E’s back to top flight
Dges gap between last win 18 years ago
Furlong had the last ak with a pointed ’65 ng St. Anne’s with a 0-4 advantage. murn had edged the d they needed to get ckly in order to make hey required came in n Pádraig Foley stood he 45-metre line, and seemed to go all the sea of clashing sticks. Foley followed with balls, and all of a sudded the sides and St. on their hands. ave them brief respite rom a Mark Furlong eg-Ballymurn should r next attack. s ball in was won by andpassed inside to drive was kept out by edmond Barry when d certain to be raised. e St. Anne’s wides ín Foley, who had a f after moving to right bbed his first point. nverted another free, uperbly after a move on and split the posts se presence of Kenny rrowed to two from -range free, and then Murphy would hit the e after good work by nor Devereux. though, and couldn’t ile Foley met a similar 5 made it a one-point tes left, and now the ry much with Crosse had moved outfield o get any more poshis lob from the right the 58th minute paid napped up by Mikey ver (2-9 to 1-10). r Eoin McDonald had t the other end from tle had been blown n Oisín Foley as he m the right corner. ocked that over, and Conor Devereux’s leveller followed before the drama in those additional minutes that was described earlier.
All neutrals were longing for extra-time, but it wasn’t to be as St. Anne’s matched the 2012 and 2013 achievements of Starlights (football) and Buffers Alley (hurling) who won Intermediate crowns at the first attempt after relegation from Senior ranks.
History has shown that those who fail to bounce back immediately find it increasingly harder as the years move on, so this win will be warmly welcomed by the Rathangan crew as they can look forward to being a dual Senior club once again in 2018. It took a determined rearguard action to get over the line, and this was reflected in the selection of stout-hearted full-back Tomás Cullen as official man of the match.
Next up is a crack at the AIB Leinster Club title, and their semi-final opponents in Joule Park, Aughrim, next Saturday will be well versed in their finer points as Glenealy, the Wicklow Senior champions, are managed by 1996 All-Ireland medal winner Garry Laffan.
St. Anne’s: Redmond Barry; Finn O’Driscoll, Tomás Cullen, Páraic O’Keeffe; Kevin Hannigan, Aidan Rochford, Kenny Cloney; Diarmuid O’Keeffe (2-0), Seamus Mythen (joint capt.); Jess Codd (0-1), Mark Furlong (joint capt., 0-6, 4 frees, 1 ’65), Jonathan Fogarty; Liam Rochford (0-1), Mikey Fogarty (0-1), David O’Connor. Subs. - Andy Kennedy for O’Connor (38), Brian Kavanagh for Fogarty (54), Francis Simpson (0-1) for Codd (60+1), also Paul Brennan, Philip Rawson, David Kavanagh, Kevin White, Tony McDonnell, Michael O’Brien, Joe O’Connor, Shane Mythen, Gavin O’Brien, Paul McDonnell, Ben Moore, Vincent Carroll, Roy Nunn.
Crossabeg-Ballymurn: Mark Dempsey; Paul Roche, Bill Eviston, Matty Sludds (joint capt.); Conor Shovlin, Pádraig Foley (1-3, 1-2 frees, 0-1 ’65), Alan Byrne; Seamus Carroll (01), Paddy Devereux; Niall Murphy (0-4, 2 frees), Oisín Foley (0-2), Conor Devereux (0-1); David Jackman, Tony Murphy, Shane O’Rourke (01). Subs. - Declan Byrne for Roche (HT), Eoin McDonald for Jackman (36), David Kehoe for Sludds (54), Cormac O’Rourke for Shovlin (60+6), also Noel Scallan, Billy Roche (joint capt.), Conor Barlow, Mark Campbell, Martin Redmond, Luke Redmond, James Grannell, Michael A. Doyle, Daithí Redmond, Ronan Devereux, Sam Kelly.
Referee: Shane Quinn (Ballygarrett).