Towey points Charlestown to league title

Homeland U16 Division 2 League Final 

Charlestown Sarsfields 0-16 

Ardmoy 1-8 

Maggie Chambers at Bonniconlon 

The future of Mayo Football is in safe hands if last Thursday's Division Two League Final in Bonniconlon is anything to go by in this classic between two excellent sides.

Charlestown Sarsfields were looking for their first Division Two title in seven years, while Ardmoy - an amalgamation of Ardagh and Moygownagh - was looking to complete a clean sweep of U14, U16, and U18 titles in one week.

The teams had not previously met within the league as the fixture was conceded, and Ardmoy and Charlestown finished second and fourth, respectively.

In a end-to-end first half, Cian Towey opened the scoring for Charlestown when kicking his first point of the day and was quickly followed by a superb point from centre back Sean Breheny. Both teams were displaying an immense work rate, defending in numbers and making it difficult for either team to break down the defence. Frees would be crucial and Towey put on an immense display of free taking throughout the 60 minutes scoring an impressive 0-9, with frees from both out of his hands and off the ground. By the fifth minute, Charlestown had created a 0-4 to 0-0 lead despite playing against the breeze, Towey getting his next two from placed balls.

On eight minutes, Ardmoy opened their scoring through a Tony Carey free. This settled Ardmoy team into the game and they tagged on two more points before finding the back of the net. With 16 minutes played, Tony Carey and Conor Murphy played some excellent football to set up Carey on goal. His shot rattled the cross bar but wing-forward Conor Carey was alert to the rebound and he calmly finished the ball into the back of the net to give Ardmoy the lead for the first time.

Ardmoy began to dominate, winning the midfield battle and, with the breeze, won most of the kickouts. The teams exchanged scores before Ardmoy created a second goal chance but this time, Charlestown goalkeeper Darragh Egan made a superb save, as the teams went in at the interval separated by the finest of margins, the scoreboard reading 1-6 to 0-8, in favour of Ardmoy.

Charlestown capitalised on consecutive wides by Ardmoy early in the second half as the Sarsfields boys hit five points without reply through Ryan McDonagh, Cian Towey (three) and Dean O’Toole to lead by four. Ultimately, this Charlestown purple patch was the winning of the game for Charlestown, as they did not trail again for the remainder of the half.

Ardmoy did not let their heads drop, however, and Tony Carey provided a sense of leadership for his team, scoring two points in the 16th and 18th minutes but a comeback was unsuccessful.

With Ardmoy beginning to tire, Charlestown pushed on. Sean Haran pointed on 50 minutes and this was followed up by Ryan McDonagh's second point of the game two minutes later. Charlestown had regained their four-point lead and with an excellent defensive set-up, managed to see the game out for a deserved win in a game of football that was of the highest standard.

Scorers - Charlestown: Cian Towey 0-9 (7f), Ryan McDonagh and Matthew Murphy 0-2 each, Sean Breheny, Shea Haran, and Dean O’Toole 0-1 each Ardmoy: Tony Carey 0-4 (1f), Conor Carey 1-0, Adam Naughton 0-2, Luke Langan and Conor Murphy 0-1 each.

Charlestown Sarsfields: Darragh Egan; Mason McCudden, Liam McCaffrey, Shane Davoren; Mikey Giblin, Sean Breheny, Rhys O’Connor; Shea Haran, Matthew Murphy; Ryan McDonagh, Dean O’Toole, James Cassidy; Danny Breheny, Cian Towey, Matthew Horkan. Subs; Kraig Larkin (for Cassidy 50); Leon Trotter (for Giblin 58); Reece Leino and Blane Doyle (for D Breheny and McDonagh 63).

Ardmoy: Evan O’Malley; Darragh Moore, Iarla Gallagher, Eoin Staunton; Dylan Murphy, Adam Sweeney, Charlie Flynn; Dillon Sheridan, Adam Naughton; Luke Langan, Tony Carey, Conor Carey; Josh McNulty-Helly, Conor Murphy, Eoghan Hartley. Subs: Darragh Carey (for McNulty-Helly HT); Jai Wilson (for Flynn 48).

REF: Kenny Durkan.