Late flourish forces replay
Crossabeg-Ballymurn dig deep
CLOUGHBAWN 0-12 CROSSABEG-B’MURN 2-6 INJURY TIME heroics were needed in St. Patrick’s Park on Saturday as Crossabeg-Ballymurn scored 1-1 in overtime to force a replay against Cloughbawn in the Joyces Expert Intermediate ‘A’ football championship semi-final.
Trailing by 0-12 to 1-5 in the 61st minute, and seemingly treading water, the Wexford District side put together the move of the evening to get back into the game. While not fit enough to start, there’s no surprise that Niall Murphy was involved in the vital goal.
Murphy’s pace and direct running scares defenders. He took possession inside the ‘45, and set off towards goal. His kick-pass was perfectly weighted for Robert Byrne who, in turn, fed the sprinting Glen Murphy who coolly broke into the clear and smashed past Lee Keeley to the roof of the net.
They still needed a point with time running out. Sam Kelly clicked into gear, handpassing off to the bulldozing Pádraig Foley. The county hurler was fouled 20 metres from goal and Cormac O’Rourke held his nerve from in front of the posts to send the game to a replay.
It was probably a little harsh on Cloughbawn who were the better team for much of the tie. They had six different scorers in the first-half on their way to a 0-6 to 0-4 interval advantage. The pick of their points was a nice effort by Billy Wickham at the end of a classy team move.
They also went closest to a goal. Martin Kehoe drilled a shot, soccer-style, from outside the ’20. It crashed off the post, came back and smacked Ben Turner in the face before rebounding behind for a ‘45 that Colm Kehoe converted.
Barry Carton poked wide of the post when through on goal in the 35th minute as Crossabeg-Ballymurn rode their luck.
Still, two Bob Whitty frees and a Barry Carton score did give the Castleboro side a 0-9 to 0-4 lead after 40 minutes.
O’Rourke pointed to narrow the gap to four. Another slick move, involving Seamus Carroll and Eoin McDonald, saw Glen Murphy force Lee Keeley into a smart save. However, the ball rebounded perfectly for O’Rourke to punch to the net.
That left Crossabeg-Ballymurn within a point (0-9 to 1-5) but their race looked to be run after points from Connal Flood and Whitty (two). Yet Crossabeg-Ballymurn are experienced in close games and they were able to do enough to force a replay in the end.
Cloughbawn: Lee Keeley; Alan Carton (0-1), David Doyle-Murphy, Niall Doran; Gavin Murphy, Barry Kehoe, Harry Kehoe; Colm Kehoe (capt., 0-1 ‘45), Páidí Cullen; Billy Wickham (0-1), Robert Kinsella, Bob Whitty (0-5, 3 frees); Connal Flood (0-1), Martin Kehoe (0-1), Barry Carton (0-2). Subs. - William Murphy for Kinsella (47), Shane Greene for Doran (52), Aaron Byrne for A. Carton (58).
Crossabeg-Ballymurn: Ben Turner; Martin Redmond, Oisín Foley, Matthew Sludds (capt.); Cian Lambert, Ronan Devereux, Seamus Carroll; Paddy Devereux (0-1), Pádraig Foley; Robert Byrne, Sam Kelly (0-1 free), Bill Eviston (0-1); Cormac O’Rourke (1-2, 0-1 free), Eoin McDonald (0-1), Andy Butler. Subs. - David Kehoe for Sludds, inj. (17), Glen Murphy (1-0) for Byrne (31), Niall Murphy for McDonald (47), Byrne for Butler (55).
Referee: Anthony Tobin (Geraldine O’Hanrahans).