Charlestown Sarsfields did their hopes of promotion to the top division of the league a power of good with a comprehensive 2-10 to 0-4 victory over Louisburgh in round 9 of division I B of the county senior league played at Fr O`Hara Park, Charlestown recently.

               The Sarsfields are now vying with Kiltaine for the top spot in the league as they got their promotion bid back on track with a routine victory over a very disappointing West Mayo side who came into the game on the back of some excellent recent form.

              Scores were hard to come by in the first period as a swirling breeze made life difficult for the two teams with the Sarsfields having a marginal advantage. Louisburgh had plenty of possession but their shooting was abysmal as they racked up a big tally of wides with several of their shots also dropping short and falling into the hands of  Kenny Brennan in the Sarsfields goal.

              The Sarsfields  defence too, it must be said  defended with great intelligence and pluckiness as they intercepted and broke up many of Louisburgh`s most threatening attacks with great prudence as they took no prisoners in the tackle and defended their goal with alacrity.

            At the other end of the pitch the green and white were wasteful too as they blew some good scoring chances but they did manage to raise four white flags with Jack Reilly, Paul Towey, Joe McBrien and a beauty from Paddy Lenehan giving them the  edge at the end of a low scoring half of football.

                 Louisburgh`s solitary point came in the thirtieth minute of the first half which speaks volumes   for  both  their squandermania in front of goal and the Sarsfields no nonsense defending with  both contributing to their meagre tally. Sarsfields keeper Kenneth Brennan did pull off a terrific point blank save right on the stroke of half time to keep his goal intact and preserve the green and white lead as the two teams headed for the dressingrooms.

                    The Sarsfields were expecting real scrap in the second half as Louisburgh surely had to raise their level and find some semblance of accuracy in front of the posts.

                  It never materialised however as the green and white took the game by the scruff of the neck  and put the game to bed so to speak with two well crafted goals to dash any faint hopes the seasiders may have harboured of making a game of it.

               The first goal followed a brilliant piece of play from Paul Towey as he won a ball in front of his man and showed a clean pair of heels to a static Louisburgh defence  before squaring for an unmarked Joe McBrien who calmly palmed  the ball to the net to put the Sarsfields firmly in control.

                 The Sarsfields hammered the final nail into the Louisburgh coffin soon after when  a superb cross field  pass picked  out the  raiding Gareth O`Donnell who took it up to a sparsely manned Louisburgh defence before offloading a perfectly weighted pass to Niall Murphy who stepped inside his marker to rifle the ball to the net to put the green and white out of sight with just ten minutes elapsed in the second half.

                     The Sarsfields coasted home from there with Colm Maye, Niall Murphy, Joe McBrien tagging on further points as the visitors continued to misfire in front of goal with the wide count well exceeding double digit numbers.

             The Sarsfields were functional in everything they did and defused any visible threat Louisburgh  brought to the pitch with the minimum of fuss. Best for the winners were Enda and Gerard McLoughlin, Patrick Walsh and Conor O`Donohue in defence.

                 Patrick Lenehan was outstanding in the middle using his physical prowess to maximum impact as he won an amount of ball and turned over his immediate opponent through a combination of power and guile with Gareth O`Donnell providing an excellent foil as he attacked at will and distributed intelligently for the most part.   In attack Niall Murphy , Joe McBrien and Paul Towey proved too hot to handle for a Louisburgh defence that shipped serious  pressure from the getgo. Paddy Goldrick, Ryan Duffy, Jack Reilly  and Alan Woods were also good as the Sarsfields can fix their focus on a clash with  Kiltaine to decide who tops the division.