CONNACHT SFC SEMI-FINALS/Charlestown 1-9 Castlerea 0-11:EIGHTY MINUTES of madness in Kiltoom and at the end, the Roscommon champions were left to rue what might have been. The All-Ireland club championship was still an "unofficial" competition when Castlerea were last liberated from the province but they came desperately close to progressing to this year's Connacht club final.
In the end, they were denied by a startlingly late rally by Charlestown, who came from three points in arrears late in normal time before seizing the initiative in the added period. It was a performance of great poise and bravery by the Mayo men and even the departure of talismanic figures like David Tiernan and John Casey through injury during the helter-skelter closing minutes did not distract them from the task at hand.
The game pivoted on those last five minutes of normal time. Castlerea ought to have put the game beyond the Mayo men by this stage but had not and when Tony Mulligan clipped over a point after 64 minutes, the latter sensed a half chance.
Suddenly Castlerea were under the cosh and when Paul Mulligan floated a tough free which went in off the post in the last minute of the match, they were just looking to survive. They came within inches. In an extraordinary phase of play, Castlerea broke downfield and pumped in a long ball which Charlestown veteran John Casey left his goalmouth to meet.
Casey punched the ball clear but Castlerea substitute Séamus Stenson claimed possession and rightly went for the score on instinct. The ball thundered back into play off the post and with Casey crumpled on the ground and the Castlerea men rallying, Charlestown broke downfield.
The composure they exhibited here was notable, with Aidan Higgins and the splendid Mark Caffrey setting up Tony Mulligan, who equalised. That score broke the Castlerea hearts.
It was a day for the unexpected. To begin with, the match was subject to a late change due to the Saturday morning discovery that Hyde Park was waterlogged. Bemused fans showed up to the county ground only to be redirected past Jimmy Murray’s home town of Knockcroghery by a local man, who said: “You would think the GAA would put a sign up to let people know. It’s a scandal.”
Either way, word had spread. Kiltoom was packed, the pitch was perfect. Charlestown threatened to make a nonsense of the exceptional defensive reputation that now follows St Kevin’s, with Ollie Conway catching a perfect pass from Paul Mulligan and beating Castlerea goalkeeper Geoffrey Claffey with a shot from the outside of his foot.
That was just the fourth goal the Roscommon men have conceded in this championship but two minutes later Conway raced onto another high ball but fired over the bar.
At the other end, the Castlerea men seemed to be engaging in a private competition for point of the day, with Enda Kenny and Ger Heneghan both landing fabulous points and after just six minutes, the scoreline stood at 0-3 to 1-0.
Few would have guessed that the Mayo county champions would endure a scoreless spell of 34 minutes. But from Tom Parsons’ well-taken point on 24 minutes, Charlestown suffered a hellish half hour. Level at half-time, they were caught by three quick points by Castlerea, courtesy of two frees from Ger Heneghan and a smart point from Séamus Heneghan.
But the Castlerea defence was causing Charlestown most distress. They lost full back Neil Collins to injury early in the first half but nonetheless gave a tremendous display of poised and aggressive back play, leading the Charlestown men down cul-de-sacs and permitting them no free shots.
Cathal Dineen, Dermot Lyons, Eddie Creaton and Padraic Duignan will be forgiven for wondering how they lost this match. The Mayo men registered four disheartening wides and looked to be out of options.
Castlerea probably just needed to produce one more point and the game would have settled into an inevitable fade-out. Instead, they lived on the perilous three point-advantage line and paid for it.
They must have been stunned to find themselves in an extra period and there was no real surprise when Charlestown, led by Tom Parsons, Dermot and Aidan Higgins and Kevin Deignan, began to boss the game. They clipped three points in the opening period as players on both sides began to wilt. It was hard, intense stuff but a terrifically honest match.
Castlerea battled back in the second period of extra-time, with Nigel Dineen moving to the edge of the square. He scored a brilliant point and then provided a quick ball which John Duggan duly knocked over the bar.
Curiously, those scores broke Castlerea’s long, dry period of 40 minutes without a score and yet they were on the brink, with just a point in the match again. The last 90 seconds were reduced to a state of fury mingled with exhaustion.
But Charlestown stayed calm: they are a clever possession team and worked the clock down to seal their hard-earned victory.
CHARLESTOWN: J Casey; E Casey, D McMeel, D Caffrey; D Higgins, A Higgins, C Maye; D Tiernan, T Parsons (0-2); R Haran (0-1, free), M Caffrey, T Mulligan (0-3); P Mulligan (0-2, frees), O Conway (1-1), B O’Connell. Subs: K Deignan for C Maye (39 mins), M Mulvaney for B O’Connell (47 mins), E Gallagher for O Conway (57 mins), S Morris for D Tiernan (61 mins), D Sloyan for J Casey (63 mins), S Lenehan for D Caffrey (75 mins), M Kilroy for D Higgins (78 mins).
CASTLEREA: G Claffey; P Duignan, N Collins, G McElhone; D Lyons, C Dineen, E Creaton; M Kililea, E Kenny (0-1); S Ryan (0-1), N Dineen (0-1), S Heneghan (0-1); R Curran, D Scahill, G Heneghan (0-6, four frees, one 50). Subs: N Curran for N Collins (27 mins inj), S Stenson for R Curran (59 mins), M Sweeney for D Lyons (70 mins), J Duggan (0-1) for E Kenny (70 mins), B Carty for S Ryan (73 mins).
Referee: E O’Grady (Leitrim).
After extra-time
1-6 to 0-9 at the end of normal time
