Fierce rivals save day with tense thriller
St Patrick’s Sean O’Mahony’s 0-12 1-8
WITH the first three senior quarter-finals of the weekend won by an average of almost 15 points, St Patrick’s and Sean O’Mahony’s only really had to show up to win the SFC ‘ game of the weekend’ award.
But a big crowd in Castletown were treated to much more than that as the bitter rivals served up a tense, tetchy, but hugely absorbing contest.
Referee Des McDonnell let it flow and the game was the better for it, even if we get a bit close to boiling point at times.
But after the earlier miss-matches this was exactly what the doctor - and supporters - ordered.
Despite leading for most of the night, Pat’s looked like they might pay the ultimate price for a rare error by goalkeeper Sean Connor just before the break.
The former Louth netminder dropped a Ben McLaughlin upand-under straight into the path of the lurking Conor Crawley and the ‘big man’ made no mistake from all of two yards out.
It was a sucker punch for Pat’s as they had been the better team for most of the opening half, recovering from falling two points behind to lead 0-5 to 0-2.
The returning Paddy Keenan looked like he had never been away as he kicked frees with left and right and fizzed over the point of the night with the outside of his boot.
Danny O’Connor was the Pat’s only other first-half scorer and they looked set to adjourn with a hard-earned 0-6 to 0-3 lead before Crawley intervened.
And Gerry Cumiskey’s side really seemed to lose their way after the restart.
Ben McLaughlin and Cathal Grogan traded points, but David Redmond and McLaughlin again, made it 1-6 to 0-7 in O’Mahony’s favour.
But more worrying for Pat’s than the scoreline was their loss of poise and direction in that third quarter.
As the half wore on, however, they slowly started to settle again and a free from Keenan, closely followed by a point from the superb Ray Finnegan, made it all square going down the home stretch.
O’Mahony’s hit the front again through Kyle Carroll, but they only managed one more score in the remaining 13 minutes plus stoppages.
Two brilliant points from tight angles by Danny O’Connor and Aidan McCann edged Pat’s back in front, 0-11 to 1-7, but the O’Mahony’s were back on terms five minutes later when wing back David Redmond kicked his second point of the night.
But in the next attack Pat’s worked space for full forward Cathal Grogan to kick a superb winner.
Their reward is a semi-final date with Naomh Mairtin and while the Monasterboice men have proven a bit of a bogey side for the Pat’s in the league recently, the experience of reaching county finals is all on their side.
They may be without Cathal Grogan if he receives a one-match ban for a late straight red card, but rumours of Eoin O’Connor’s return are bound to surface over the next fortnight.
ST. Patrick’s: Sean Connor; Leonard Grey, Darren O’Hanlon, Aaron Rogers; Ray Finnegan 0-1, Eoghan Lafferty, Conor Grogan; Dessie Finnegan, Thomas McCann; Ross Murphy, Paddy Keenan 0-6 (5f), Aidan McCann 0-1; Jason Woods, Cathal Grogan 0-2, Danny O’Connor 0-2. Subs: Darragh Lafferty for J Woods (38), Sean McGeough for E Lafferty (BC 60)
SEAN O’Mahony’s: Kevin Brennan; Christopher O’Neill, Ronan Byrne, Kurt Murphy; David Redmond 0-2, Liam Dullaghan, Keith McLaughlin; Conor Martin, Shane Brennan; Conor Finnegan 0-1f, Ben McLaughlin 0-2, Kyle Carroll 0-2; Stephen Kilcoyne 0-1, Conor Crawley 1-0, Shane Kerrigan. Subs: Vinny Smith for S Kerrigan (37), Mickey Clarke for K Murphy (37), Jonathan Connolly for L Dullaghan (BC 47), Niall McLaughlin for J Connolly (BC 49), Conor McGailey for K McLaughlin (57), Benny Traynor for C Martin (57).
REFEREE: Desmond McDonnell.