Swinford scrape into last four at expense of Sarsfields
Swinford fought off a valiant Charlestown Sarsfields to claim their spot in the last four of the Mayo U21 ‘C’ championship in a fiery East Mayo derby that saw two players dismissed after a large brawl in the game’s final minutes.
A tit-for-tat first-half saw Ciaran Honeyman open the scoring with a nice point from the left side of goal, holding off Swinford’s Alan Howe and curling over. Swinford pointed a free from Michael Daly in response, with Charlestown regaining the lead through a free of their own from Conor McArdle.
Combative midfielder Daniel Molloy got Swinford’s first point from play when he turned and struck a looping effort from 20-metres but Sean Dunleavy raced forward from his centre-back duties for the visitors and played a one-two with Alex Cullen to loft a point between the Swinford posts from the right.
Swinford would get three in-a-row courtesy of a Sean McDonagh free and a couple of Thomas Tuffy points from play, to lead by two midway through the first-half. Honeyman ended the run as he curled a sumptuous point over for Charlestown from just inside the ’45.
The sides were again level with ten minutes to go as McArdle made good on his second free but Swinford edged in front with a great diagonal run from wing-forward David Taylor setting up Sean McDonagh for his first from play, as he turned, dummied once and tapped over off his left foot.
The hosts extended their lead with another McDonagh free but the half would end with Charlestown halving the deficit as Conor McArdle made it a hat-trick of frees.
Swinford would open the second-half scoring ledger with McDonagh’s third free but Ciaran Honeyman was about to give Charlestown a slender lead with a massive goal. A long kick pass into the Swinford area was collected by Honeyman who turned and slotted the ball under Swinford netminder Danny Forkan.
A run of four unanswered points saw Swinford regain control however, the first coming from Thomas Tuffy who lifted his shot from the right wing over the bar and Sean McDonagh followed that up with his fourth free of the contest. Darragh Henry converted two very well struck 45s and Swinford led by three points as the game entered the final quarter.
Charlestown got going again when Ciaran Honeyman collected another ball in from the left, this one from substitute Jack Brennan, and laid off for McArdle to point on the move. Swinford replied though, with Michael Daly sticking a point over the bar, off balance and despite pressure from Charlestown’s Owen Flannery.
Mark Lowther would level the contest with the away side’s second goal less than ten minutes from the final whistle. Honeyman again would play a big role as Paddy Joe Dunleavy aimed his kick-pass towards the full-forward, who broke the ball into the path of Lowther and the substitute blasted the ball into the back of the net.
But Swinford regained a two point lead within five minutes. Thomas Tuffy pointed after a poor kickout from Charlestown goalkeeper James Conway who amended the error slightly by tipping Tuffy’s shot over, with the latter then setting up a second point for midfielder Molloy.
After a skirmish between both teams that saw Molloy and Sean Dunleavy sent off for Swinford and Charlestown respectively, Darragh Henry converted a final free to send Swinford to the semi-finals against Tuar Mhic Eadaigh.
Scorers – Swinford: Sean McDonagh 0-5 (4f), Thomas Tuffy 0-4, Darragh Henry 0-3, Daniel Molloy and Michael Daly (f) 0-2 each.
Charlestown: Ciaran Honeyman 1-2, Conor McArdle 0-4 (3f), Mark Lowther 1-0, Sean Dunleavy 0-1.
Swinford: Danny Forkan; Alan Howe, Connor Ryan, Jack Murphy; Jack Ferguson, Raef Donnelly, Daniel Molloy; Dylan Toner, Michael Daly; Darragh Henry, David Taylor, Sean McDonagh, Thomas Tuffy. Sub: Sean Murphy.
Charlestown: James Conway; Tadhg Horkan, Owen Flannery, Paddy Joe Dunleavy; Sean Dunleavy, Daniel Harrington; Alex Cullen, Michael Marren; Sean Kilroy; Jack Corley, Niall Towey, Conor McArdle, Ciaran Honeyman. Subs: Gavin Honeyman, Mark Lowther, Jack Brennan.
REF: Declan Corcoran (Islandeady)
