​St Mary’s do enough to hold off Mohill in another step towards Leitrim league final

St Mary’s Kiltoghert took another step towards defending their KC Motors ACL Division 1 title last Friday evening and ended Mohill’s hopes of reaching the decider after an intriguing and entertaining contest in Pairc Naomh Mhuire.​

With both these sides still in the hunt for a final place and fine-tuning preparations for August’s Connacht Gold SFC, this was a match with an edge but it is hard to know how much either set of managements will have learned from the contest which was dominated for large spells by St Mary’s Kiltoghert but also featured a late Mohill rally that might have snatched victory.

In keeping with the nature of the game, St Mary’s did not look to have done enough at halftime as they led 0-8 to 0-1 despite having a strong wind behind them but they came out early in the second half, scoring four unanswered points to take total and complete control of the game.

Mohill, who looked strangely subdued and lacklustre for the first 45 minutes, sprang into life in the final quarter and put immense pressure onto the St Mary’s rearguard which, for the large part, did well in repelling the charging runs of Keith Keegan, Conor Quinn and the Harkin brothers.

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Both teams were without some key players and Jordan Reynolds will make a big difference to the Mohill attack while St Mary’s will hope that the return of some of their veteran players and injured stars like Gavin Reynolds and Cian Singleton will be enough to put them into the challenger status after their relegation battle last year.

A win for St Mary’s over Aughawillan in the final round of games would guarantee the Carrick men a spot in the League Final, a draw may also be enough depending on other results and head to head results while Mohill could throw a spanner in the works for Leitrim Gaels.

A win for Mohill could leave the County Champions vulnerable to both Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins and Fenagh St Caillins who will feel they have eminently winnable games in the final round, leaving everything to play for on Saturday July 18.

Mohill, playing against the wind, opened the scoring inside the first minute with a nice Fiachra McGuinness point. With St Mary’s missing three chances, Mohill almost made them pay when Matthew Murphy broke free but keeper Daire Shannon made a wonderful save to deny a goal on five minutes.

A Paul Keaney free tied the scores before St Mary’s started to find their range, Ben Guckian scoring on the break before pouncing on the resulting kickout to point. Jack Barnes added a point and Paul Keaney saw his two point effort strike woodwork before going over and suddenly, in a five minute spell, Mary’s were five clear.

The scoring rate slow with Brian Keaney and Emmet Regan both adding points before the break while Jack Rowley was twice denied goal opportunities, Shannon making a good save from the second effort.

Mohill would have the strong wind in the second half but it was St Mary’s who took control of the game - a period of patient play ended with Ben Guckian firing over from play after two minutes and a minute later, with the wind dropping, he landed a great two point free. From the kickout, Mary’s broke with Brian McKenna firing over.

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That left Mohill 11 points down, and with both sides missing chances, the game looked to be petering out. McKenna got his second after a long free into the corner but a quick free found Keith Keegan who charged through for a point on 11 minutes.

Two minutes later, the county star landed a two pointer and it felt as if Mohill were starting to build momentum. But that feeling was punctured when McKenna and Aaron Gardiner combined to set up Brian Keaney for a fine point, Evan Harkin pointing on 47 minutes.

The contest got a jolt of electricity with just over seven minutes to go when Fiachra McGuinness got his fist to Conor Quinn’s long shot as advantage was being played, the ball ending in the net to leave six between the teams.

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With St Mary’s opting for a cautious run down the clock approach, Mohill started to gain momentum but the scores weren’t coming quickly enough - Keith Keegan landed a huge two pointer after a quick sideline on 57 minutes but Daire Shannon was penalised for taking two long on a kickout, Frankie McManus tapping over the free.

But that was it for the scoring with a block on Sean Harkin, Shannon batting out a McManus shot and yellow cards for Keegan and Paul Keaney and a late outbreak of nonsense over near the sideline. The game did end with a late black card for Senan Bohan but St Mary’s held on comfortably for the victory.

ST MARY’S KILTOGHERT

Scorers: Ben Guckian 0-5, tpf; Paul Keaney 0-3, f; Brian McKenna & Brian Keaney 0-2 each; Jack Barnes & Emmet Regan 0-1 each

Team: Daire Shannon, Kyle McCrann, Fintan Earley, Hugh Bracken, Robbie O’Donnell, Darragh Gardiner, Nicholas McWeeney, James McGrail, Aaron Gardiner, Emmet Regan, Ben Guckian, Jack Barnes, Brian McKenna, Paul Keaney, Brian Keaney. Subs: Senan Bohan for Regan (42); Cian Reynolds for A. Gardiner (53); Niall Crowe for B Keaney (57)

MOHILL

Scorers: Keith Keegan 0-5, Fiachra McGuinness 1-1, Frankie McManus & Evan Harkin 0-1 each

Team: Padraig Tighe, David Mitchell, James Mitchell, Ryan Bohan, Sean Harkin, Caillian Canning, Shane Quinn, Conor Quinn, Frankie McManus, Keith Keegan, Domhnaill Flynn, Jack Rowley, Fiachra McGuinness, Evan Harkin, Mattie Murphy. Subs: Ronan Gordon for Flynn (21); Donal Duignan for Canning (42), Ryan Gordon for R. Gordon (56); Domhnaill Flynn for McGuinness (57); Eoghan Duignan for Bohan (58)

Referee: Michael McGirl