AFTER EXTRA-TIME
SUBSTITUTE DAVID Behan scored the 105th-minute winner as Gorey Rangers came from behind to qualify for the Wexford Volkswagen Cup final by beating Courtown Hibs in Mullaunfin on Sunday.
The attacker raced clean through, latching on to a flick from Seán Allen’s booming kickout, and coolly fired low under the impressive Jason Maguire to break Hibs’ hearts on an energy-sapping day in Gorey.
People talk about the unfairness of penalties, the lottery of the shoot-out, but this game looked to be heading that way and Courtown wouldn’t have been undeserving of the opportunity to take spotkicks for a place in the final.
It was the penalty they didn’t get that will be their main memory from a game of few clearcut chances.
With 15 minutes of normal time remaining, in a second-half that was stop-start and had no real pattern, there was one big moment.
A right wing corner was dropped into the box. Trying to clear the lines, Joe Bolger knocked the ball back across goal, Glen Hughes headed it on target, but an outstretched hand of a defender prevented it from finding the net.
Courtown as a team went apoplectic and it was completely understandable, as being that close to a cup final isn’t an annual occurrence for the seasiders. That said, not every big decision went against Hibs.
Moments after Allen had saved James Byrne’s lob attempt in the ninth minute, a flashpoint in midfield saw Colum Kinsella and Joe Bolger square up.
The Courtown man lunged forward with his head, made minimal contact with his opponent’s face, but a mere ‘talking to’ seemed more than a little lenient.
When the game settled into a football contest it was Hibs that took the lead in the 29th minute.
A long Maguire ball was flicked on by Hughes, and both Eugene O’Brien and James Byrne broke though on it with the former taking over and slotting low to the net.
Mark Woods missed a chance to level the scores before the break, but as the second-half got going Gorey started to turn the screw.
Despite the territorial dominance, it was Courtown who went close to a second in the 61st minute when Leighton Gleeson clipped the crossbar with a free-kick.