Ample reward for Gusserane
Big finish after long journey
GUSSERANE 4-7
CASTLETOWN 0-10
GUSSERANE WERE richly rewarded after an unexpected long journey to the north of the county when they produced a stunning last 20 minutes to clobber Castletown in this Greenstar Under-20 football Premier championship opener in Coolgreany on Saturday.
The game was originally fixed for their own Tom Somers Park in Ballygarvan, but they were faced with a one-hour plus trip to their rivals’ home when the pitch was declared unplayable.
And while this repeat of the county Senior final appeared to be heading in the same direction when Castletown led by 0-8 to 0-4 after 38 minutes, a determined Gusserane had other ideas.
Accurate left-footer Kevin O’Donohoe pulled back a point before a soccer-style move brought the levelling goal in the 44th minute, with Evan Kiely crossing for Dylan Ryan to finish into the bottom right corner.
Gusserane drove on in impressive fashion thereafter, with Sam Wall and O’Donohoe adding points before a sweeping move involving Eoin Codd, Gavin Sheehan and Ben Whitty ended with Oisín Foran grabbing another goal to push them 2-7 to 0-8 clear with ten minutes left.
Darragh Brooks finally stopped the rot with a pointed free, but the victory was effectively wrapped up by the O’Rahilly’s in the 55th minute when O’Donohoe finished to the net from a matter of inches after Sheehan, Emmet Cullen and Foran cut the Castletown defence to ribbons once again.
Castletown captain Ross Cody came forward and had a blistering drive turned over the bar by Aaron Whelan, but they were left very exposed at the back late on as their rivals finished on a high.
Gusserane substitute Conor Twomey surged forward with just one defender to contend with, and Emmet Cullen available for the pass to this right.
And while his shot was saved by Seán Harte, midfielder Cullen was on hand to tuck away the rebound and give the visitors a small measure of consolation for that Senior final loss.
Castletown will look back with regret on nine first-half wides when backed by the breeze, and they only led by 0-5 to 0-3 at the break even though Gusserane didn’t score after the eleventh minute.
Early points from Sam Wall (free) and Kevin O’Donohoe drew responses from Tom Kavanagh and Darragh Brooks (free) before Wall made it 0-3 to 0-2 for Gusserane.
Their netminder, Aaron Whelan, made a couple of crucial saves from Seán O’Loughlin and Mark Doyle respectively, but three more Brooks points – two from play – left Castletown with that half-time advantage.
With their Senior midfield pairing of Rory Heffernan and Liam Coleman making a big impression in the same department, they were looking good when that lead was extended to 0-8 to 0-4.
Colm Meenagh and Brooks (two, one free) did the damage, with Kevin O’Donohoe pulling one back for a Gusserane outfit who most certainly reserved their very best form for that clinical last quarter.
Gusserane: Aaron Whelan; Donal Kinsella, Jamie Sheehan, Stephen Whelan; Eoin Codd, Gavin Sheehan, Paddy Sinnott; Mark Kehoe, Emmet Cullen (1-0); Kevin O’Donohoe (1-4), Oisín Foran (1-0), Micheál Hennessy; Evan Kiely, Sam Wall (capt., 0-3, 1 free), Dylan Ryan (1-0). Subs. - Ben Whitty for Hennessy (42), Conor Twomey for Ryan (51).
Castletown: Seán Harte; Mikey Fenlon, Ross Cody (capt., 0-1), Seán O’Hagan; Eoin Cullen, Killian Pierce, Cian Bealin; Rory Heffernan, Liam Coleman; Tom Kavanagh (01), Darragh Brooks (0-7, 4 frees), Seán O’Loughlin; Mark Doyle, Colm Meenagh (0-1), Ciarán Power. Subs. - Brandon Doyle for Kavanagh, inj. (15), Darragh Heffernan for Power (43), Dylan Goland for O’Hagan (56), Seán Óg Stafford for O’Loughlin (56). Referee: Jack Stafford (Clongeen). FOOTNOTE: Most media comment on referees tends to be negative, but it’s worth commending the commitment of Jack Stafford who made a round trip of 160 kilometres to take charge of this game, which was originally due to take place in his neighbouring parish.