Sars strike closing three points for victory

SARSFIELDS 2-11 GUSSERANE 1-11

SARSFIELDS GROUND out an important win at the expense of Gusserane in Group A of the Enniscorthy Farm Systems Junior football championship in Grantstown on Sunday.

The Wexford town side had drawn their opening tie with Castletown, and they made a dream start when Seán Kelly-Komolafe fed Colm Ó Corcora to raise the green flag inside the first 30 seconds.

However, their joy was shortlived and Gusserane responded with four of the next five scores to equalise after a quarter of an hour (1-1 to 0-4). Jamie Cooney kicked three and Ciarán Conway added the fourth as O’Rahilly’s found their feet.

A Conor Kehoe brace and a Gary Carroll single were answered by points from Jack Culleton and Cooney and, with the sides trading goals right at the end of the first-half, Sarsfields took a slender lead into the second period.

Danny Walsh was cool in front of goal for the town side’s second, while Dylan Ryan finished low for his team on the half-hour mark.

While Gusserane started the second-half stronger than their rivals, the winners were always likely to be the team that finished better and on this occasion that was undoubtedly Sarsfields.

Evan O’Neill, Eoin Codd and Jamie Sheehan kicked Gusserane ahead before Sarsfields answered back swiftly with four unanswered points, as a Kehoe double plus contributions from Ciarán Byrne and Paul Gannon gave the advantage back to the Butters.

The tug of war continued and Gusserane had the next spell of dominance. Seán O’Connor and Culleton brought the game level again with ten minutes to go (2-8 to 1-11).

With the tie in the melting pot, Sarsfields stepped up and recorded their first win of the championship season to move to three points on the table. Another Kehoe double and a Harrington single sealed victory for last year’s Junior ‘A’ champions.

Sarsfields: James Crean; Dean Murphy, Tony Hennessy, Cian Ó Finneadha; Colm Ó Corcora (10), Killian Gahan, Fiach Ó Crualaoich; Ciarán Byrne (capt., 0-1), Paul Gannon (0-1); Conall Ó Crualaoich, Andrew Harrington (0-2), Gary Carroll (0-1); Conor Kehoe (0-6, 4 frees), Seán Kelly-Komolafe, Danny Walsh (1-0). Subs. - Jack Finucane for Ó Corcora (31), Ryan Furlong for Carroll (57).

Gusserane: Brian Hennessy; Donal Kinsella, James Redmond, Eoghan Foran; Eoin Codd (0-1), Gary O’Grady, Thomas Ryan; Ciarán Conway (0-1), Evan O’Neill (0-1); Jack Culleton (0-2), Dylan Ryan (1-0), Jamie Sheehan (0-1); Cathal Somers, Jamie Cooney (0-4 frees), Seán O’Connor (0-1).

Referee: Jack Stafford (Clongeen).