Late rally keeps Benson’s boys in pole position
Leon Askin of Westport takes off in pursuit as Josh Moyles drives forward for Crossmolina Deel Rovers in their impressive win In last Sunday's Round 8 clash in Mayo SFL Division 1B. Pictures: Lily Hegarty
More and more, Crossmolina Deel Rovers have all the look of a team who will feel quite at home in the lofty surrounds of the county senior championship. Further evidence of the growing maturity of last year’s All-Ireland intermediate club champions came last Sunday lunchtime, when they humbled Westport St Patrick’s in the penultimate round of Mayo SFL Division 1B, coming from six points behind to inflict a four points defeat on the 2022 Moclair Cup winners.
Fair enough, the Coveys ere down in numbers and are far from firing on all cylinders at present – they have won just two out of eight league games to date – but enough of their big guns were on show at St Tiernan’s Park, including Mayo players Conal Dawson and Rory Brickenden, and when Westport scored a trio of goals in a quarter hour period either side of half-time, they looked a decent bet to record a win that would have greatly damaged Crossmolina’s hopes of reaching the Division 1 final.
But inspired by James Maheady and Patrick Leddy, both of whom struck goals inside the final ten minutes, the Deel Rovers came from behind to secure both league points and maintain their place at the top of the table. And they did so minus the services of Conor Loftus and ace kicker Fionán Duffy, which is a sign of the growing depth to their squad, albeit it should be said that Lee Keegan and Colm Moran were two of the notable absentees for the visitors.
Maheady was exceptional, ending the game with 1-9 to his name, and next Saturday evening Crossmolina will host Claremorris, who sit one point behind them in the standings, with the winner advancing to the Division 1 final. A draw will suffice for Crossmolina as third place Garrymore currently sit too far adrift.
It's not as though Westport wouldn’t have wanted to win this game either; with only the top five teams in the table qualifying to play in a restructured Division 1 in 2026, the Blues are in seventh position as a result of this defeat and not even a home win against Mayo Gaels next weekend is guaranteed to move them into the top half of the table. In fact, the chances are that it won’t, and it’s increasingly likely that the West Mayo outfit will be playing in Division 2 next season.
There was an early exchange of two point frees between James Maheady and Conal Dawson, who had already kicked Westport’s opening point from play, but by the 22nd minute Crossmolina seemed to have a decent grip on the proceedings, leading as they did by 0-7 to 0-3. Maheady, operating at right corner-forward, had scored another two points from single frees while there was a point apiece from play by Edward Gough, Dylan Flynn and Kobe McDonald, who was lining out at midfield alongside Mayo senior Jordan Flynn.
The game, however, was to swing dramatically in the space of sixty seconds, when Pat Lambert pounced for back-to-back goals to send Westport into a two points lead. The first had a touch of good fortune about it as the bounce from a long delivery got the better of goalkeeper Patrick Loftus and Lambert flicked the ball into the net Gough halved the deficit for Crossmolina with his second point of the first-half, however, Lambert had the final say before half-time with a point that saw Westport take a 2-4 to 0-8 lead into the dressing-room.
Maheady would reel off the first four of Crossmolina’s second-half points, three of which all came from frees, but a third Westport goal, finished superbly by Finbar McLaughlin in the 39th minute off an assist from Joey Holmes, helped to keep the visitors in the driving seat. Even better was to follow as five unanswered points from the 45th to the 51st minutes, including a pair of two pointers, with McLaughlin and centre-back Brickenden scoring those, saw Westport stretch into a 3-9 to 0-12 lead.
To say Crossmolina’s situation suddenly looked a little precarious is probably an understatement, particularly since they had come into the game on the back of a seven points loss away to Balla so confidence could have been brittle, but the response of Brian Benson’s side couldn’t have been any more emphatic.
Just like how Westport had done so through Lambert in the first-half, the North Mayo outfit rattled off two goals in a minute, the first by powerful full-forward Patrick Leddy and the other by James Maheady, in what was a glorious finish which saw him dummy goalkeeper and defence.
A point by Leddy nudged Crossmolina back in front, 2-13 to 3-9, in the 53rd minute, and the hosts simply never looked back. Midfielders Jordan Flynn and Kobe McDonald supplied a point each, Maheady kicked his final single of the afternoon and the last Crossmolina point came via the fist of Oisin Deane, to leave five points the difference with the first minute of stoppage time elapsed.
Westport might have bagged a fourth goal but Joey Holmes was unfortunate not to see his effort sail home and while they did have the final say of the game throough Conal Dawson, his pointed free was Westport’s first score in the eleven minutes and its impact was purely cosmetic.
Crossmolina’s eyes now firmly fixed on the opportunity of reaching yet another final. Could last year’s Division 2 winners add the Division 1 trophy inside twelve months? You certainly won’t tell them otherwise.
Scorers – Crossmolina: James Maheady 1-1-7 (1tpf), Patrick Leddy 1-0-1, Edward Gough and Kobe McDonald 0-0-2 each, Dylan Flynn, Jordan Flynn and Oisin Deane 0-0-1 each.
Westport: Pat Lambert 2-0-2, Finbar McLaughlin 1-1-0 (1tpf), Conal Dawson 0-1-2 (1tpf, 1f), Rory Brickenden 0-1-0.
Crossmolina: Patrick Loftus; Sean Og McGuinness, Kevin Mulhern, Matthew Gordetsky; Keelan Hegarty, Josh Moyles, Mikey Loftus; Kobe McDonald, Jordan Flynn; Dylan Flynn, Oisin Deane, Kevin Keane; James Maheady, Patrick Leddy, Edward Gough. Subs: Sean Heffernan (for Hegarty 35, inj), Patrick O’Malley (for Keane 52).
Westport: Paddy O’Malley; Cian Grimes, Niall McManamon, Brian McDermott; Ben Doyle, Rory Brickenden, Leon Askin; Ryan Askin, Conal Dawson; Danny Brennan, Joey Holmes, Michael Geraghty; Pat Lambert, Ray Walsh, Finbar McLaughlin. Subs: Darragh Hoban (for Brennan 46), Tom Lambert (for Walsh 51), Conor McGraynor (for Geraghty 54).
REF: John Walker (Cill Chomáin)
