels contests possession with Achill's James O'Hara. Picture: Cathy McGlynn Photography
Achill got their county junior championship campaign back on track with a narrow win over Northern Gaels last Sunday afternoon.
The islanders were beaten by Killala in their opening group game the week before, their failure to raise a green flag proving costly. They remedied that at a windy Davitt Park with two majors in the first-half.
Even though they would only add three more points in the second-half, their five-point lead at the break gave them a sufficient cushion to see off a Northern Gaels fightback, the visitors coming into this game off the back of a win over Ballycroy in Round 1.
In an entertaining opening half of football, the sides shared the first four points of the game in the opening nine minutes. Achill’s points, both coming from Sean Dever, were matched by singles from Cathal Boland and Ruairi McDonnell.
On 11 minutes, Achill would raise their first green flag. The impressive David Grealis found Peter Gallagher on the edge of the square, and he palmed home from close range. Grealis followed it up with a point before James O’Hara kicked a superb two-point free on 14 minutes.
Northern Gaels were unfortunate not find the net two minutes later, Cathal Boland seeing his rocket crash off the crossbar. Meanwhile, the Devers, Sean and Tiorlach, combined for the latter to fist over and make it 1-6 to 0-2 after 17 minutes.
Six minutes later, the gap was reduced to three points. Tommy Clarke, a free, and Ruairi McDonnell split the posts before Mark Munnelly’s free dropped short and McDonnell was quickest to react to punch the ball past goalkeeper Stephen Grealis.
The response from Achill was excellent. Peter Gallagher sent over a wonderful two-point effort and this was followed by Achill’s second goal on 27 minutes. A diagonal ball picked out Sean Dever 20 meters out, and he ran on before thundering his strike into the net.
Northern Gaels duo Ruairi McDonnell and Mark Munnelly, a free, got the final scores of the first-half but the red, green and yellow – an amalgamation of Kilfian and Lacken – still trailed 2-8 to 1-6 at half-time.
The only two scores of the third quarter both came from Achill, Peter Gallagher stepping up with a pair of frees on 33 and 43 minutes respectively, while Cathal Boland was shown a black card on 41 minutes after a pulldown on Achill vice-captain Tiarnan Cooney.
Defensively, Achill dealt with the Northern Gaels threat relatively comfortably and the Gaels did not register another score until the 54th minute through a two-point free by Tommy Clarke.
Matters were getting tense, and points from Daniel Walsh and Munnelly, a free, made it a one score affair as the game went into additional time.
Gaels’ former Mayo minor Owen Loughney left two between them, but Peter Gallagher stepped once again with a brilliant free from a tight angle to restore the home side’s three-point lead with three minutes of injury-time played.
Cathal Boland left a point between them with a two-pointer, but time ran out for the Gaels as Achill celebrated a much-needed win.
Scorers – Achill: Peter Gallagher 1-1-3 (3f), Sean Dever 1-0-2, James O’Hara 0-1-0 (1tpf), David Grealis and Tiorlach Dever 0-0-1 each.
Northern Gaels: Ruairi McDonnell 1-0-3, Tommy Clarke (1tpf, 1f) and Cathal Boland 0-1-1 each. Mark Munnelly 0-0-2f, Daniel Walsh and Owen Loughney 0-0-1 each.
Achill: Stephen Grealis; Eugene Doran, Calum Doolan Lynch, Tiarnan Cooney; Sean P McNamara, Peter Gallagher, Cian McCarthy; Jonathan Fadian, Eddie Doran; Jamie McGinty, Ronan Kilbane, James O’Hara; Sean Dever, Tiorlach Dever, David Grealis. Subs: Callum McDonnell (for Fadian ht), Michael Dara Sweeney (for T Dever 45), Fionn Ó Mongáin (for Kilbane 60+2).
Northern Gaels: Daire Devine; Liam Ruddy, Conor McHale, Shane Loughney; Mark McDonnell, Daniel Coleman, Kieran Loughney; Owen Loughney, Craig McDonnell; James Forde, Tommy Clarke, Daniel Walsh; Ruairi McDonnell, Cathal Boland, Mark Munnelly. Subs: John McLoughlin (for Coleman 49), JP Walsh (for D Walsh 58).
REF: Kevin Corcoran (Islandeady)
