Na Piarsaigh boss points finger of blame at referee as Cuala hit late equaliser
By Paul Keane
NA PIARSAIGH manager Shane O’Neill claimed referee Colm Lyons will be ‘extremely disappointed’ with his performance at Croke Park.
David Treacy’s converted free at the end of extra-time, his 12th of the afternoon, ensured holders Cuala and 2016 winners Na Piarsaigh will do it all over again.
The replay is expected to take place next weekend with Cuala boss Mattie Kenny asking for Croke Park again.
O’Neill said he wants the rematch ‘as soon as possible’, but argued that Thurles is the obvious choice now.
O’Neill felt his side were good value for the win here and hit out at Cork whistler Lyons for his decision making.
Cuala were awarded a debatable free that Sean Moran dramatically netted in the 64th minute to force extra-time at 1-16 apiece.
And O’Neill appeared to suggest that the free for a foul on Nicky Kenny which led to Treacy’s late, late leveller for Cuala shouldn’t have stood.
Asked if he thought it was a free, O’Neill responded: ‘There were a lot of things I didn’t think were frees. I would say he’d be extremely disappointed with his own performance. I’ll leave it at that.
‘I actually thought we were the better side and felt that if some decisions, even a couple of decisions, went our way that we would have won today. But it happens, we’ll deal with it and drive on.’
Cuala dual star Con O’Callaghan was aiming for his ninth major trophy win in the space of just 12 months.
The full-forward was expertly held by full-back Mike Casey and only scored one point over the 80 minutes. The All-Star footballer won three frees which were converted and did also have an opportunity to level the game with the last puck but dropped his point attempt short into the Hill 16 End.
He also miscued another score attempt minutes earlier so O’Neill said he wasn’t necessarily worried when King Con got the ball at the death.
‘I thought we dealt with Con fairly well and he’d dropped another couple of shots short so no, it wasn’t heart in mouth stuff,’ said O’Neill. ‘Possibly if it was one of the cleaner strikers that they have, possibly then.’
Cuala chief Kenny said he had no issues with the referee, claiming Lyons had no influence on the outcome.
And he added that he’d like the replay to be staged at Croke Park.
‘After such a good spectacle today and a good game it would be nice to see it back in Croke Park again,’ said Kenny.
Na Piarsaigh looked the better side for the most part even though the game was level nine times and will kick themselves for not holding out.
The Munster champions scored four points in a row at the end of the first-half to lead 0-8 to 0-6.
Former Limerick All-Star Shane Dowling was terrific for them and scored three firsthalf points having only returned from knee trouble for the semi-final win over Slaughtneil.
They stretched the gap to four — 1-9 to 0-8 — when Peter Casey left John Sheanon for dead on the left and raced away to fire a low shot for a 34th minute goal.
Cuala’s response was emphatic and they outscored the Limerick City side by 0-7 to 0-2 to regain pole position at 015 to 1-11. Jake Malone, Sean Treacy, Darragh O’Connell and Colum Sheanon all used the wind to fire over long range points in this period.
But it was all Na Piarsaigh from there on and points from the excellent Dowling, Kevin Downes and the Breens left them three ahead deep into injury-time.
They benefited from a decision to commit more men to attack having previously played with Alan Dempsey as their sweeper.
Cuala were thrown a lifeline four minutes into injury-time when Colm Cronin was fouled and Moran marched forward to slam home an equalising goal, albeit thanks to a slight deflection.
There was another Na Piarsaigh goal early in extra-time when David Breen finished from close range after good work by David Dempsey.
But the Cuala response was impressive again and they fought all the way to the finish in freezing, windswept conditions.
Captain Paul Schutte eventually engineered a free for Treacy’s 80th-minute leveller when hauled down by Peter Casey.
Na Piarsaigh: P Kennedy; N Buckley (M Foley 70+1), M Casey, A Dempsey; K Kennedy (K Ryan 80), C King, J Boylan (G Browne 77); W O’Donoghue, R Lynch; S Dowling, D Breen, P Casey (K Ryan 9-12, 20-21); D Dempsey, K Downes, A Breen.
scorers: S Dowling 0-6 (0-4f), P Casey 1-2, A Breen, K Downes 0-4, D Breen 1-0, D Dempsey 0-2, D Breen 0-1.
Cuala: S Brennan; O Gough, C O’Callaghan, P Schutte; J Sheanon (S Stapleton 48), S Moran, D O’Connell; J Malone (C Waldron 62, Malone e/t), S Treacy (S Timline 67); N Kenny (N Carty 53, Kenny e/t, S Treacy 75), C Cronin (D O’Flynn 69), D Treacy; Colum Sheanon, Con O’Callaghan, M Schutte.
scorers: D Treacy 0-12 (0-12f), S Treacy 0-3, S Moran 1-0, Con O’Callaghan, M Schutte, C Cronin, J Malone, D O’Connell, Colum Sheanon, N Kenny 0-1.
referee: C Lyons (Cork).