Hurling heartbreak

Wayward shooting comes back to bite Wicklow

ROSCOMMON WICKLOW 2-13 2-12

A one-point defeat was suffered by the Wicklow Senior hurlers at the hands of Roscommon in their All-Ireland IHC clash in Tullamore this week in 2000.

The Garden County side were found guilty of shooting 16 wides over the course of the game and were left to count the cost of that waywardness when the final whistle sounded at the Offaly venue.

‘Wicklow’s hurlers saw the curtain come down on their All-Ireland Intermediate championship in their opening performance when they lost the plot to Roscommon in between a sunshine start and finish to their game at Tullamore,’ wrote sports reporter Mark Kennedy.

‘After racing 2-4 to 0-2 ahead in a blistering first 20 minutes, Wicklow were then guilty of wasting a lot of chances to kill off their opponents, shooting an appalling 16 wides over the hour and allowing Roscommon to come back into this match with disastrous consequences,’ he added.

‘With just 10 minutes left in the game, Wicklow found themselves trailing by five points, 2-11 to 2-6, to resurgent Roscommon, and, while staging a late rally following the introduction of injured Don Hyland, they found themselves being pipped at the post by one point in the finish.

‘Indeed, Wicklow have only themselves to blame for letting this game slip when they had Roscommon on the ropes in the early play.

‘The Westerners may have come to the match as defending champions but in the opening 20 minutes they were taking a roasting from a Wicklow side that started off red hot and looked to be intent on repeating their league victory earlier in the year.

‘Lining out without the injured Don Hyland at full-forward, Wicklow brought in John Keogh, made a number of positional changes in defence and attack and everything seemed to be working a dream in the early play.

‘Lar Byrne was drafted to centre back with Gerry Murray moving to the wing and they along with Jeffrey Bermingham were cutting off the supply to Roscommon as Wicklow pressed home their advantage at the other end.

‘At corner-forward Jonathan O’Neill was on fire for Wicklow at that stage and he rocked Roscommon as he hammered home two goals and two points to send his team into an eight-point lead, 2-4 to 0-2, after 18 minutes.

‘He flicked his first goal on three minutes from a line ball from John Keogh and his second major came on 18 minutes following a John Keogh free, which was brought down by Wayne O’Gorman before O’Neill whipped the sliothar to the net from close range,’ he added.

Mark Kennedy went on to say that Wicklow full-forward Joe Murphy was winning good ball in those early stages and that the Roscommon backs were most certainly against the wall.

However, it was from then on that the wides started to accrue and the Garden County men failed to raise another flag of any colour for the rest of the first half.

Wicklow goalkeeper Colin Byrne was also playing superbly in that first half, pulling off three wonderful saves, two in quick succession.

A total of 10 wides would be fired in that first half as Wicklow took a 2-4 to 0-7 lead into the dressing rooms in Tullamore.

Roscommon were level within 20 seconds of the restart when Mick Cunniffe rattled the Wicklow net and when Damien Lohan grabbed their second goal it was 2-11 to 2-6 for Roscommon with Joe Murphy and Michael Moran adding two points to Wicklow’s tally.

The Wicklow management than began ringing the changes, introducing Graham Keogh for Timmy Collins, a move that surprised the reporter on the day but it was not until Don Hyland was sent into the fray that Wicklow began to get their game back on track.

‘Limping badly, Hyland did not contribute much to the game himself, but his presence on the field seemed to lift his colleagues from their slumber and they took control of the excahnges in the same fashion as they had in the opening 20 minutes,’ wrote Mark Kennedy.

A storming last 10 minutes saw points from Joe Murphy (two frees) and Jonathan O’Neill cut the deficit to just a point.

However, Colm Kelly increased that to two shortly afterwards and while John O’Toole bagged the last score for Wicklow it was to be too little too late as Roscommon marched on with a 2-13 to 2-12 victory.

Wicklow: Colin Byrne; Timmy Collins, MA O’Neill, Gerry Byrne; Gerry Murray, Laurence Byrne, Jeffrey Bermingham; Christy O’Toole, Trevor McGrath; John Keogh (0-2), John O’Toole (0-1), Wayne O’Gorman; Michael Moran (0-2), Joe Murphy (0-4), Jonathan O’Neill (2-3). Subs: Graham Keogh for T Collins; Don Hyland for W O’Gorman; Ronan O’Brien for T McGrath.