Mayo League Division Three Final (Saturday 31-October-98)

O'Boyle on the boil as Parke capture league title

Parke.....................2-10
Lahardane...............0-14

Parke's fire-power incinerated Lahardane's league title dreams with a scorching final quarter display at Knockmore on Saturday.

Both teams entered this Division Three league showdown in the full knowledge that promotion to Intermediate status had been secured earlier in the year, but that did not reduce their respective desires to capture the divisional title as well.

A feature of the game was the excellent place kicking of Lahardane's rising star, 16-year-old Cormac Rowland, whose skill with oval ball is also well established, and that by the winners John O'Boyle who kicked six of the winners points.

The game was played at a fast pace and victory looked assured for the Nephinsiders when they turned an interval deficit of one point into a two points advantage by the 39th minute.

In the fast-fading light, play fluctuated to and fro before John O'Boyle turned up the heat for Parke to hammer over a succession of points sandwiched by a fortuitous goal by Kenneth Hyland.

Even then, trailing by four points with eight minutes remaining Lahardane were in no mood to concede victory and were attacking for a late winning goal when time ran out on them.

The final minutes were as exciting as one could have wished for, far beyond that produced in the games that decided the divisional one and two league titles last month.

Each side had its moments in the middle of the field but after the end of the third quarter Niall Dunne and Michael McLoughlin tightened parke's grip in the area and it was this fact, more anything else, that sent Parke home in a celebratary mood.

There was very little seperating the teams in the first half and on three occasions in the opening twenty minutes the sides were deadlocked.

Both defences were Fort Knox-like and this was reflected in the low scoring in the opening fifteen minutes.

Anthony Dunne, Stephen Cloherty, Tom Conway and Tom Walsh were prominent in the Parke rearguard, while Anthony McDermott, Padraic Leonard, Mervyn Marley and Ray McDermott tried hard in the Lahardane defence.

Declan Leonard and Cormac Rowland had Lahardane 0-3 to 0-1 by the 10th minute before Parke signalled their real intentions with a Harry Flynn goal after points by Tom Walsh and John O'Boyle.

The goal opportunity developed after a centre by Pat McHale was fumbled by a Lahardane defender and there to capitalise on his unexpected good fortune was Harry Flynn.

Leading 1-4 to 0-6 on the restart, Parke failed to keep the momentum going and looked like slipping back into certain defeat when an inspired Lahardane side stormed the Parke posts, landing scores by Declan Leonard, the hard working Gerard McGreevy and Cormac Rowland to see them regain a two point lead again for the second time in the match.

It took Parke until the 42nd minute to add to the interval tally when half-back Stephen Cloherty sent Kenneth Hyland on a defence-splitting run to land a point, enough to put Parke firing on all cylinders.

Hyland's goal and points by Niall Dunne and John O'Boyle had Lahardane gasping for survival, but to their credit, Lahardane battled right to the end and on another day might have snatched a late winning goal.

Lahardane: Enda Coyne, Ray McDermott (0-1); Damien Kelly, Padraic Leonard, Mervyn Marley, Anthony McDermott (0-1); John McDonnell, James Gillespie, Shane Blake (0-1); Declan Leonard (0-2); Gerard McGreevy (0-2); Noel Garrett, Cormac Rowland (0-7); Brian Rowland, Tom Cawley. Sub.: Ross Nolan (for Tom Cawley).

Referee: P. Geraghty (Swinford).