Westport undone by Finnerty magic as Lahardane finish strong for league title
Lahardane MacHales, AbbVie Mayo SFL Division 4 champions.
The second game in Saturday's triple header at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park saw a hardy Lahardane MacHales team take care of Westport 'B'.
The black and amber burst out of the traps through Shane Finnerty’s opening point, followed by an Adrian Leonard free. He soon found himself in a great goal scoring position, but Leonard chose the unselfish option and popped the ball to Darragh Walsh who slapped the ball into the net.
Westport got their first spell of possession after 10 minutes. However, this was to no avail as a selection of wides followed. A breakthrough was inevitable as Lahardane's kickouts were proving extremely ineffective, Conor McGraynor got them on the board at the end of the first quarter.
Lahardane went on to lose their next five kickouts giving Westport numerous scoring opportunities, and Darragh Hoban took one of these with a lovely score off his left boot from a difficult angle. Minutes later, Colm Moran missed the chance to tie the game after he blazed wide from close range.
Lahardane finally won a kickout and quickly traversed the length of the pitch, with Finnerty and Darragh Walsh combining for the latter man to produce a great swivel and score.
A risky Westport kickout followed and a scramble for possession just outside their own arc ensued. Somehow the ball popped out to a Westport man and was progressed to Adam Bourke who burst up the middle and struck over with his left foot.
Finnerty’s clever free then caught Westport off guard, as he played a clever one-two and tapped over from a simpler position, but his quick thinking was soon cancelled out by a lightning quick score from Colm Moran.
Westport seemed to be struggling to stay within reach of Lahardane, scoring only one more point in the half through Colm Moran, and in the last few minutes the North Mayo men pulled away to secure a comfortable half-time lead. Finnerty tapped over two singles from close range and he then converted from the penalty spot after Darragh Walsh was fouled inside the area to make it 2-6 to 0-5 in favour of Cormac Reape’s side.
Westport came out a changed team in the second half. Moran the chance to score 20 seconds after the restart, which was emphatically taken, followed by Darragh Hoban who popped over from mid range.
Hoban soon provided Westport with a huge boost. Malcolm MacEvilly burst up the right- hand side before whipping the ball into Hoban who got across his marker before sitting both defender and keeper down with a beautiful dummy and tapping into an empty net, reducing the deficit to two.
Lahardane got a hold of the ball for the first time since the restart and aimed to take the sting out of the game. The ball was held for a couple of minutes before Finnerty produced a great kick from outside the arc. MacEvilly was promptly carded after a neck high tackle just outside his own arc, and the brilliant Finnerty stepped up and slotted over again to extend the lead to six.
Just when it looked like the game was finally getting away from Westport, they responded with five unanswered points through Dara Dawson, a two-point free by Conor Meaney, Killian Conway and MacEvilly.
With the gap now at one, Lahardane once again looked to Finnerty for answers and he most certainly produced. Finnerty and Maughan combined on the left-hand side with the latter man guiding the ball over with his left foot. A long ball into the box was brilliantly claimed by Maughan, and he popped to Finnerty on the edge of the arc who produced a great strike over the bar.
A minute later, Finnerty had another two-point chance this time from a free. The man of the moment's booming kick let Lahardane fans relax in their seats to bring the gap back to six to secure his side the Division 4 title, with Conway and Leonard exchanging the final points of the game.
Scorers – Lahardane: Shane Finnerty 1-4-3 (1-0pen, 2tpf, 1f), Darragh Walsh (Lahardane) 1-0-0, Adrian Leonard 0-0-3 (1f), James Maughan 0-0-2.
Westport; Darragh Hoban 1-0-2, Colm Moran 0-0-3, Killian Conway (1f) and Conor Meaney (1tpf) 0-0-2 each, Adam Bourke, Malcolm Mac Evilly, Conor McGraynor and Dara Dawson 0-0-1 each.
Lahardane: Cormac Walsh; Matthew Reilly, Eoghan McManamon, Kieran Lynn; Brendan Joyce, Ruairi Coyne, Oran Jordan; Darragh Walsh (Bofeenaun), Thomas Kelly; Shane Finnerty, Micky Murphy, Darragh Walsh (Lahardane); Mark Sheerin, Adrian Leonard, James Maughan.
Subs: Keelan Dyra for Jordan 40), Eoin Dyra for Daire Walsh 45), Craig Jordan (for Coyne 56), Eoin Fergus (for Joyce 58), Jack McHale (for Sheerin 60+1).
Westport: Conor Meaney; Peter McGowan, Joe Grady, Anthony Browne; Malcolm Mc Evilly, Tim Campion, Ethan McGing; Michael McDonnell, James Noonan; Darragh Corrigan, Darragh Hoban, Adam Bourke; Killian Conway, Conor McGraynor, Colm Moran.
Subs: Fionn Ó Cinnseala (for McGraynor 25), James Noonan (for Dara Dawson 30), Danny Brennan (for McGing 49), Thomas McGeough (for Corrigan 49), Ray Walsh (for Hoban 54).
REF: Mark Tuffy (Shrule-Glencorrib).
