Charlestown Sarsfields

The large crowd of supporters that congregated on the pitch at the final whistle in Parke last Tuesday evening tells you all you need to know about how important and enthralling this game was. To any neutral watching on, you would think that this was a county final; however this was for a place in the last four of the county championship. The excitement of three weeks ago, where these two sides met in the group stages was not just matched but exceeded in a game that was never Charlestown’s until the whistle was blown deep into the 34th minute of the second half.

Castlebar started the game brightly, kicking two points in the first five minutes. Our lads returned in kind and kicked points of their own from the boots of Ruairi Cullen and Jack Mahon. A driving run through the heart of the Castlebar defence by Patrick Goldrick resulted in Mahon being left one on one with the Castlebar goalkeeper. The corner forward made no mistake in smashing the ball to the back of the net to give Charlestown the lead, 1:03 – 0:04.

Castlebar then began a period of dominance in the second quarter, pinning their opponents in at every opportunity. They continued to kick fine points before striking a hammer blow before the interval. A high ball bounced into the path of the Castlebar centre forward who made no mistake in curling the ball past Declan Forkan to leave Charlestown trailing 2:07 – 1:04 at half-time.

Indeed we could have been more in arrears had it not been for some gutsy Charlestown defending and poor shot selection from the opposition. However, all was not lost as we would be playing with the aid of the breeze in the second period but an improvement in aggression and work rate levels would be needed to come out on top.

The Sarsfields began strongly in the second period and exerted their authority on the game. Darragh Casey’s switch to midfield at the break was pivotal and together with Goldrick, they gave Charlestown a platform to build on from the middle third. Within 30 seconds of the restart Towey kicked a long range point that was then followed by tidy points from Mahon, Goldrick and Ben Crean. A fine flowing move involving Goldrick, Niall Drudy and Towey resulted in the latter smashing the ball to the back of the net to give the Sarsfields real hope. Charlestown continued to dominate with Martin McCormack and Ben Conway taking care of man marking duties at the back who together with Dillon Curry, David Doherty and Jack Brennan; began to nullify Castlebar attacks at regular intervals. The tide was turning.

A fine fetch by Goldrick followed by a give and go put him in on goal and his shot rebounded into the path of Cullen who made no mistake in coolly dispatching to the net to give the ‘town the lead for the first time in the second half; 3:09 – 2:10. With five minutes remaining it was anyone’s game as the ball continued to fly from one end to another. Paul Towey kicked two more points, one from a placed ball to give the Sarsfields a four point lead as we approached injury time. It was beginning to look as if Charlestown had done enough to take the spoils.

However, Castlebar won their own kickout and hurdled up the field to score a goal of their own to leave only the bare minimum between the teams – 3:11 – 3:10. With the game now well into injury time Castlebar once again won possession and attacked through a mass of green and white bodies, only for Forkan to pull off a sublime save; acrobatically turning the ball around the post for a ’45. Amazingly Castlebar continued to look for that elusive goal when a point would have sent the game to extra-time. However, our lads stubborn defence would not be beaten this time and tenacious tackling forced the county town team to overcarry, with the referee then blowing the full-time whistle.

This was just reward for the Sarsfields who had bossed most of the second period, playing some fine flowing football over the course of this heart stopping spectacle. This team has really knuckled down after a disappointing league campaign and are now just 60 minutes away from a place in the county final at MacHale Park, which would be richly deserved for a team lacking nothing in heart and determination.

Our lads now march on to a county semi-final at home to Balla on Tuesday, 30th August @ 7pm where they will be hoping to right the wrongs of two years ago where they agonisingly lost out at the same stage at U14 level. All support welcome.

Team: Declan Forkan, Dillon Curry, Darragh Casey, David Doherty, Martin McCormack, Aaron Doherty, Ben Conway, Patrick Goldrick, Niall Drudy, Paul Towey, Ben Crean, Ruairi Cullen, Jack Mahon, Brendan McCormack, Dylan Marren, Eoin Goldrick, Micheal Durcan.