Mayo SFC: Niall Hurley the nine-point hero as Claremorris progress in style

by Nathan Guilfoyle

It was never easy and certainly not pretty.

But Claremorris secured a home quarter final spot with a gritty 0-18 to 1-12 victory over Charlestown in thheir final Mayo SFC Group 1 encounter om Aghamore while Westport's shock defeat to Kilmeena now leaves Charlestown in relegation trouble.

Niall Hurley continued his fine form with nine points, while Mark Maloney (0-3), Cathal Joyce (0-3) and Dara Hurley (0-3) all put their shoulder to the wheel to compensate for the loss of Mayo star Darragh Beirne.

A Matthew Lenehan well worked goal for Rory Clarke’s men gave Charlestown the lead after 15 minutes.

But they would never lead again for the remainder of the game.

The sides were level at half time with two pointers for the aforementioned Hurley twins combined with points from Conor McGuinness, Maloney and Joyce.

A string of converted Paul Towey frees kept Charlestown in touch after a booming two pointer from Gareth O’Donnell early on left the sides level at the break, 0-11 to 1-8.

Claremorris crucially hit Charlestown for six on the spin in the opening ten minutes after the break through a Joyce two pointer, Mark Maloney with a point and a 45’, while Niall and Dara Hurley added a point a piece.

Charlestown struggled but stayed in touch through Ben Crean and a Towey free.

Paul Gilmore had Towey well marshalled all game but received his marching orders for a second yellow with ten minutes to go, the gap at four and a feeling it was all to play for.

Claremorris dug deep and held out apart from a point from substitute Cian Towey, and will now have a home quarter final while Charlestown will have to regroup for a relegation semi final.

Claremorris: D. Fallon, M. Noonan, D. Fitzpatrick, D. Slattery, P. Gilmore, J. McCormack, David Hurley, D .O’Reilly, C. McGuinness, C. Joyce, Dara Hurley, J Cummins, J. Noone, M. Maloney, N. Hurley.

Subs: C. Gill for O’Reilly (8 mins, temporary sub, inj), O’Reilly for Gill (10 mins, temporary sub end), C. Gill for Slattery (18 mins, temporary sub), Slattery for Cummins (H/T), C. Cassidy for Noone (45 mins), M. Macken for O’Reilly (54 mins).

Charlestown Sarsfields: K. Brennan, T. Horkan, B. Conway, O. Flannery, T. Goldrick, N. Murphy, J. Corley, E. Murphy, T. Holton, G. O’Donnell, P. Towey, C. McArdle, R. Cullen, B. Crean, M. Lenehen.

Subs: A. Woods for Murphy (18 mins, inj), C. Towey for McArdle (49 mins), P. J. Dunleavy for Flannery (56 mins).

Player of the match: Niall Hurley (Claremorris). It felt whoever played better out of Paul Towey and Niall Hurley would have a huge bearing on the game, and Hurley was exceptional, nine points and lively all game.

Ref: V Neary.

* See full report in next Tuesday's issue of The Connaught Telegraph.