Stamp holds nerve to save Castletown
CASTLETOWN R’GAROGUE-C’TOWN 0-11 1-8
FINGERNAILS WERE bitten to the wick at St. Patrick’s Park, Enniscorthy, on Saturday as Castletown and Rathgarogue-Cushinstown proved inseparable at the end of a thrilling Enniscorthy Farm Systems Junior football championship semi-final.
A free from Gavin Stamp over five minutes into injury time secured an 0-11 to 1-8 draw for Castletown’s second string.
The north county men were rocked by the concession of a 32nd-minute penalty that was expertly tucked away by Eoin Porter which established a 1-6 to 0-5 advantage for Rathgarogue-Cushinstown, and Daire Bolger knocked over his third free soon after to build the biggest lead of the entire contest.
But the calmness and self-belief that Castletown displayed in giving themselves a second bite of the cherry has to be commended. Then again, any side with Colm Morris at the coalface is always going to be difficult to beat, and his control was a key pillar to their revival, along with the robust defending of full-back Conor Cleary, who completely overshadowed Porter at the edge of the square.
Stamp kicked a free to make it 1-7 to 0-6, youngster Darragh Brooks sold his marker a dummy before adroitly pointing, Stamp tagged on another free after a foul on Cian Bealin, while both Joe Gardiner and captain David Deering popped up unmarked to help restore parity at 0-10 to 1-7 with four minutes remaining.
In hindsight, though, Castletown may regret missing a free within scoring range during this purple patch and they also dropped five point attempts short into Jonathan’s Kelly grateful clutches over the course of proceedings.
And it looked like they were going to rue those missed opportunities when Porter pointed Rathgarogue-Cushinstown back in front from a straightforward free, but Stamp had the last say with a nerveless response to make Monageer-Boolavogue wait a little bit longer to discover the identity of their opponents in the final.
Stamp (three frees) had accounted for all bar one of Castletown’s total in the first-half, with Brooks floating over a beautiful point from the corner on twelve minutes.
Half of Rathgarogue-Cushinstown’s first-half total came from frees from Bolger (two) and Nicky Sinnott, but Danny Martin Carroll spun away from contact to clip over a nice effort from play, while Tadhg Cody burnt up the ground on the way to neatly pointing as they sat narrowly in front by 0-6 to 0-5 at half-time.
Castletown: James Flood; Risteárd Kinsella, Conor Cleary, David Deering (capt., 0-1); Aaron Condren, Colm Morris, Cian Bealin; Joe Gardiner (0-1), Oisín Condren; Danny Dixon, Noel Morris, Marc Halpin; Darragh Brooks (0-2), Gavin Stamp (0-7, 6 frees), Shane Halpin. Subs. - Kevin Morris for Dixon, inj. (46), Joe Aherne for Brooks, inj. (57).
Rathgarogue-Cushinstown: Jonathan Kelly; Ollie Bolger, Bryan Cody, Patrick Murphy; Peadar Cody, Brian O’Neill, Jason Dunne; Danny Martin Carroll (0-1), Matthew Cody; Tadhg Cody (0-1), Daire Bolger (0-3 frees), Bernard Furlong (capt.); Aaron Ryan, Eoin Porter (1-2, 1-0 pen., 0-1 free), Nicky Sinnott (0-1 free). Subs. Luke O’Connor for Ryan (HT), Ricky McGrath for Bolger (45).
Referee: Philip Murphy (Faythe Harriers).