Seán Canning, Pádraig Pearses, and Shane Quinn, Mohill, in AIB Connacht Club SFC action. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
AIB Connacht Club SFC Semi-Final
Pearses 0-13 Mohill 0-3
By Kevin Egan at Ballinamore
Pádraig Pearses secured their place in their third Connacht final in as many attempts as they squeezed the life out of Mohill in this afternoon’s provincial semi-final clash at Ballinamore, outscoring the Leitrim champions by 0-10 to 0-1 in the second half to extend their record in Connacht senior club championship football to six wins out of seven games in 2019, 2021 and this year.
After the visitors failed to score in the first quarter, when Keith Beirne raised the only flag through a free, it seemed like it might be a similar story to last year’s semi-final when Mohill pushed St. Brigid’s to the wire at Dr. Hyde Park before eventually falling short by two points.
Greasy conditions and a physical battle led to a lot of handling errors on both sides, with little or no space close to the goals. Eventually, after Declan Kenny hit the post and three other efforts were sent wide of the target at Pádraig Tighe’s goal, Ronan Daly made the breakthrough in the 18th minute, following up with a second score a minute later off his left foot.
A scoreline of 0-3 to 0-2 at half-time in Pearses’ favour, with the wind set to blow at the backs of Frank Canning’s charges after the interval, indicated it was all going according to the Roscommon side’s plan at that stage.
Ronan Daly and Evan Harkin traded points after half-time before Conor Daly and Paul Carey followed up to make it a three-point game, but it was only when Mohill corner back David Mitchell picked up his second yellow card in the 41st minute that things got really comfortable.
Within five minutes of gaining a numerical advantage, Conor Daly had sent over the best score of the game from long range and Declan Kenny split the uprights on the run, and against a side that were on course for their seventh consecutive clean sheet, Mohill never looked like getting the goals they needed to make the game competitive again, with Paul Whelan sharply charging out to block down Conor Quinn’s soccer style effort on the only half-chance that materialised.
Kenny, Ronan Daly, Jack Tumulty and Carey all got on the scoresheet in the closing minutes as Pearses marched emphatically into the provincial decider.
Scorers for Pádraig Pearses: Ronan Daly 0-4, Conor Daly 0-2, Jack Tumulty 0-2, Declan Kenny 0-2, Paul Carey 0-2 (1f), Conor Ryan 0-1m.
Scorers for Mohill: Keith Beirne 0-2 (2fs), Evan Harkin 0-1.
Pádraig Pearses: Paul Whelan; Gavin Downey, Niall Carty, David Murray; Declan Kenny, Caelim Keogh, Conor Harley; Conor Ryan, Niall Daly; Conor Daly, Ronan Daly, Adam McGreal; Seán Canning, Paul Carey, Jack Tumulty.
Subs: Conor Lohan for Harley (42), Eoin Colleran for Canning (42), Jack Nevin for McGreal (52), Mark Richardson for Downey (58), Shane Carty for Colleran (60).
Mohill: Pádraig Tighe; James Mitchell, Seán Harkin, Ryan Bohan; David Mitchell, Shane Quinn, Jack Rowley; Conor Quinn, Domhnaill Flynn; Evan Harkin, Keith Keegan, Tadhg Mulligan; Jordan Reynolds, Keith Beirne, Fiachra McGuinness.
Subs: Ronan Gordon for McGuinness (51), Caillin Canning for S Quinn, (55-58 temp), Caillin Canning for Mulligan (58), Donal Duignan for S Harkin (60+1), Oscar Reynolds for S Quinn (60+3).
Referee: James Molloy (Galway).
