WE DID IT!
First defeat of disappointing weeekend for Cloughbawn
Oulart-The Ballagh player Michael Jacob with his six-year-old son Seán and teammate Tommy Storey celebrating after the winning the Dr Bob Bowe Cup in the Pettitt’s Senior hurling championship final against Cloughbawn at Innovate Wexford Park on Sunday.
MONAGEER-B’VOGUE 1-12 CLOUGHBAWN 1-4
MONAGEER-BOOLAVOGUE overcame the concession of an early goal to shut out Cloughbawn and drive on to the Junior ‘A’ hurling championship title at O’Kennedy Park, New Ross, on Saturday.
Leading by 0-1 to nil in the ninth minute after an early Diarmuid Fenlon free, the victors allowed J.P. Furlong to nip in behind their defence, after great work in midfield by Liam Kehoe, to fire across goal and past Morgan Gahan to the net.
They defended fantastically from that point forward, nullifying a Cloughbawn attack whose poorest return previously was the 1-11 they scored when besting Glynn-Barntown in the semi-finals.
Colm O’Loughlin hit back after the shock of the Cloughbawn goal with a typically tidy finish from Patrick Breen’s searching ball.
While they rarely threatened a string of points, the Clonroche side went close to another goal when Michael Redmond forced Morgan Gahan into a smart, high save in the 16th minute.
Monageer-Boolavogue broke straight down the other end and tied the game when substitute Bryan Dwyer pointed following a superb crossfield pass by James Gahan.
A deft flick from 43-year-old Declan Kelly produced the go-ahead score from Dwyer a minute later (0-4 to 1-0).
O’Loughlin latched on to a Cloughbawn clearance in the 20th minute and nailed a longrange point attempt. A long Seán McCabe ball found Dwyer four minutes later and he made it 0-6 to 1-0 with his third score since entering the fray.
James Gahan found some space just inside the ‘65 and pointed to increase the lead to four before Cloughbawn finally shot to life. In fact, having really struggled to make an impression, they nearly grabbed a second goal.
It started with Michael Muldoon’s puck-out after Gahan pointed. He picked out Liam Kehoe, just inside the Monageer-Boolavogue half, and his long ball broke in behind the full-back line to Mick Kavanagh. The experienced attacker pulled his shot low but Morgan Gahan got down and made a cracking save.
Michael Redmond did pop over a free after Joey Lawlor was fouled in the 28th minute to close the gap to just the one score at the change of ends (0-7 to 1-1).
Only two points were scored in the first 18 minutes of the second-half as the weather closed in. Lawlor scored an early free for Cloughbawn, a point that was countered by a Dwyer dead ball in the 39th minute.
When the spitting rain turned into a downpour the scores started to flow too. Good work in midfield allowed James Gahan to notch his second point in the 49th minute. Cloughbawn quickly responded with Lawlor’s second free (0-9 to 1-3).
That was followed by a James Donohoe point following an audacious flick by O’Loughlin. Stephen Lacey fed Robbie Donnelly with a crisp handpass and the Monageer-Boolavogue substitute put five between the sides with six minutes left.
The game’s second goal was always going to prove vital and it came with 55 minutes on the clock. Bryan Dwyer claimed the Cloughbawn puck-out and fed Donohoe who sent an inviting ball into the large square.
Colm O’Loughlin wasn’t going to be denied in that position as he reached out his hurl and casually diverted the bouncing sliothar high into the Cloughbawn net to pretty much wrap up the title.
Thomas Foley popped over a point for Cloughbawn at the other end but the final say was a fitting one.
At the age of 42, Ed Rowsome probably doesn’t have many more finals in the legs but he was thrown off the bench with three minutes remaining.
Just 60 seconds later Rowsome grasped O’Loughlin’s handpass and split the posts from just inside the ‘45, becoming the fourth substitute to score, completing a memorable season for the Monageer-Boolavogue second string and a return to Junior hurling in the process.
Monageer-Boolavogue: Morgan Gahan; Ray O’Brien, Conal Nolan, Patrick Walsh; Seán McCabe, Patrick Breen (capt.), Liam Gahan; Seán Roche, Ian Hawkins; Stephen Lacey, Colm O’Loughlin (1-2), Diarmuid Fenlon (0-1 free); James Gahan (0-2), Declan Kelly, James Sweeney. Subs. - Bryan Dwyer (0-4, 1 free) for Sweeney, inj. (12), James Donohoe (0-1) for Kelly (36), Robbie Donnelly (0-1) for Fenlon (50), Ed Rowsome (0-1) for J. Gahan (58), Diarmuid Breen for Lacey (60), John O’Loughlin for Hawkins, temp (60+1-end), also Adrian O’Dowd, Garry Ennett.
Cloughbawn: Michael Muldoon; Cathal Spratt, Tony Keating, David Doyle-Murphy; Shane Flood, Colin Doyle, Gareth Murphy; Robert Kinsella, Thomas Foley (0-1); Joey Lawlor (joint capt., 0-2 frees), Conor Harrington, Liam Kehoe; J.P. Furlong (1-0), Mick Kavanagh, Michael Redmond (0-1 free). Subs. - Eamonn Buckley (joint capt.) for Kavanagh (50), Martin Connick for Furlong (52), Niall Doran for Kehoe (58), also Vinny Lambert, Thomas Keating, Leslie Monahan, Aaron Byrne, Michael Connors, Eanna Harrington, Luke Cummins, David Casserly, Colin Murphy.
Referee: Derek Murphy (St. Martin’s).