A large travelling contingent made the short journey to near neighbours Kiltimagh for the East Mayo ‘A’ semi-final held in Gilmartin Park in Sunday last. Our U14s came into the match on the back of a stellar season, having narrowly beaten Kiltimagh in the division 2 final earlier in the year. They also competed well in the group stages of the County ‘A’ championship, winning one game and unluckily missing out on a place in the last four. As a result, expectations were high coming into this eagerly anticipated clash.
Charlestown started poorly , attacking the dressing room end whilst facing into a stiff breeze. Goalkeeper Ciaran Honeyman put in a sterling display between the sticks for the Sarsfields, making numerous saves in the first half alone; stopping certain goals for the home side on each occasion. After the concession of an early point, Charlestown began to slowly steady the ship when Jack Mahon took his first major on 8 minutes, following good build up play from Jack Brennan. Honeyman was once again called to make a save straight after this and despite conceding a goal in the middle of the half, Charlestown never looked in real danger of going too far behind as a mixture of poor shooting and good defending ensured that Charlestown would not be too much in arrears on the signal of the small whistle. Charlestown added another goal and point before halftime, which were thanks to the hard working Ruairi Cullen and Ben Conway. Conway, the captain won a number of kickouts throughout the first half when the pressure was on the Sarsfields to clear their lines, with Cullen full of enegrgy from first whistle to last. At halftime, Charlestown trailed 2.01 – 1.06.
Aided by a stiff breeze and a stern talking to at halftime, Charlestown started strongly upon the resumption with Mahon, Cullen and Ben Crean all getting on the scoresheet throughout a dominant first 10 minutes. David Doherty and Martin McCormack always looked assured at the back and together with Marty Beirne, sniffed out many of kiltimagh’s attacks in the last quarter. Youngsters Jack Corley and Niall Fleming were also flourishing at wing back during this period as the began to start many of the Sarsfields attacks, while also ensuring to mind the house. To their credit, Kiltimagh never threw in the towel and continued to attack with any change they got, adding a goal to their tally in the meantime. However the Sarsfields were not to be denied and finished the game strongly with a goal and point from the impressive McCormack. Charlestown now march on to the East Mayo final and face another formidable obstacle in the form of Aghamore. The game is provisionally pencilled in for Thursday, 27th August. Well done to all involved, including the large crowd that came out in force to support our lads.
