Fenagh St Caillins march on after underwhelming Connacht Gold SFC Quarter-Final

Fenagh St Caillins booked their place in this year’s Connacht Gold SFC Semi-Finals after they proved far too strong and clinical for a laboured St Mary’s Kiltoghert in an underwhelming quarter final in Heartland Credit Union Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada last Saturday.

​Not a match that will live long in the memory and a far cry from the usual helter-skelter clashes between these teams, Fenagh St Caillins threatened at various times to cut loose but never truly shook off a stubborn, if limited, St Mary’s Kiltoghert who never got going with the ferocity or energy one would expect.

The feeling that Fenagh were playing within themselves is hard to shake – at times, they looked set to cut loose but they never truly shook off St Mary’s who lost the highly influential Ben Guckian in the opening seconds to injury, a blow they never recovered from.

Impossible to look beyond Ryan O’Rourke as the game’s most influential figure, not just for his scores but his overall leadership. Eoin McLoughlin, Donal Wrynn, Colm McLoughlin and Ruairi O’Rourke all impressed for the winners. For a disjointed St Mary’s, Oisin Bohan and Jack Casey carried the fight to Fenagh while Fintan Earley battled manfully

Truth be told, it is hard to find much to enthuse about in this match, a poor game that never truly caught fire as two tired looking teams were nowhere near the fire and energy they showed the previous week. It may be a first world problem but the scheduling of games and the tight timeframe is something that needs to be looked at. On this evidence, Fenagh have a lot of work to do but, with two weeks to prepare, time to recover, you’ve got to think their forwards are more than capable of pulling off a shock while their defensive work showed that scores won’t be easily found

Perhaps the game’s defining moments came in the very first attack, St Mary’s Ben Guckian charging past two defenders and heading for goal, forcing a fifty but also pulling up sharply with an apparent hamstring pull, a body blow that St Mary’s never recovered from. Paul Keaney worked the 50 short but his shot fell short.

Fenagh’s direct approach saw a long ball to Fergal McLoughlin and after passes with Ruairi & Riordan O’Rourke, McLoughlin scored the opening point as Senan Bohan replaced Guckian. St Mary’s levelled when they turned over a kickout, Jack Casey firing over but Fenagh were making the early running.

Three Ryan O’Rourke points, one from a free, saw Fenagh surge into an early three point lead, James Gilheany pointing after a poor St Mary’s kickout. Oisin Bohan stalled the Fenagh surge on 17 minutes after a period of possession and that was St Mary’s way back into the game as they held onto the ball for long spells.

Paul Keaney (free) and Gavin Reynolds both had two point efforts go wide before St Mary’s won a free that was moved in, the speed at which Fenagh’s defence reacted to get back on the line as Keaney took the ball evident of his goal threat, a point the result.

A strong run from Eoin McLoughlin set up Riordan O’Rourke for a point on 24 minutes, Oisin Bohan replying with a lovely curling effort from the wing. Jack Casey got a second point from the corner to leave just a point between the sides but Fenagh saw Ruairi O’Rourke finish off a good move with a point to leave them 0-7 to 0-5 in front at halftime.

Oisin McLoughlin opened the second half with a fine step inside a defender to fire over inside the first minute while, in another of those sliding doors moments, St Mary’s created their own real goal chances, Gavin Reynolds and Oisin Bohan combining to set up James McGrail but the halftime forward was unable to threaten the goal, firing over.

As they would do all day, Fenagh hit back immediately, Ryan O’Rourke pointing after good work from Donal Wrynn. Oisin McLoughlin’s mazy run created a goal chance but his shot was saved, St Mary’s pulling back a point from a snap Paul Keaney shot on 39 minutes.

Fenagh appealed for a penalty, and they would have had a strong case had Ruairi O’Rourke not been adjudged to have overcarried in the lead-up. Midway through the half, a massive Gavin Reynolds two pointer got the gap back to a solitary point but St Mary’s couldn’t build on the score.

Callum Andrews landed a huge two point free three minutes later and Ruairi O’Rourke extended the gap to four points with a fine effort, his cousin Ryan scoring a fine point on the run two minutes later.

Fenagh looked in control but a massive Paul Keaney two pointer on the run from the stand wing suddenly left just a score between the teams with over two minutes to go. But from the kickout, Ryan O’Rourke fielded, took off on a run and scored a fine point to virtually kill off the game.

Ruairi O’Rourke landed a well worked point and despite a black card for James Gilheany, Fenagh easily fended off St Mary’s late efforts for a goal, booking their place in the semi-finals.

FENAGH ST. CAILLINS

Scorers: Ryan O’Rourke 0-7, 1f; Ruairi O’Rourke 0-3; Callum Andrews 0-2, tp; Fergal McLoughlin, Oisin McLoughlin, James Gilheany & Riordan O’Rourke 0-1 each

Team: Callum Andrews; Daniel McLoughlin, Gary Butler, Conal McGovern; Eoin McLoughlin, Caillin O'Rourke, Dara Greenan; Donal Wrynn, Colm McLoughlin; Fergal McLoughlin, Oisin McLoughlin, James Gilheaney; Ruairi O'Rourke; Ryan O'Rourke, Riordan O'Rourke. Sub: Aaron Smith for Riordan O’Rourke (62)

ST MARY’S KILTOGHERT

Scorers: Paul Keaney 0-4, f, tp; Gavin Reynolds (tp), Jack Casey & Oisin Bohan 0-2 each; James McGrail 0-1

Team: Daire Shannon, Kyle McCrann, Fintan Earley, Hugh Bracken, Darragh Gardiner, Mark Diffley, Conor Farrell, Aaron Gardiner, Gavin Reynolds, Nicholas McWeeney, Ben Guckian, Jack Barnes, Jack Casey, Paul Keaney, Oisin Bohan. Subs: Senan Bohan for Guckian (2); James McGrail for A Gardiner (HT); Cian Reynolds for D Gardiner (41); Niall Crowe for Barnes (48); Adam Reynolds for McCrann (53)

Referee: Martin Feeney