Tourmakeady worn down by St James

Tourmak’ worn down


Semi-Final
St James 0-11
Tourmakeady 0-8

Mike Finnerty
Castlebar

HARD WORK has   underpinned Tourmakeady’s greatest days in recent years and it also illuminated their historic Mayo Intermediate championship win last month.
Ironically, they met their match in this regard last Sunday when the lads from St James (an amalgamation of Mervue and Renmore) in Galway city hounded the Gaeltacht men into submission, and out of the Connacht club championship at the semi-final stage.
The story of the match is encapsulated in the final sixteen minutes; St James tagging on the three points that won the day from Ronan O’Connell, Paul Conroy (free) and Eoin Concannon (free) while holding Tourmakeady scoreless at the other end.
The West Mayo men tried both the direct and subtle approaches in that last quarter, but all to no avail. St James packed their defence and swallowed up the charging runs of John Heneghan, Brendan Prendergast and Kevin Dolan while the patient, measured approach was also dealt with capably.
The Galway duo of Conroy and Concannon made big scoring contributions; the midfielder put in a serious first half display and ended the match with four points (including a couple of sublime long-range frees from his hands) while the centre-forward nailed five points (including a brace of superb scores from open play).
These nine scores were worth their weight in gold at the end of an enjoyable, free-flowing, fast-paced match.
The sides were only level twice as St James took the game to the Mayo champions from the start and, despite their ‘townie’ status, never looked intimidated by Tourmakeady’s battle-hardened warriors.
The Galway representatives led at half-time by 0-7 to 0-5 but were slowly and surely reeled back in by Tourmak’ as the third quarter wore on. However, St James got their second wind down the home stretch and three unanswered points booked their place in next Sunday’s final against Strokestown from Roscommon.
Jack Grimes would have been pleased with Tourmakeady’s start as Brendan Prendergast (who went on to give a magnificent display and shot four points) converted a free to ease the locals into the lead.
St James responded impressively though and well-taken points from their marquee men, Eoin Concannon (2) and Paul Conroy (2), nudged them out in front by the end of the first quarter.
By that stage the Galway city lads had settled into their stride, dominating around the middle and bombarding Tourmakeady’s full-back line at every opportunity.
Kevin Dolan, who was surviving on scraps in that first half, did toss over a couple of scores to keep the scoreboard ticking over but these were cancelled out quickly by Conroy and Concannon.
Seamie Rabbitte then fired St James into a 0-7 to 0-3 lead on 24 minutes as Ronan O’Connell and Alan O’Donnell proved willing and able target-men in a lively inside line.
Thankfully, Tourmakeady were never going to fade away and Brendan Prendergast smacked over a couple of scores from distance (one from a free) before the break to keep things interesting at the halfway stage.
Another Prendergast free cut the deficit to the minimum after the restart and the revival was kept motoring by the likes of Tom Staunton, MJ Walsh, MJ Meeneghan, John Heneghan, the Naughton brothers, and Kevin Dolan.
Dolan almost got in for a game-breaking goal on 42 minutes but his fierce shot from close-range was deflected brilliantly over the bar by St James goalkeeper, John Egan.
The elusive Brian Naughton did arch over the equalising score five minutes later though as Tourmakeady’s began to bend the game to their will through hard graft and clever play.
Unfortunately, the recovery mission had taken a lot of effort and they failed to score again as St James summoned up another decisive push.
The winners finished the match strongly; Shane Coughlan, Conor Glynn and Johnny Duane battening down the hatches, while their forwards exploited the gaps in a tired Tourmakeady backline to grab the scores that settled the issue.

St James
J Egan; S Coughlan, A Deacy, C Glynn; J Burke, J Duane, T Walsh; P Conroy (0-4, 3fs), M Kelly; M McCormack, E Concannon (0-5, 3fs), S Donnellan; R O’Connell (0-1), A O’Donnell, S Rabbitte (0-1).
Subs used: S Boyle for Donnellan; A Connolly for McCormack; E O’Regan for O’Donnell (inj).

Tourmakeady
B Heneghan; M Heneghan, D Prendergast, T Staunton; MJ Walsh, B Prendergast (0-4, 3fs), MJ Meeneghan; M O’Neill, John Heneghan; P Folan, T Naughton, M Ronan; B Naughton (0-1), Joe Heneghan, K Dolan (0-3, 1f).
Subs used: D O’Toole for Folan; S O’Neill for O’Toole.

Referee: B Sammin (Leitrim)