Cill Chomain's season ends in Tuam

CONNACHT JUNNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL

An Cheathru Rua 1-11

Cill Chomain 0-7

TUAM

THE champions of Mayo went out on their shields in St Jarlath's Stadium this afternoon. The scoreline is somewhat deceptive as Cill Chomain only trailed by a point after 52 minutes, but the power and pace of their Gaeltacht counterparts proved too much in the end and An Cheathru Rua pulled away to seal a place in the provincial final.

The strength-in-depth of the Galway champions, who were a senior team two seeasons ago, was the deciding factor and a goal from corner-forward Eanna MacCormaic put a gloss on the scoreeboard at the end.

Cill Chomain started slowly but recovered impressively and weere a point up at the break, 0-5 to 0-4, after Derek Moran kicked four points and the tireless Joe Mason added another. Justin Healy was marked tightly by the Galway men but he was winning whatever ball went into him on the edge of the square while Sean Murphy, Lorcan Mason, Liam Maloney, Sean Irwin, Eoghan McGrath and their colleagues were prominent.

Young Maitiu Ó Domhnaill was excellent for An Cheathrua Rua at wing-forward and MacCormaic landed three points from frees in a match which constantly echoed to the whistle of referee Michael McGirl despite nothing even resembling a dirty blow being thrown.

The second period was equally well-balanced for long periods and when Kian Gallagher came forward to drive over a Cill Chomain free after 52 minutes the Mayo men only trailed by a single point, 0-7 to 0-8.

However, the Galway champions were finishing strongly with centre-half-back Myles MacDonnacha driving forward time after time. One of his sallies up the pitch ended with MacCormaic finding the net and that brought the curtain down on a meemorable season for Cill Chomain who will play intermediate football in 2025.

A full match report and after-match reaction will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News.