Super Gorey win
Three late goals topple brave Rapps
NAOMH EANNA pulled out a stunning victory in the dying minutes of this Enniscorthy Guardian Juvenile hurling Premier championship final in St. Patrick’s Park on Sunday.
Rapparees fought back bravely from nine points down at the break to draw level when Kalim Dobbs raced away to net in the 59th minute.
However, Gorey somehow found another gear and a goal from Barry Levingston, plus two more from Caellum Travers-Devlin, completed a remarkable finish.
There was nothing in the firsthalf that gave an indication of what was to come. Gorey were simply the better team, first to almost everything.
The most competitive part of the half was the opening few minutes when the Enniscorthy town club went two points up thanks to the supreme Oran Carty.
However, after Cian Browne pulled to the net following great work by Jack Doran, Gorey never trailed again.
They built their lead as the half wore on. Doran got a couple of nice scores, Cian Molloy was unerring from dead-balls, and Mikey Cushe chipped in with a nice point as his side moved 1-11 to 0-5 ahead.
The early stages of the second-half were competitive but the Rapparees didn’t really start to make inroads until the end of the third quarter.
With Gorey struggling to match their intensity at this point, fouls came with regularity and Carty, as well as goalkeeper Anto Larkin, took advantage.
Naomh Eanna were probably justified to be a little annoyed by not getting a free in front of the posts immediately before the Bellefield boys drew level. Rapps built down the field, Floyd Murphy released Dobbs, and he make no mistake to level the game at 1-14 each.
A hurt Gorey responded within seconds. Cian Molloy and Jack Doran combined to find Barry Levingston in front of goal. The centre-forward had plenty to do but he took his time and unleashed a rocket past Larkin.
Huge controversy was avoided as the game went into added-time. Oisín Pepper floated over while being fouled but in the heat of the moment referee John O’Loughlin added two points instead of one, to incorrectly leave one between the sides, instead of the correct two.
Gorey seemed to not notice at the time but the Monageer-Boolavogue official got out of jail as instead of Rapparees finding an ‘equalising’ point, Naomh Eanna broke and wrapped up the tie with two late, late Caellum Travers-Devlin majors.
On the balance of the game as a whole it would be hard to argue that Gorey didn’t deserve their victory. They created further chances that they failed to take but their spirit and heart got them through.
These sides meet again in the football decider in the coming weeks, with another cracking game in the offing.
Naomh Eanna: James Doran; Seán Quirke, Cian Kenny, Brian Cushe; Micheál Kennedy, Seán Dowling (capt.), Cathal Stokes; Caellum Travers-Devlin (2-1), Darragh Canavan (0-1); Darragh Levingston, Barry Levingston (1-1), Cian Molloy (0-7 frees); Cian Browne (1-0), Mikey Cushe (0-2), Jack Doran (0-2). Subs. - Ryan Connolly for Browne (58), J.J. Twamley for M. Cushe (59), Lee Cushe for B. Levingston (60+4), also George Slattery, Seán O’Callaghan, Kevin Budeanu, Rian Fitzpatrick, Seán Miller.
Rapparees: Anto Larkin (0-1 free); Matthew Balfe, Michael McGrath, Aaron Browne; Evan Murphy, Seán Breen, Michael Delaney; Kalim Dobbs (1-0), Lee Jordan (0-1); Floyd Murphy, Oran Carty (capt., 0-11, 5 frees), Cian Hanley; Craig Peare (0-1), Jack Kirwan, Oisín Pepper (0-1). Subs. - Marcus McCarthy for E. Murphy (42), also Adam Sheridan, Jack Walsh, Michael McVeigh, Craig Turner, Matt Kinnaird, Ronan Kervick, Pat Dwyer, Nathan O’Connor-Murphy.
Referee: John O’Loughlin (Monageer-Boolavogue).