Excellent shows at Feile Peil up north
Wexford lads were Castleknock’s toughest opponents
SARSFIELDS PLAYED out of their skins and gained valuable experience in the process on Friday and Saturday when they competed in Division 3 of the John West Féile Peil na nOg in Co. Cavan.
And while they were disappointed not to be involved in the action on Sunday, they returned home with their heads held high after suffering very narrow defeats to the two Cup finalists: Castleknock of Dublin and Mungret St. Paul’s from Limerick, with the former beating the latter by 4-5 to 0-4 in the decider.
Sarsfields headed to the Ramor United club grounds in Virginia for their first two group games on Friday, and recovered superbly from the concession of a goal to Mungret after a mere 22 seconds.
Indeed, Jason Gordon brought them level on their first attack with a cracking finish from an Eoin Hartigan pass, and the Wexford champions went on to lead by 2-2 to 1-2 at half-time.
Jack Foley and Emmet Gahan added points before a move started deep in defence by Alex Kirby ended with Foley feeding Gordon for a superb finish to the Limerick side’s net.
Eoin Halligan made a brilliant save on the re-start before Mungret unfortunately broke through for a levelling goal.
They had to really earn the two points that pushed them clear before Eoin Hartigan pulled one back from a free, but sadly Sarsfields couldn’t grab an equaliser despite hitting the woodwork and coming close from a couple of frees.
The 2-4 to 2-3 loss was significant in that Mungret went on to top the group and therefore the second-placed Sars had the tougher draw in the Cup quarter-final.
They set about ensuring a place in the main competition rather than the Shield by bouncing back from the loss to the Munster side with a commanding 3-9 to 1-1 victory over hosts Ramor United.
This was a polished performance from the Butters who had the points wrapped up by half-time when they held a 3-5 to 1-0 lead.
Kyle Clancy had given them the ideal start with a goal inside two minutes, and Jason Gordon and Darby Purcell followed suit to leave the team in high spirits for Saturday morning’s final group game in Kilnaleck against their own host club, Crosserlough.
The first-half was a tight affair, with Jason Gordon’s goal helping the Sars to a 1-3 to 1-1 interval lead, but they pulled away from their new friends on the re-start and cruised home by 5-7 to 1-4 as Darby Purcell (two), Jack Foley and Eoin Doyle raised further green flags.
In a nice touch, a second game was played featuring the members from both panels who didn’t get a great deal of game time in the competition proper over the weekend.
It was back to Virginia for the Cup quarter-final that afternoon, and this was an absolute thriller against eventual champions Castleknock who had no players eligible for the grade again in 2018.
A foul on Eoin Hartigan led to Jason Gordon goaling from a penalty in the ninth minute, and it was all to play for at the break when the sides were level (1-1 to 0-4).
A Hartigan point sandwiched two from the Dubliners on the re-start, with further scores exchanged between Castleknock and Gordon before the city side hit an all-important goal with two minutes of normal time left.
Trailing by four points, Sarsfields laid siege to the opposition posts and did everything bar rattle the net. They hit the crossbar and the post, with Castleknock foul- ing repeatedly and packing their defence in the knowledge that the Wexford lads needed a goal.
All they could muster was a Jason Gordon point as they left absolutely everything on the pitch in a heart-breaking 1-7 to 1-4 defeat.
Alex Boggan had given an exhibition of defending at centre-back in this game, and his performance typified the overall approach of the Sars who were marvellous ambassadors for the county even in defeat.
The fact that this was Castleknock’s toughest game of the weekend summed up how close the Páirc Charman crew came to reaching a national final, but they will be all the stronger for the ex- perience in the local championship games to come, especially with the return of three players who missed out on the weekend owing to holidays.
Full panel with combined overall scorers: Eoin Halligan, Luke Cullen-Ryan, Callum Doyle, Cillian Twomey, Calum Corcoran, Alex Boggan, Patrick Duignan, Kyle Clancy (1-2), Oliver McMahon (capt., 0-1), Darby Purcell (3-2), Jason Gordon (5-9), Luke Murphy (0-1), Jake Fortune, Jack Foley (1-1), Eoin Hartigan (0-5), Emmet Gahan (0-2), Eoin Doyle (1-0), Alex Kirby, Cal Innes, Jack Corcoran, Cúan Gallagher, Darragh Maloney, Ethan Ryan, Brandon Treacy, Charlie Hynes, Killian Whelan.