All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship semi-final:
Hollymount-Carramore (Mayo) 0-15 Loughinisland (Down) 0-10
NEW kids on the block, Hollymount-Carramore, proved just too good for hardened Down and Ulster champions Loughinisland at an atmospheric Kingspan Breffni Park on Sunday.
After what was the best part of three months in the cooking, this was an All-Ireland Club IFC semi-final that showcased the grassroots game at its very best and made the taste of victory all the sweeter for the newly-amalgamated forces of Hollymount and Carramore.
To the winner the spoils then and even the most blinkered Loughinisland fan could scarcely deny that the Mayo and Connacht kingpins were full value for their history-making achievement. The best from the west led from pillar to post and after going in with a tenuous half-time (0-7 to 0-4) lead, they returned to defy both their gutsy opponents and the vagaries of the weather to book a date with Kerry and Munster champions St Mary’s, Cahirciveen.
Without any injuries to attend to, the westerners will feel confident that they can make it a perfect 10 on February 6 next by landing the top prize on the back of a campaign that has seen them win nine successive championship matches on the county, provincial and now national stage.
Spawned from chronic emigration just a few years ago, the Mayo and Connacht champions belied their lack of pedigree and tradition to win most of the battles and, more importantly, the war to make it a fairytale opening few chapters in their very short history.
“I’d have to say that they did show great character, resilience and determination all through, especially in the second-half,” said a generous Loughinisland boss Jerome Johnston.
Liberally laced in the Loughinisland mentor’s post-mortems was, understandably, a dose of ‘what might have been’ for the Mournemen were, to a degree, authors of their own demise. Loughinisland unwittingly helped their opponents along their way by failing to convert three gilt-edged goal chances in the second-half.
For all that, Hollymount-Carramore demonstrated a much greater degree of efficiency up front than Loughinisland and when under particular pressure approaching the three-quarter hour mark, the winners’ defence bent but crucially failed to break in the face of a strong wind and a rejuvenated northern offensive.
After a laboured opening, Loughinisland’s top man on the day Rory Mason cut Hollymount-Carramore’s lead to just a single point, 0-5 to 0-4, with a delicious point after 23 minutes. For the first time in the match Loughinisland found themselves in the box seat.
The chasing team were gung-ho on the restart and worked like beavers to harness the elements on their side. Sadly they never managed to sufficiently eat into their opponents’ 0-7 to 0-4 interval lead. Jerome Johnston’s men still trailed by 0-7 to 0-11 when Hollymount-Carramore ’keeper Niall Campbell produced two great diving saves midway through the second half to deny Loughinisland sub. Stefan Mason in quick succession.
“We didn’t perform to our potential on the day and some marginal decisions didn’t go our way but we created three goal chances in the second-half and had just one of those been put away, who knows what would have happened after that,” said Johnston.
“I’d have to say that Stefan [Mason] got himself into a great position for the two goal chances that came his way and he’s a good finisher but you’d have to give their ‘keeper a lot of credit for saving the first shot and then getting back up so quickly to dive and block Stefan’s second effort.”
The Loughinisland think-tank used all the cards at their disposal and the introduction of Gareth ‘Magic’ Johnston in the 48th minute gave the chasing team a greater presence and threat in the full-forward line.
Johnston’s charges threw everything bar the kitchen sink at Hollymount-Carramore in the run-in to the chequered flag defence but when full-back Darren McHugh deflected Rory Mason’s 57th minute goal-bound shot over the bar, Loughinisland’s goose was well and truly cooked.
MATCH STATS
Hollymount-Carramore: N Campbell; R Connolly, D McHugh, D Feerick; P Feerick, B Sheridan, R Molloy; K McNamara (0-1), S Coen (0-1); K Feerick (0-3 frees), I Costello (0-1 free), K Costello; C Keane (0-1), D Coen (0-8, 0-5 frees), D Costello; Subs: C Heneghan for C Keane (42); L Macken for R Connolly (53); B Maloney for I Costello (58).
Loughinisland: K Gordon; R Nixon, P Megoran, M Cochrane; P Digney, C O’Toole, R Mason (0-5, 0-1 free); D O’Toole, D Gordon; J McCarthy (0-1), R Stranney, J Flynn; A McClements (0-1), C Megoran (0-1), S O’Hare; Subs: S Mason (0-1) for S O’Hare (h-t); P McKenny (0-1) for R Stranney (35); S Cochrane for P Digney (45); G Johnston for D O’Toole (48); D McLaughlin for J McCarthy (55); C Killen for S Cochrane (59).
Referee: Niall Ward (Westmeath)
