Our Lady's Belmullet bow out of All-Ireland race

All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘D’ Football Championship

Semi-Final
St Joseph’s, Spanish Point 3-15

Our Lady’s SS, Belmullet 2-15

Oisín McGovern
Bekan

THE Erris alliance of Our Lady’s Secondary School, Belmullet met their match in Saturday’s All-Ireland PPS Senior ‘D’ FC semi-final at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence.
A fine first half from the North Mayo lads, and a superb start to the second half wasn’t enough to stop a resurgent Spanish Point side from booking a ticket to the final.
The football was open and the man-marking was loose in an entertaining opening half played out in beautiful spring elements.
The teams were level five times in a half which finished 1-8 apiece, but Our Lady’s should have been ahead.
Though dangerous in the attack, Munster champions St Joseph’s were far from stellar in defence.
Time and again, Charlie Ginnelly, Josh Carey and Rory Conway got through their barricades with little resistance.
The Clare boys paid the price for this when Conway danced through before side-footing the ball gracefully into the bottom corner.
Carey then pointed in the 16th minute to put the Belmullet school three points up.
However, their good work was undone when Euan Lineen sent a harmless shot into the parallelogram that slipped right through the gloves of Oisín Reilly and into the net.
The response from Our Lady’s was swift and decisive.
Within a minute, the Erris boys men were two points up through efforts from Carey and Ginnelly.
The prolific Carey continued to cause hassle, landing two more scores before half-time.
It looked like it would be smooth sailing when Belmullet notched up 1-2 in the opening four minutes – the goal coming from a wonderful solo effort from Rory Conway.
Their hopes were then ruthlessly dashed though when Paul Frawley sent an absolute wonder-goal into the top corner of the Our Lady’s net.
Euan Lineen then turned the screw with a second three-pointer that put Spanish Point four to the good.
The Erris boys tried desperately to plug the gap in the final quarter, and they came close when Anthony Barrett drove a daisy cutter inches wide of the goal.
However, St Joseph’s Spanish Point assured their victory with four insurance scores in the last quarter, ensuring their passage to the All-Ireland final.

Our Lady’s SS, Belmullet
O Reilly; G McAndrew (0-1), L McGrath, J Calvey; P Doherty, J Flannery, J Doherty; L Tighe, A Barrett (1-1); K Conway, R Conway (2-3), D McAndrew; J Healy (0-1), J Carey (0-5, 3f), C Ginnelly (0-3).
Subs used: D Gallagher for P Doherty (41); J Lynch for D McAndrew (45); R Ginty for L McGrath (47).

St Joseph’s, Spanish Point
T Sexton; S Gleeson, G Donnellan, C Kearney; J Moloney (0-3), D Comber, C Keavey (0-1); P Frawley (1-1), E Cahill; S Neylon (0-1), O Sexton (0-1), D Townsend (0-1); F O’Driscoll, E Lineen (2-4, 3fs), C Talty (0-3).
Sub used: E Devanney for O Sexton (62).

Referee: D Lyons