Gusserane hold on
Cloughbawn comeback falls short
GUSSERANE HELD off a spirited Cloughbawn fightback to take the Wexford People Minor football Roinn 1 shield in St. Patrick’s Park, Enniscorthy, recently.
The Enniscorthy District side looked dead and buried, trailing by 4-11 to 1-5 with eight minutes left, but they refused to throw in the towel and battled their way back to within two kicks of the ball at full-time.
While the losers will lament the ankle injury picked up by their impressive county Minor, Shane Kehoe, Gusserane did look like the stronger unit throughout the game and were full value for their victory and shield crown.
Both sides showed an impressive level of football quality, but Gusserane had a little more scope for causing devastation with powerful runs through the lines that committed defenders and led to scores.
Playing with the breeze, Cloughbawn had the better of the opening few minutes but allowed Shane O’Grady to nip in and score a critical goal.
Paddy Whitty, Jeff Buckley and Darragh Redmond all added points at the other end, but soon Gusserane started to purr.
The New Ross District side scored five points in a row, as Matthew McCillen, Ben Whitty and Shane Culleton all registered from play, while Evan Kiely registered a couple of dead-balls to see them into a five-point advantage after 21 minutes (1-5 to 0-3).
However, Cloughbawn pulled a goal back when Buckley looped in a major in the move where Shane Kehoe picked up his injury.
Whitty and Patrick Sinnott exchanged white flags as Gusserane took a 1-6 to 1-4 lead at the interval.
The Ballycullane boys owned the third quarter and seemed to have done enough to win comfortably. Culleton, Sinnott and Shane Ryan all found the net, while Conor Twomey, Ian Stafford and Emmet Cullen picked off points as they moved 4-10 to 1-4 up.
They just added a Ben Whitty point in the final quarter. Niall Foley, Philip Kearns and Dylan Mooney all pulled goals back in the final ten minutes for Cloughbawn, but it was too little, too late to deny Gusserane the shield.
Gusserane: Jack Boyd; Shane Power, Seán Whelan, Eoin Power;
Patrick Sinnott (1-1), Liam Ryan, Michael Mulligan; Emmet Cullen (01), Ben Whitty (0-2); Shane O’Grady (1-0), Evan Kiely (capt., 0-3, 2 frees), Shane Ryan (1-0); Shane Culleton (1-1), Matthew McCillen (0-1), Conor Twomey (0-1). Subs. - Ian Stafford (0-1) for Whelan, black card (15), Cormac Kiely for Power (46), Aaron Ryan for Twomey (57), Eoghan Stafford for O’Grady (59).
Cloughbawn: Garry Kennedy; Dylan Mooney (1-0), Darragh Kehoe, Ciarán Murphy; Ben Keeley, Mikey Fleming, Cathal Doyle; Shane Kehoe (0-1), Ryan Murphy; Aaron McManus, Paddy Whitty (0-2), Jeff Buckley (1-3, 0-2 frees); Darragh Redmond (0-1), Niall Foley (1-0), Nathan McDonald. Subs. - Philip Kearns (1-0) for S. Kehoe, inj. (25), Kehoe for McManus (52), McManus for Redmond (56), also A.J. Cooper, Eoin Murphy, Paul Byrne.
Referee: Ian Plunkett (Marshalstown-Castledockrell).