Mooney seals status for Sars
Adamstown pipped by point
SARSFIELDS ADAMSTOWN 2-7 0-12 DAVID MOONEY kicked the winning point in injury time as Sarsfields maintained their Tom Doyle Supplies Senior football championship status for another year in Bellefield on Sunday.
While Mooney was the hero with an effort that just scraped over the crossbar, Mikey Hanrahan was the catalyst for the turnaround. Not only did the powerful defender win the ball that led to the clinching score, but just seconds earlier he waltzed through a tiring defence to level.
Sarsfields were staring down the barrel of a relegation final against Starlights as the clocked ticked into added-time in this Group B tie. However, they weren’t panicking, as for the previous five minutes they had been flooding men forward and playing with a proper championship tempo.
Their gung-ho attitude might have cost them a couple of points in those five preceding minutes but their bravery was eventually rewarded. When Lee Chin picked up possession and soloed with pace down the right wing, the alarm bells should have been ringing for Adamstown.
He started to cut inside before picking out Shane Wilde with a superb pass. The corner-forward didn’t try to do too much himself, as he got the perfect run from Hanrahan and the powerful defender showed the coolness of an experienced attacker to slot low to Alan Bradley’s net.
Right from the kick-off, tails up, Hanrahan won possession. He was a watched man at this stage but his quick pass to David Mooney was on the money and Mooney made no mistake against the breeze to condemn Adamstown to the relegation final.
Earlier, the most dramatic moment of the first-half saw Eddie O’Sullivan’s umpire raise a white flag in the opening minute for a Wilde strike that missed the target and was given wide by the referee.
Eventually Sarsfields built a 0-5 to 0-3 interval lead on the back of five points from five different players. Ian Bradley was on target twice at the other end and he and his team-mates would have surely been satisfied with how the firsthalf went.
Michael Furlong, who would go on to have a purple patch in front of the posts, pulled a point back early in the second-half but Lee Chin cancelled that out with his second minor. However, Adamstown soon started to find their form.
Three Furlong frees and an Eric Bradley point moved the New Ross District side two points clear at the end of the third quarter (0-8 to 0-6). Their new-found advantage didn’t last long.
In the 49th minute, Shane Wilde arced around on the left wing until he got a willing runner.
That break was provided by Warren Broaders who took possession on the run, drove towards goal and fired past Bradley to the net.
It didn’t kill off Adamstown. Furlong pointed twice before Ian Bradley smashed over when one- on-one with Eoin Healy. Eric Bradley went with the percentage play and took his point when away on goal in the final minute of normal time, but his side’s 0-12 to 1-6 lead would not prove great enough to clinch victory.
Sarsfields: Eoin Healy; Fiach O Crualaoich, Mikey Hanrahan (1-0), Cillian Lawlor; Fran Cleary, Seán Ó Corcora, Adam Carroll; David Mooney (0-2), Lee Chin (0-2); Dylan Furlong (0-1), Warren Broaders (1-1), Paul Gannon; Shane Wilde (0-1 free), Eoin Roche, Shane McGrath. Subs. - Conor Halligan for Carroll (44), Kevin Gore for P. Gannon (44), John Gannon for McGrath (52).
Adamstown: Alan Bradley; Michael Boland, Lorcan French, Tomás Harrington; Shane O’Gorman, Johnny Connors, Seán Barden; Michael Furlong (0-6, 3 frees), Barry Power; Tomás French, Paudie Barden, Liam Stafford; Conor Hickey (0-1 free), Eric Bradley (0-2), Ian Bradley (0-3). Sub. - Paddy Whitty for T. French, inj. (59).
Referee: Eddie O’Sullivan (Kilanerin).