Shamrocks see off Nicks
Real humdinger in Donard
SHAMROCKS ST NICHOLAS 1-13 1-10
FOR anyone that wasn’t in Donard last Sunday morning, they missed one of the battles of the year in this action packed under-20 football championship blockbuster.
This is the way football should be played, all-out attacking football in a local derby, plenty of off-the-ball stuff, just about within the rules, goal chances galore, plenty of firepower all over the field from both sides, massive hits, along with a very vocal sets of supporters and after the final whistle, handshakes all around.
St Nicholas started well as Tomas Lawlor got the scoring underway in the third minute with a point, after great work by Henry Healy.
Jordan Deans had a goal chance brilliantly cut out by Nic’s full-back Davy Lawlor in the next attack for Shamrocks. Niall Faherty was fouled going through and Tomas Lawlor pointed the resultant free.
Padraig O’Toole got Shamrocks on the board with a mighty point in the 10th minute after good build up play by Paddy Whelan.
St. Nicholas then took a stranglehold on the game in the next few minutes with marksman Tomas Lawlor firing over a trio of pointed frees as they built up a healthy four-point cushion in this period.
Tadgh O’Toole had a great chance of a goal for the Baltinglass side, but his piledriver cannoned off the crossbar and over for a point; a huge let off for St Nicholas.
Each side picked up yellow cards before another goal chance went amiss for the Shamrocks, Adam Wynne drew a point-blank save from Brian Keogh, which went out for a 45.
Alan Barrett came onto the Shamrocks side. A Cian Lee shot unbelievably came of one upright and across the goals, hit the other upright and fell out to Jordan Deans who somehow fluffed his shot wide from four yards out, another huge let off for the home side.
Johnny Keogh tagged on a point from a free, to cut the lead to two points to close out the first quarter. Mark Reid pointed to round off a brilliant move up the field, initiated by Henry Healy.
Both teams traded chances over the next period but failed to raise their score tally. Another pointed free from Johnny Keogh, closed out the opening half with the score reading 0-6 to 0-4 in favour of the Donard/Dunlavin combination side.
Padraig O’Toole switched into midfield on the restart, which had a huge bearing on the game. Johnny
Keogh fired over another point after great work by Sean Doody.
Padraig O’Toole scored an outrageous point from 60m out the field, albeit from hoping over the crossbar. Shamrock’s upped the ante and drove at their opponents, this time Sean Doody crashed another shot against the crossbar and the ball flew over the bar, to put the visitors a point up, to huge roars of approval from the sidelines.
Game on, big time. Another pointed free from Tomas Lawlor, levelled matters again. It was riveting stuff at this stage, plenty of off-the-ball stuff and even more banter from the supporters added to the heat of the battle and the referee being updated constantly on the playing rules.
Cian Lee swung over a beast of a point before the Shamrocks tallied on another pair of white flags. Niall Faherty and Brian Nolan were putting in huge shifts for the St Nicholas side.
It was end-to-end stuff, flat out. Tomas Lawlor harvested another brace of pointed frees to close out an absorbing third quarter with the scoreboard reading 0-9 to 0-10, in favour of the Shamrocks.
Goalkeeper, William Rodgers found the target twice in succession, raising a brace of white flags from 45s to push the lead up to three points.
Tomas Lawlor pointed before Shane Daly blazed a glorious goal chance wide, which should have put St Nicholas back in front at this crucial period of the game.
Moments later, Tomas Lawlor crashed another chance of the crossbar, another huge let off for Shamrocks.
The lively Cillian Giligan had a great goal chance parried by Brian Keogh, however this time, Jordan Dean’s buried the rebounding ball across the goal line going into the closing stages to now lead 1-12 to 0-10.
Well, what a finish we were in for!
St. Nicholas refused to buckle. They won a 21m free, Tomas Lawlor went for goal, the freekick was charged down. The ball was moved into the 14m line, Tomas Lawlor with ball in hand was faced by ten defenders on the goal line, Lawlor unleashed a shot that sensationally ended up in the back of the net, 1-10 to 1-12 and on we went.
St Nicholass literally threw the kitchen sink at Shamrocks, however, some serious defending and hits by the Shamrock defence saw them stand strong before Cillian Gilligan closed out a brilliant game with a fine point for the Shamrocks.
Scorers - Shamrocks: Johnny Keogh 0-04 (4f), Jordan Deans 1-01, Padraig O’Toole 0-02, William Rodgers 0-02 (2 45’s), Sean Doody 0-01, Cian Lee 0-01, Cillian Gilligan 0-01, Tadgh 0’Toole 0-1.
St. Nicholas: Tomas Lawlor 1-9 (8f), Mark Reid 0-1.