Sinnott saves Good Counsel’s bacon with last-gasp goal

LUKE SINNOTT’S dramatic goal one minute into additional time gave Good Counsel College (New Ross) a dramatic two-point victory over Castlecomer C.S. in their Leinster Post Primary Schools Senior hurling ‘A’ championship quarter-final at Thomastown on Saturday.

The game seemed to have been gone from the New Ross boys when they launched one final attack. A fine crossfield ball from Seán Nolan picked out Jim Ryan, who had a lot of work to do even to create space, but he somehow managed to shake off two tackles and placed the ball across goal.

Sinnott, after gaining hard-won possession, managed to create the minimum of space to find the net from close range. Such was the closeness of the finish that referee Anthony Stapleton called for the ball on the puck-out, so it was the final stroke of the game that sent the Barrowsiders through to the semi-final.

While it was a dramatic win for the Counsel boys, they set themselves a difficult task particularly through their failure to turn possession into scores.

Their lack of discipline in defence gave Castlecomer an attacking edge as they punished every indiscretion, with centre-forward James Bergin particularly accurate from placed balls.

Little separated the sides through the opening 30 minutes, with a fine Sam Wall goal leaving Good Counsel leading by 1-1 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter.

It was a splendid finish from the Gusserane player who cut through the centre before placing a delightful shot high into the top corner of the net from 25 metres, giving the ‘keeper no chance.

With James Bergin chipping in with four points from frees, the sides were level (1-3 to 0-6) at the break.

Ten minutes into the second-half they were still level deadlocked (1-5 to 0-8).

Points from Sam Wall (free) and Luke Sinnott had the New Ross side leading by 1-7 to 0-8 with 13 minutes remaining, but they still missed out on some scoring chances, mainly through shooting from acute angles when they needed to create more space for their efforts.

With Bergin still showing accuracy from frees, Castlecomer were clinging to a one-point lead as the game moved into additional time.

Good Counsel were laying siege to their opponents’ goal, but that vital score seemed to be eluding them as they came up against a packed defence.

Then came Sinnott’s late strike following good approach work from Jim Ryan which gave his side a dramatic late victory, but they will be the first to admit they were considerably lucky to have emerged from this game on the winning side.

Counsel will face another step up in class this coming Saturday when they take on Kilkenny C.B.S., winners over Dublin North in the quarter-final and also conquerors of the Wexford Schools in an earlier round.