McManamon magic in vain for Burris' as Gaels advance

Treanlaur Catering Mayo JFC 'A' Quarter-Final

Eastern Gaels 5-13 

Burrishoole 1-24

(AET; 3-10 to 1-16 at full-time)

Nathan Keane in McGovern Park

Eastern Gaels left Newport on a sunny but blustery Sunday afternoon having booked their place in the Mayo Junior Championship semi-finals. Both teams played out an incredibly entertaining spectacle and the game eventually went to extra-time, where only a single point separated the sides. 

It was a game filled with twists and turns, and both teams displayed a never-say-die attitude when they needed it most. Burrishoole flew off the blocks in the first few minutes when Patrick Chambers struck a curling two-pointer to open the scoring for the home side. 

Eastern Gaels soon got their first point of the encounter from Dean Lyons. Straight after this point, Burrishoole went up the other end and nearly found the net Adam Rehill. He was denied by a great Ronan Forde save but Rehill scored a tidy point two minutes later. 

However, after fifteen minutes, the game flipped on its head. After three Gaels points from Jason Jennings (one two-pointer), Gaels won a penalty after Dean Lyons was shoved in the back. Michael McGarry stepped up to take, and confidently nestled his shot in to put his side up by three. 

Things went from bad to worse for Burrishoole soon after when their full-back Gary Wallace was shown a black card for a tackle off the ball. Disaster struck again five minutes later as Burrishoole then went down to thirteen men when Colin Guilfoyle was shown a black card for a reckless foul in the box. Michael McGarry scored his second goal of the game, twenty five minutes in, from the resulting placed ball.

Eastern Gaels made use of their numerical advantage, and put Burrishoole to the sword. They got another goal on the half hour mark when a lovely bit of play from Shane Glynn and Dara Flanagan, capitalising on the gaps left in the Burrishoole defence, culminated in Flanagan netting his sides third goal. Gaels topped off their fruitful half with a sublime Dara Flanagan two-point free, and a Luke Mannion point. 

Half-time couldn’t come soon enough for the hosts. They went into the break trailing by thirteen points, 0-4 to 3-8, having not scored for over fifteen minutes. 

Eastern Gaels continued to look as if they were in control at the start of the second period. They dealt with Burrishoole’s high balls excellently, and their defence was looking solid. However, they lost their attacking spark in the second half. A point from Jason Jennings, five minutes in, was one of their only two scores over the whole thirty minutes. 

On the other hand, Burrishoole began to slowly chip away at Gaels’ lead as points from Fintan McManamon, Adam Rehill and Eoin McNulty, cut the gap by three.

Burrishoole knew they needed something special in the second half and, in hindsight, they were inches away from pulling off a spectacular comeback. Shortly after an effort from Patrick Chambers rattled off the crossbar, Chambers supplied a long ball to Fintan McManamon, who got around his defender and found the back of the net. 

With ten minutes left, Burrishoole were behind by eight but urther points from Joseph McLoughlin and substitute James McManamon narrowed the gap to six. 

Up step Fintan McManamon. The Burrishoole full forward scored two incredible two-pointers, as well as a single , to push his side on. 

These scores from McManamon, as well as points from James McManamon and Colin Guilfoyle gave Burrishoole the lead, before Gaels’ Connor Grogan scored a last gasp point to send this quarter-final to extra-time. 

Eastern Gaels had a clinical first half in extra-time. They raised a green flag twice over the ten minute period. Substitute Connor Grogan fired his shot into the back of the net, before a blazing run through the midfield from Tom Hession ended with him rocketing the ball beyond Burrishoole goalkeeper Sean Hanley. 

Burrishoole fought gallantly once again, and they narrowed the gap to a single point, after scores from James McManamon and another Fintan McManamon two-pointer. But in the end, Eastern Gaels held on to their one-point lead to win the most dramatic of games, and progress to the semi-finals. 

Scorers - Eastern Gaels: Michael McGarry 2-0-0pen, Dara Flanagan 1-1-1 (1tpf), Tom Hession 1-0-2, Jason Jennings 0-1-3, Connor Grogan 1-0-1 (1f), Luke Mannion and Dean Lyons 0-0-1 each.

Burrishoole: Fintan McManamon 1-4-2 (1tpf), James McManamon 0-0-5 (3f), Adam Rehill 0-3 (2f), Patrick Chambers 0-1-0, Joseph McLoughlin, Ciaran McManamon, Colin Guilfoyle and Eoin McNulty 0-0-1 each.

Eastern Gaels: Ronan Forde; Tony Aylward, Jack Ronayne, Rowan Johnson; Jarlath Concannon, Tom Hession, Shane Glynn; Luke Mannion, Darren Concannon; Michael McGarry, Jason Jennings, Charlie Johnston; Dara Flanagan, Jack Madden, Dean Lyons. Subs used: Shane Clarke, Connor Grogan, Paul O’Gara, Brendan O’Gara.

Burrishoole: Sean Hanley, Charlie Brown, Patrick Cannon, Gary Wallace, Diarmuid McNulty, Colin Guilfoyle, David Nevin, Joseph McLoughlin, Michael O’Malley, Liam McNulty, Patrick Chambers, Caolan Moran, Adam Rehill, Eoin McNulty, Fintan McManamon. Subs used: Aarron McDermott, Dillon Coughlan, James McManamon, Ciaran McManamon. 

REF: John Walker (Cill Chomáin)