Calry-St Joseph’s are too hot for flat Curry
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Homeland SFC
Group Two – Round One Tourlestrane 0-15 Coolaney-M’breena 2-7
TOURLESTRANE are feeling the heat right now. The county champions needed two scores in second-half stoppage time to get a result against Coolaney-Mullinabreena at Curry GAA Club’s pitch on Saturday last in Group Two of the Homeland Senior Football Championship.
Points from Brian Egan and Liam Gaughan got Tourlestrane out of jail – their two-point win dashed the hopes of a resurgent CoolaneyMullinabreena, who had drawn level with a goal in added time from Gavin
Gorman.
EFFORT: CoolaneyMullinabreena boss Padraig McGourty,
saw his side almost produce one of the big upsets of the year so far.
Homeland SFC
Group One – Round One Calry-St Joseph’s 0-18 Curry 0-9
IT WOULD be churlish to theme this Homeland Senior Football Championship Group One fixture as simply a poor day for Curry.
The recently-crowned Furey’s Coaches Senior Football League Division Two champions weren’t just underpar – they were awful – when losing by nine points to a vibrant, organised and purposeful Calry-St Joseph’s, 0-18, to 0-9, at Markievicz Park last Sunday.
But this outcome was not a complete surprise. Curry had shown signs of fragility when beating Bunninadden the previous weekend, chiefly in midfield and also in terms of how many scores they might concede.
And not every tricky situation can be overcome by relying on Adrian Marren for scores.
Calry-St Joseph’s, mindful that experienced attacker Marren would be Curry’s talisman, especially with Alan Reilly again off form, left two or sometimes three defenders to patrol Marren, the ex-Sligo forward. Curbing Adrian Marren was only part of the Calry-St Joseph’s plan. They were generally effective in defence, where ex-London player Cormac Coyne exuded grit, while wing-back Brian Callaghan was outstanding.
Midfielders Adrian Cummins and Damien O’Boyle were excellent, Darragh Cummins was a steadying influence at centre-forward and Darragn O’Brien proved an tireless ball-winner close to Curry’s goal. Factor in goalkeeper Aidan Devaney’s pinpoint kick-outs – even if it took the netminder four attempts to finally nail a long-range free – and you
Coolaney-Mullinabreena deserve credit for not giving up, especially given their form in this year’s Furey’s Coaches Senior Football League, with relegation from Division One after six losses from eight games.
But consider how Tourlestrane had to bounce back from the brink, with their bid for a seventh successive Owen B Hunt Cup already written off (in some quarters) following that heavy defeat against Coolera-Strandhill in the Division One final on the Saturday before last.
The winners, whose unbeaten run in the Homeland Senior Football Championship now stands at 37 games, were 0-8 to 0-4 up at half-time.
TOURLESTRANE: The champions appear to be a sand castle waiting for the tide to come in. Will St Farnan’s be that sweeping wave on Sunday at St Brendan’s GAA Park in Corballa? Throw-in is 1pm. COOLANEY-MULLINABREENA: After rattling and almost toppling Tourlestrane, Coolaney-Mullinabreena will be emboldened for this Sunday’s round two meeting with Drumcliffe-Rosses, the 2020 runners-up, at Markievicz Park (4pm).
Sean Gorman’s 56th minute goal sparked this second-half revival after Padraig McGourty’s charges had slipped six points behind, 0-12 to 0-6, five minutes earlier.
CALRY-ST JOSEPH’S: David Cummins’ charges don’t play this weekend. Their next Group Two assignment is on Saturday, September 3, when they play Tubbercurry at Connolly Park (6pm).
CURRY: Faced with having to suddenly revive their campaign, they take on south Sligo rivals Tubbercurry at Tourlestrane GAA Club’s pitch this coming Saturday (7pm start).
can see why Calry-St Joseph’s had the necessary foundations in place and without solely looking to Darragh Cummins for inspiration.
Of course, there was another factor that swayed this contest the way of Calry-St Joseph’s – forward Daire O’Boyle. Direct, strong and able to kick a score, O’Boyle is a genuine prospect and his seven points, four of which were from frees, went a long way to toppling Curry.
The one-sided second-half, in which Calry-St Joseph’s scored 10 points and Curry could only muster a solitary score (an Adrian Marren point in the 33rd minute), contrasts with the first period that ended 0-8 apiece.
Calry-St Joseph’s drew level just before half-time – Darragh O’Brien with the score – and that will have annoyed them considering their swift start when Darragh Cummins and Daire O’Boyle pointed inside the opening minute.
It may have looked as if Curry, who were missing both Tommy Stenson and Jason Marren, were going to find their feet – Adam Gallagher landed a fine point and
Adrian Marren was close to scoring a goal with a beach volleyball-esque spike to a bouncing ball (it went over for a point) after Alan Reilly’s
Their first-half scorers included Liam Gaughan, James Leonard, Brian Egan and John Kelly. Three of CoolaneyMullinabreena’s first-half scores came from veteran Shane O’Brien. It looked like business as usual for the holders, who had Adrian McIntyre and John Francis Carr back in their line-up, with McIntyre excelling, when they moved into a 0-12 to 0-6 lead following points by James Leonard, Brian Egan, Liam Gaughan and team captain Gary Gaughan.
At that stage Tourlestrane manager Fergal O’Donnell must have felt that, with less than 10 minutes of normal time to go, his side would see out the remainder in relative comfort. But Coolaney-Mullinabreen had other ideas.
“It was a tight game and we made a decent go at a comeback in the second-half – we were six points down goal shot was saved by Aidan Devaney. But Calry-St Joseph’s could have scored at least two goals in that firsthalf – Damien O’Boyle took a point when a goal was possibly there for the taking and Ciaran Cummins had a shot at goal thwarted after a free attempt from Ciaran Stenson dropped short.
Dismal Curry needed a goal or two in the second-half but excellent saves from Aidan Devaney’s denied both Oisin Murphy and Adam Gallagher.
Calry-St Joseph’s: Aidan Devaney (0-1,
1f), Conor Gray, Conor MocGovern, Cormac Coyne, Brian Callaghan (0-1), Shaun Cawley, Brian Shannon, Adrian Cummins, Damien O’Boyle (0-3), Ciaran Stenson, Darragh Cummins (0-2), Daire O’Boyle (0-7, 4f), Ciaran Cummins, Conor Griffin (0-1), Darragh O’Brien (0-2)
Subs used: Brian Lynch, Eoghan Donaghy (0-1), Michael Flynn
Curry: Sean Marren, Michael Jennings, Craig Gallagher, Dylan McLoughlin, Keith Feeley, David McDonagh, Eoghan Sweeney, Dennis Coffey, Brian Byrne, Liam Reilly, Alan Reilly (0-3, 1f, 1 ‘mark’), Oisin Higgins, Oisin Murphy (0-1), Adrian Marren (0-4), Adam Gallagher (0-1)
Subs used: Stephen Donoghue, Tommy Henry
Referee: Gus Chapman
Coolaney-Mullinabreena 2-7, Tourlestrane 0-15; Coolera-Strandhill 2-15, St Farnan’s 0-17; Tubbercurry 1-11, St Mary’s 2-12; Calry-St Joseph’s 0-18, Curry 0-9
Tubbercurry v Curry; St Mary’s v Shamrock Gaels; Tourlestrane v St Farnan’s; Drumcliffe-Rosses Point v Coolaney-Mullinabreena
at one stage,” Padraig McGourty, the Coolaney-Mullinabreena manager, reflected. “I think we had been playing well and I felt we probably didn’t deserve to be six points down, given the scoring chances we had.
“A goal from Sean Gorman put a bit of wind in our sails and we kicked on from that to get level going into added time.”
“We are disappointed, given our performance, that we didn’t get something from the game,” added McGourty, who was speaking during Sligo GAA’s livestream of the clash between Curry and Calry-St Joseph’s last Sunday – Leitrim native McGourty was the match analyst for that fixture.
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Tourlestrane scorers: Brian Egan (0-5), Liam Gaughan (0-3), James Leonard (0-3), John Kelly (0-2), Gary Gaughan (0-1) Coolaney-Mullinabreena scorers: Gavin Gorman (1-2), Shane O’Brien (0-4), Sean Gorman (1-0), Barry Gorman (0-1)