Mary’s march into final
ST. MARY’S (M’TN) GER. O’HANRAHANS 7-10 3-4
ST. MARY’S (Maudlintown) hammered 14-man Geraldine O’Hanrahans and booked their place in the Greenstar Under-20 football Division 4 championship final in a wet and windy Rocks on Saturday.
Forward Todd Hynes outscored the entire opposition, hitting an extremely impressive 5-2, and his emphatic performance suggested that he could’ve almost beaten the New Ross lads by himself.
In such bad conditions, one wouldn’t have been blamed for thinking this would be a tight affair, but neither St. Mary’s nor the Geraldines had a defensive mentality, despite the travelling side being a man down from the throw-in.
Maudlintown completely dominated the first-half and took a fourgoal advantage into the business end of the encounter.
Hynes opened his account with two quickfire goals, both finished low, inside the first five minutes. He then turned provider as Jordan Donovan slotted into the right side of the net.
The teams traded points, with Diarmuid Kehoe opening his side’s account, before Hynes’ mishit effort crept into the bottom corner and completed his hat-trick before half-time (4-2 to 0-2).
After the re-start, New Ross scored what would have been considered a very good goal in a soccer match.
Seán Scully slid a through ball towards Eamonn O’Connor who placed it past Luke Rogan with his first touch.
Normality was soon restored. Maudlintown took advantage of their extra man again as Hynes found free space and scored his fourth and fifth majors within five minutes - both fired excellently into alternate top corners.
With five goals separating the sides (6-3 to 1-3) with 20 minutes left, the contest was all but over.
But with the game opening up even more, Michael Kelly and Gerry Cash both took their chances to give the Geraldines some respectability on the scoreline.
Gary Cullen finished off St. Mary’s goalscoring soon after that momentary defensive blip, and they closed out the game with six straight points to give their own scoreline a hint of normality.
Hynes got a double while Mark Doyle, Adam Baziz, Jamie Thomas and Jordan Donovan enjoyed the space in the Geraldines defence as they added to their personal tallies. Next up on Saturday is the county final against Kilrush.
St. Mary’s (Maudlintown): Luke Rogan; Josh Kavanagh, Tre Long, Patsy Whelan; Lee Nolan, Mark Doyle (0-2), Adam Baziz (0-3); Jamie Thomas (capt., 0-1), Cian Whelan; Emmett Nolan, Todd Hynes (5-2), Jordan Donovan (1-2); Ben Walsh, Mark Thomas, Gary Cullen (1-0). Subs. - Jack Kehoe for M. Thomas (41), T.J. Nolan for Walsh (41).
Geraldine O’Hanrahans: Dean Katus; Paddy Somers, Gerry Cash (1-0), Ciarán St. Ledger; Seán O’Brien, Enda Kelly, Michael Cullen (0-1); Diarmuid Kehoe (0-2), Michael Kelly (1-0); Seán Scully (0-1 free), Dylan Wickham, Ben Walsh (capt.); Eamonn O’Connor (10), Josh O’Leary.
Referee: Jack Stafford (Clongeen).