Drawn game says referee
Confusion over scoreline
CLOUGHBAWN 1-17 ST. JAMES’ 3-11
MY OWN final score differed from that of referee Anthony Tobin in O’Kennedy Park, New Ross, on Sunday, but he’s the man responsible for submitting the official report and it will show that St. James’ played a 3-11 to 1-17 draw with Cloughbawn in Group A of The Courtyard Ferns Intermediate hurling championship.
I had the Ramsgrange side winning by 3-11 to 1-16, but thankfully it’s unlikely to create controversy further down the line since both teams were unbeaten beforehand and are now all but assured of places in the quarter-finals.
The referee’s explanation afterwards did add to my own confusion though, because he said a St. James’ point from a free was in fact a wide. If that was indeed the case though, then the final score would have been 3-10 to 1-16 rather than 3-11 to 1-17, and it still didn’t account for that extra Cloughbawn point.
What isn’t in dispute is that St. James’ led by 2-6 to 1-7 at halftime, with Cloughbawn gradually reeling them in after the Ramsrange side stormed ahead by 2-5 to 0-1 after twelve minutes.
The only way I can tell the second-half story is by relaying my own notes, so here goes.
It took Cloughbawn just one minute to level through points from Harry Kehoe and Paul Foley, before Shane Murphy restored the St. James’ lead from a free (2-7 to 1-9).
For the record, I only took note of scores after the flag was raised by an umpire, and the white one went up for all of Murphy’s second-half placed balls.
Paul Foley (free) and Michael O’Grady swapped wides before Bob Whitty levelled for Cloughbawn in the 39th minute (1-10 to 2-7).
Two Barry Carton wides followed on either side of the lead point from a Foley free (1-11 to 2-7).
Matthew O’Hanlon struck the next wide and Colm Kehoe did likewise at the other end, before a good Harry Kehoe point under pressure made it 1-12 to 2-7 in the 47th minute.
St. James’ regained their lead less than 60 seconds later when Shane Murphy pulled with one hand after a long Liam Murphy free broke in the goalmouth, planting the sliothar in the net (3-7 to 1-12).
It was around this point that things started to get interesting and confusing in equal measure, as word came from the field that the referee had a different score.
Incidentally, the scoreboard wasn’t working again, a situation that the C.C.C.C. don’t appear to care about given that they continue to fix games for the venue which is an ideal setting otherwise for any type of fixture.
Bob Whitty pointed directly from the puck-out after that Murphy goal, making it 1-13 to 3-7 as far as I was concerned.
Murphy then pointed a ’65 (3-8 to 1-13), before two successive Cloughbawn wides from Paul Foley, the first from a long-range free.
A Matthew O’Hanlon point in the 55th minute left it at 3-9 to 1-13 according to my notes, but Cloughbawn responded with a pointed free before substitute Joey Lawlor was red-carded just three minutes after making his entrance.
Shane Murphy’s point from the free that arose left St. James’ clear by 3-10 to 1-14, or so it seemed, and a Harry Kehoe wide was followed by a Mark Molloy point after O’Hanlon robbed a defender near the left sideline (3-11 to 1-14).
Another Cloughbawn pointed free came 60 seconds before their 16th wide from Harry Kehoe, and when Barry Carton played a crossfield pass to Alan Carton who split the posts in the 63rd minute, that left the score at 3-11 to 1-16 in my opinion, not 1-17.
Given the horrible start they endured, the Enniscorthy District side did very well to get themselves back in contention.
St. James’ were absolutely flying as they hit 2-4 without reply following an early exchange of points, with Donal Barron forcing home the first goal in the fifth minute after a long ball by the in- dustrious Mark Molloy was batted into his path.
And when Shane Murphy set up Michael O’Grady for the second, Cloughbawn were left reeling.
Murphy (free) and David Doyle stretched the lead to 2-5 to 0-1, but the slow starters were vastly improved in the second quarter as they outscored their rivals by 1-6 to 0-1.
Harry Kehoe started to pick off points after a couple of wides earlier, and the goal in the 27th minute was set up by a superb pass by Páidí Cullen to fellow midfielder Colm Kehoe who crashed the ball past Graeme Molloy (2-6 to 1-5).
Late points from Harry Kehoe and Paul Foley (free) brought the margin down to two, and it remained close throughout the second period, albeit a little closer in the referee’s eyes than my own.
For the record, the official St. James’ Twitter account also called the game as a 3-11 to 1-16 win.
Cloughbawn: Noel Carton; Gavin Murphy, Tomás Furlong, James Dempsey; Barry Kehoe, Conor Harrington, Johnny Cullen; Páidí Cullen, Colm Kehoe (1-0); Harry Kehoe (0-5), Alan Carton (0-2), Barry Carton (0-1); Bob Whitty (0-2), Paul Foley (0-6, 5 frees), M.J. Furlong. Sub. - Joey Lawlor for M.J. Furlong (55).
St. James’: Graeme Molloy; Paul Barron, Jason Barron, Brian Molloy; Darragh Lyons, Liam Murphy, David Doyle (0-1); Mark Molloy (0-1), Daniel Keating; Alan Walsh, Matthew O’Hanlon (0-2), Tommy Walsh; Michael O’Grady (1-0), Shane Murphy (1-7, 0-5 frees, 0-1 ’65), Donal Barron (1-0). Sub. - Mark Myler for T. Walsh (50).
Referee: Anthony Tobin (Geraldine O’Hanrahans).