Blessington hold on for win against St Kevin’s
BLESSINGTON will face off either Rathnew or Clara Gaels in the Wicklow under-20 ‘B’ football final after they got the better of their neighbours St. Kevin’s in a local derby on Sunday morning last. The match was played out with good underfoot conditions, despite all the rain over the weekend.
It was nip and tuck through-out the match, however both sides were guilty of poor shot selections at times as the wide count was fairly high in the end.
St Kevin’s got back into game at stages with some well worked goals, however four points over the 60-odd minutes, proved costly to their cause in the wind up.
Blessington’s Kevin Quinn opened the scoring with a pointed free in the second minute before Ruairi Finan slotted another point over, to double the lead for the home side in the next attack.
Padraig Keogh opened St Kevin’s account with a point after great passage of play by Luka Harney. Eoin Clarke swung over a point to level the game in the fifth minute. Blessington retook the lead after Christy Mooney turned over possession, with David Williamson splitting the uprights.
We had the first major in the next attack as Ethan Cotter fired home after a great pass in from Conall O’Gallchobair, who was a huge loss for Blessington in the recent Junior ‘A’ final replay. O’Gallchobair was a constant thorn in St. Kevin’s side, throughout the game.
A nine-minute period elapsed without a score recorded as both sides were wasteful with some poor shot selection with a host of scoring opportunities. St Kevin’s gradually started to find their feet and build a bit of momentum and work their way back into the game.
Eoin Clarke fired in a major after a great ball in from Keith Burke, to cut the deficit to the minimum in the 20th minute. Each side again traded wides before Blessington lost midfielder Jordan McGarr through injury.
St Kevin’s hit the front for the first time in the match when a high ball in by Luka Harney wasn’t cleared by the Blessington rearguard, Ryan Mulvey was in like a light to rifle the ball to the back of the net.
Blessington responded immediately and retook the lead with a breath-taking move when Conall O’Gallchobair put Ruairi Finan through, who fired a shot into the top right-hand corner in the 30th minute.
St. Kevin’s rallied going into added time and Harry Houlihan dropped a high ball, route one style, into the Blessington danger zone where Padraig Keogh gathered and rounded the keeper before dinking the ball to the back of the net.
Kevin Quinn closed out the half with a point as the whistle sounded with the scoreboard reading 2-4 to 3-2 in favour of the visitors.
The home side took a firm grip on the game with a sensational restart, kicking four unanswered points in the opening four minutes, from the boots of Quinn, O’Gallchobair, Sean Price and Eoin Higgins to build up a healthy three-point cushion in what would be a defining period of the game.
Some good tackling by Luka Harney was keeping Blessington at bay, however a brace of pointed frees from Kevin Quinn duly followed.
Again, St Kevin’s rediscovered their groove and hit back with a major from the boot of Robbie Miley after an inside pass from Tadgh Miley to blow the game wide open yet again.
Kevin Quinn tagged on another point, but three further missed chances by the men in blue and white, left St Kevin’s still in the hunt.
St Kevin’s suffered a huge blow when they lost county midfielder Luka Harney to a nasty ankle injury. Ethan Cotter blazed a great goal chance over the crossbar to let St Kevin’s off the hook in what would turn out to be Blessington’s final score of the game in the 53rd minute.
The lively Ben O’Keefe pointed from range to cut the deficit back down to three points going into the final five minutes. St Kevin’s did get a couple of chances for an equalising goal before Conall Byrne put the game in the melting pot with a well taken point, to further reduce the gap to two points now, going into injury time.
St Kevin’s fought on, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t force another score as Blessington defended supremely and held out for a place in the upcoming final.
Scorers - Blessington: Kevin Quinn 0-6 (3f), Ruairi Finan 1-1, Ethan Cotter 1-1, David Williamson 0-1, Sean Price 0-1, Conall O’Gallcobhair 0-1, Eoin Higgins 0-1.
St. Kevin’s: Padraig Keogh 1-1, Eoin Clarke 1-1, Ryan Mulvey 1-0, Robbie Miley 1-0, Ben O’Keeffe 0-1, Conall Byrne 0-1.