Saints sink Sarsfields to take Eastern honours
The St Jarlath's panel pictured after their six points win against Charlestown in the East Mayo U16 'A' football final last Thursday evening.
Three goals in a 17 minute first-half window helped St Jarlath’s win the East Mayo U16 ‘A’ title at a sunny Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence last Thursday evening. If those goals didn’t quite leave the Ballyhaunis-Eastern Gaels amalgamation totally out of sight of a very game opponent in Charlestown Sarsfields – and truth be told the latter had a swathe of goal-scoring opportunities after half-time – the boys in white, blue and red still did enough to secure a fully deserved victory.
Charlestown’s Matthew Horkan struck the opening point but it was St Jarlath’s who made the early running, with a brace from Michael Morley and one point from Fionn Conlon seeing them into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after five minutes. Cian Towey converted a self-won free to double the Charlestown tally but that was negated by Cillian Caulfield before the same player drew the last defender and popped a pass into Morley who drilled home the game’s opening goal, in the 13th minute, for a 1-4 to 0-2 advantage.
Charlestown’s response was positive, with Towey, from a ’45 and a free, and Michael McCarthy, brilliantly from long range, scoring quickfire points, but a St Jarlath’s purple patch yielded goals for midfielder Adam Kelly and Cillian Caulfield, and points by Conlon, Kelly and Tom Donnellan, to leave them 11 points ahead with half-time approaching.
It could have been even worse for Charlestown were it not for their keeper Daragh Egan touching another goal effort, this one by Fionn Conlon, past the upright, but the Green and White, who had been reduced to rushed shots from difficult angles and distances, were to end the half on a positive note. Cian Towey hadn’t a whole pile of options when looking bottled up in the top right corner but the full-forward lofted the ball into the danger-zone where Matthew Horkan caught high and turned upon landing to superbly smash the ball into the roof of Eamon Monaghan’s net, reducing the St Jarlath’s lead to 3-7 to 1-5 at the turnaround.
Charlestown played much better in the second-half yet, contradictorily, scored less than in the first, with no fewer than four excellent goal chances going abegging, the first coming inside three minutes of the restart when they forced an overturn in the St Jarlath’s full-back line; Shea Haran and Ryan McDonagh played a lovely give-and-go but Haran’s shot rattled the post. James Cassidy grabbed a point off the rebound but with Conlon having already raised white in the second-half for the leaders, the gap remained at eight points.
The sides traded two points apiece, Dean O’Toole and Cian Towey, a free, for Charlestown, and Michael Morley and substitute Liam Nolan for St Jarlath’s, before the next of Charlestown’s goal chances, in the 41st minute. It was almost a carbon copy move of how they scored their first, with Horkan again the fetcher in front of the posts, but this time his shot was parried to safety by Monaghan.
St Jarlath’s, a physically bigger team, were beginning to overplay possession and Charlestown, discovering their tigerish streak, sensed they might yet be able to reel in their opponents. By the 47th minute they had their arrears back to five points, 3-10 to 1-11, with a pair of Towey frees sandwiching a wonderful point on the run by O’Toole. But that was the last of the scoring by the Sarsfields boys, as a shot for goal by Ryan McDonagh drew an excellent diving save by Monaghan while substitute Dylan Pilcher had a late effort stopped on the line.
That’s not to say however, that St Jarlath’s, who remained very dangerous on the counterattack, could not have returned a lot more scores for the second-half too. Their final point, by Adam Kelly, in the 59th minute, was their first in over 20 minutes, but it had taken an excellent near post save by Egan to deny substitute Mark Clancy from burying a fourth St Jarlath’s goal just as the game entered stoppage time.
Scorers – St Jarlath’s: Michael Morley 1-3, Adam Kelly 1-2, Cillian Caulfield 1-1, Fionn Conlon 0-3, Tom Donnellan and Liam Nolan 0-1 each.
Charlestown: Cian Towey 0-6 (5f, 1 ’45), Matthew Horkan 1-1, Dean O’Toole 0-2, Michael McCarthy and James Cassidy 0-1 each.
St Jarlath’s: Eamon Monaghan; Michael Dee, Tomás Ó Laighin, Jamie Brennan; Conor Smith, Tom Donnellan, Thomas Curran; Dara Flanagan, Adam Kelly; Jack Nolan, Fionn Conlon, John Jennings; Michael Morley, Cillian Caulfield, Eamon Flanagan. Subs: Liam Nolan (for Brennan 21), Joshua Maughan (for Dee 47), Mark Clancy (for Caulfield 58), Sean Donnellan (for Jennings 60+2).
Charlestown: Daragh Egan; Mason McCudden, Liam McCaffrey, Shane Davoren; Mikey Giblin, Sean Breheny, Rhys O’Connor; Matthew Murphy, Dean O’Toole; Ryan McDonagh, Michael McCarthy, Shea Haran; Matthew Horkan, Cian Towey, James Cassidy. Subs: Kraig Larkin (for Cassidy 45), Dylan Pilcher (for McCaffrey 54), Blaine Doyle and Oisin Murphy (for Giblin and Horkan 60).
REF: Paul Lydon (Kiltimagh)
