Two things heard about Charlestown on the way into Tuam Stadium: one, the conditions were right for them and two, that they wouldn't panic. On a mild, sunny winter's day yesterday's AIB Connacht football final conformed on both counts. The Mayo champions played a sustained, intricate game over the hour and despite looking to have lost their way, held nerve and concentration to win the club's first provincial title.
It was hard luck on Annaghdown who had suggested at certain moments in the match that they might upset the favourites but in the end the result was a fair reflection of an exciting, constantly absorbing match. The two points that separated the teams were more than covered by Padraig Horkan's two goals but Charlestown's success was very much a collective effort.
The defence worked tirelessly, none more than Dermot Higgins on the right wing who pushed up and down his flank particularly in the second half and constantly disrupted Annaghdown as well as creating attacking platforms. Centrefield combined well with captain David Tiernan getting on to a striking amount of possession and Aidan Higgins pushing forward to great effect.
If Horkan took the scoring honours up front, the most consistent threats came from the half forwards. Both Richard Haran and Mark Caffrey kicked three points from play and had good chances to add to that. At full forward Oliver Conway, who has been attracting county attention, didn't score but looked a promising ball-winner.
Charlestown opened confidently and registered two early points. Horkan might have set himself up for a hat-trick before the fifth minute but his snap shot from Tiernan's useful ball was straight at Padraig O'Neill. Gradually the match settled and Annaghdown looked sharper early on.
The Galway team's highly rated full forward Michael Newell landed a fine point to equalise, at 0-3 each, in the 17th minute and shortly afterwards the match achieved lift-off. Newell's attempt at a point came back off the post and Damien Burke had a clear sight at goal but his shot was superbly blocked by a defender. Unfortunately for Charlestown, the rebound broke kindly for Burke and he goaled at the second attempt.
There wasn't much that celebrity poacher-turned-goalkeeper John Casey could do about it. Up to that point his net had hardly been threatened at all. In fact, when he started in the same goalmouth back in 1997, Casey saw more action before the match started, when he and Gary Fahey were booked, than he did in the entire opening 20 minutes yesterday.
Either this woke up Charlestown or what followed was a coincidence but their attacks began to look sharper. Sean Higgins - who started well but was eventually subdued by Vincent Small - forced a good save from O'Neill and Haran kicked the misdirected clearance for a point. Four minutes later Aidan Higgins was flattened in the square by Ronan Leonard and Horkan converted the penalty. Three minutes after that and Horkan was waiting for a scrambled pass across goal from Paul Mulligan and squeezed it into the net for a four-point interval lead, 2-4 to 1-3.
Annaghdown brought on Michael Melia for the restart and his strong runs on the right were a feature of his team's best spell as they cut the margin to one - a strong run by Shane Kavanagh, from a Paul Creaven delivery, was capped with a decisive finish to the net - by the end of the third quarter. In the 49th minute Newell equalised at 2-7 each. Not alone were the Galway champions cutting the deficit but Charlestown were blowing good chances and with 10 minutes left, momentum had definitely switched.
Yet with the match on the line it was Caffrey and Haran who came good, overcoming previous, nervy misses to take a point each and keep the Connacht title in Mayo for the fourth successive year.
CHARLESTOWN: J Casey; E Casey, R Lenehan, R O'Connell; D Higgins, D Healy, K Duignan; D Tiernan (capt), A Higgins; R Haran (0-4, one free), M Caffrey (0-3), P Mulligan (0-1); P Horkan (2-0, one penalty), O Conway, S Higgins (0-1, a free). Subs: O Gallagher for Higgins (48 mins), A Mulligan for Horkan (52 mins).
ANNAGHDOWN: P O'Neill; V Small, A Fitzpatrick (capt.), M O'Neill; B Qualter, R Leonard, P Creaven; Morgan Duggan, Matt Duggan; D Burke (1-1, point a free), S Kavanagh (1-0), J Mannion (0-1); C Leonard, M Newell (0-3, one free), PJ Fahy (0-2, one free). Subs: M Melia for C Leonard (half-time); L O'Flynn for Mannion (45 mins), D Naughton for Small (53 mins), B Newell for Creaven (59 mins).
Referee: G McGovern (Leitrim).
