Belter in Blessington
Baltinglass get the better of ‘green’ Dunlavin
BALTINGLASS DUNLAVIN 1-10 1-6
‘BALTINGLASS beat Dunlavin in a thriller,’ read the headline in the Wicklow and Bray People following what was described in the report as the ‘championship match of the year to date’.
With An Tochar claiming victory in the 1995 to put a stop to the wonderful run of Baltinglass there must have been a real sense of anything is possible as the 1996 championship started to heat up.
This win sent Baltinglass on to the championship semi-final stage and ended Dunlavin’s brave campaign and it was game where it was reported that Baltinglass needed all their experience to get past a ‘green’ Dunlavin.
‘The Slaneysiders needed all their resolve, all their fighting spirit and their championship ‘know how’ to survive the challenge of a talented but ‘green’ Dunlavin side,’ wrote the late Peter Keogh after the game in Blessington.
‘If a bit of understandable, but desirable ‘needle’ crept in to spoil the action in this local derby then this was more than made up for by as dramatic a finish as one could wish for.
‘A lead point with three minutes to go. A Baltinglass goal on the call of time, followed by a penalty to Dunlavin – all added up to the sort of tension guaranteed to send the fans home happy.
‘As their brightest star of the past decade, Kevin O’Brien, is eclipsed temporarily by the talents of Paul Allen, the Baltinglass supporters celebrated the emergence of a new star in the person of 19-year-old Brendan Kelly. Kelly earned the man of the match rating from friend and foe alike. His 1-4 were all top-class scores, and all came at crucial moments in the game,’ read the report.
A bright start from Baltinglass was soon quashed with Dunlavin finding their feet and Thomas Harney grabbing a goal to leave them leading 1-5 to 0-3 after 20 minutes and looking well on their way to the semi-final spot.
The newspaper report suggests that an injury to David Whelan was the incident that allow Baltinglkass gather their thoughts and in the five minutes prior to half-time they added three points (two from Kelly, one from Robert McHugh) to leave the deficit at two points at the break.
Baltinglass emerged with a new midfield plan where they had been losing the battle to Seamus Miley and Thomas English. Now Raymond Danne was boxing everything and the Dunlavin forwards were being smothered.
Dunlavin only scored one more point in this game but a draw still looked on the cards even when Brendan Kelly pointed to give Baltinglass the lead.
Kelly popped up again moments later when Seamus Miley was robbed of possession while attacking and the ball was delivered to Kelly who fired home a sweet goal.
But Dunlavin would get a chance through a penalty but Kevin Cunningham’s shot was saved by Ken Quirke and it was all over, Baltinglass were through to the county semi-final.
Baltinglass: Ken Quirke; Brian Fitzpatrick, Hugh Kenny, Derek Byrne; Thomas Furlong, Billy Kenny, Andy Owens (0-1); Raymond Danne, David Whelan; Brendan Kelly (1-4), Kevin O’Brien, Liam Horgan; Damien McMahon, Paul Kenny (0-1), Robert McHugh (0-4). Subs: Eoin McMahon for Whelan (inj).
Dunlavin: Jimmy Whittle; Eamon Mooney, Tom Keogh, Damien
Moore; Joe Kennedy, Paul Allen, Karl Deering; Thomas English (0-1), Seamus Miley (0-1); Declan Flood, Kevin Cunningham (01), Thomas Harney (1-0); Conor O’Sullivan (0-2), Mick Murtagh (0-1), Dermot O’Rourke. Subs: David Carthy for O’Rourke, Fergus Deering for Kennedy. Referee: John O’Sullivan. It would be the following weekend by the time the other semi-finalists would be known.
St. Patrick’s were said to have the most difficult of the tasks as they were set to face the defending champions, An Tochar.
And despite giving the Roundwood men a serious fright in that quarter-final clash in Ashford, the Dunbur Park men lost by a single point, 1-9 to 1-8.
Kiltegan and Rathnew was described as an ‘interesting’ game that should ‘be a big crowd-puller at Aughrim.
Moses Coffey’s side were to prove too hot to handle for Kiltegan with Ronan Coffey bagging 1-2 and substitute Trevor Doyle notching 1-1 as they ran out 2-11 to 0-8 winners.
Kilcoole were the other team to secure a semi-final spot when they defeated Tinahely in Aughrim, 2-8 to 1-10, after Richie Gammell sent a screamer to the corner of Kevin Darcy’s net in the final seconds of normal time to an upset.
That win earned ghe Goosebank side a meeting with Baltinglass while Rathnew were set to face An Tochar.
The Village side would go on to get the better of the defending champions and they would meet a Baltinglass side without Kevin O’Brien or Robert McHugh in the decider and Rathnew’s hunger and power came to the fore as they began a memorable and wonderful run of eight titles in a row.