Goal-hungry Craanford shine
New name added to roll of honour after lively clash
EARLY-COMERS to Innovate Wexford Park on Sunday were treated to an entertaining and high-scoring curtain-raiser, with a four-goal second-half contribution from their half-forward line powering Craanford to a nine-point replay win over Cloughbawn in the Greenstar Under-21 hurling Roinn 1 championship final.
The drawn encounter a fortnight earlier hadn’t produced even one green flag, ending in a 0-15 each stalemate in St. Patrick’s Park, but the net rattled with regularity after the interval in particular as the north county side put their name on this competition’s roll of honour for the very first time.
They were going one better in the process than in 2015 when they lost the decider to Oylegate-Glenbrien, thwarting a Cloughbawn crew in search of a second title after beating St. Anne’s to claim the silverware at the same venue seven years ago.
Joint captains Ollie Doran and Kevin Poole were very influential figures for the winners, with the former joined at midfield by promising Under-17 county player Eoin Doyle.
A key man for Cloughbawn, new Wexford Senior squad member Connal Flood, was also operating in that department, and some of his speedy bursts forward led to memorable scores.
Bob Whitty was his usual menacing self too for the losers who were boosted by the return of Billy Wickham after a long injury lay-off, but they lost their way completely in the closing stages.
Indeed, it was still hard to predict a winner when a Whitty point in the 52nd minute narrowed the gap to two (3-11 to 2-12), but Craanford won the battle thereafter by 2-3 to 0-2 to claim an under-age title that will mean a great deal to a club not accustomed to featuring on the bigger occasions.
As for Cloughbawn, a win here would have been some small consolation for slipping out of Senior ranks after 44 years, but they conceded too many sloppy goals to secure the honours.
The Enniscorthy District champions won the toss and opted to face the wind first, and it seemed a reasonably successful ploy by half-time when they only trailed by 1-9 to 1-6.
Lively corner-forward Cian O’Toole had a very good first period for Craanford and opened their account before Bob Whitty levelled from a third-minute free.
Ollie Doran and Kevin Poole then pushed the Fr. O’Regan’s lads two clear before free-takers Whitty and Poole swapped points.
Connal Flood threatened close to goal for the first time in the ninth minute, but Craanford netminder Andrew Tighe and corner-back Jack Keogh combined to keep him at bay.
However, they were powerless to prevent his wonderful goal in the 13th minute, catching a Seán Keating puck-out and using his blistering pace to make it unchallenged to the 14-metre line before crashing the ball to the net (1-2 to 0-4).
Bob Whitty followed up with a point for the more economical Cloughbawn who had no wides in the first-half, whereas Craanford missed the target seven times.
Still, the north county side kept in touch, with a Kyle Murphy point attempt for their rivals coming back off the post before Cian O’Toole reduced arrears to the minimum in the 18th minute (1-3 to 0-5).
Murphy had better joy with his next effort, but the lead changed hands when Seán Keating batted a probing ball into the path of O’Toole who was fouled to earn a penalty.
Kevin Poole shot low and hard into the left corner to push Craanford clear by 1-5 to 1-4, although the advantage was shortlived.
Connal Flood was up to his tricks again from the puck-out, but his solo only produced a point this time as another powerful shot went over via the crossbar.
A hat-trick of Poole frees followed, and they also left three Cloughbawn players walking a disciplinary tightrope as yellow cards were issued to Robert Kinsella, Jack Wickham and James Flood.
Cian O’Toole’s third point came after he latched on to a long line ball from Ollie Doran, but Bob Whitty pared the lead back down to three in added time from a Connal Flood pass (1-9 to 1-6).
There was an odd finish to the half when the whistle was blown but players from both sides were slow to leave the field, waiting to see what colour card would be shown to Connal Flood for a late challenge. Referee Seán Whelan booked the midfielder and also Craanford’s James Smyth, while there was another unusual incident not too long before when a one-minute delay followed one of Poole’s pointed frees as neither sideline was in a hurry to send in a ball to netminder Seán Keating after the one in use was driven out of the ground.
Cloughbawn enjoyed the better start to the second-half as Bob Whitty earned and converted a free before adding another point from play, leaving one between them.
However, Kevin Poole hit back and, after Eoin Doyle saw yellow for some off-the-ball attention for Connal Flood, Craanford pounced for the first of four crucial goals after the break.
Tony Kavanagh made a great run along the left endline and handpassed across for Doyle whose shot was blocked, but Kavanagh was on hand to lash the break to the net (2-10 to 1-8).
A Poole free was matched by a monster effort from Cloughbawn netminder Seán Keating, and the young men in green built on that score as Connal Flood’s solo point was followed by another placed ball from Whitty.
Craanford needed something big to steady the ship again, and it arrived in the form of an opportunist goal in the 49th minute.
Poole delivered the ball from the right wing and when it landed at the feet of Martin Doyle, he cleverly booted it into the roof of the net (3-11 to 1-11).
The excitement was rising at this stage, and Cloughbawn hit back immediately. Connal Flood had a shot saved by Andrew Tighe, but just over 30 seconds later Bob Whitty lofted the ball goalwards from the right and substitute Darragh O’Connor brilliantly directed it into the far corner of the net with an overhead pull.
A lovely lift and strike point from Whitty narrowed the gap to two, and it remained that way after Ollie Doran’s equally skilful score, after first knocking the ball over the head of a defender, drew a reply from long range by Corey Bolger (3-12 to 2-13).
Doran played a huge role in the real clincher for Craanford in the 58th minute. Jim Kenny’s line ball on the left broke invitingly for the talented midfielder who made ground before parting to James Smyth, and the number ten pulled first-time to the net.
Seán Keating came up to take a 20-metre free after a foul on Connal Flood but his piledriver was deflected over the bar, and a fifth Craanford goal killed off any likelihood of a comeback with seconds of normal time left.
A Cian O’Toole cross posed problems in the Cloughbawn defence, with Martin Doyle putting his big frame to perfect use as he blocked an attempted clearance and guided it into the net.
It was fitting that joint captains Kevin Poole and Ollie Doran should end proceedings on a high note with a point apiece from fine crossfield passes by Tony Kavanagh and Cian O’Toole respectively.
This welcome win was the culmination of a six-game campaign that started with an exciting 3-18 to 1-23 extra-time dismissal of Ballygarrett on home soil near the end of July. And it could lead to bigger and better things for the club’s first adult team which is working hard to make a breakthrough in the Intermediate grade.
Craanford: Andrew Tighe; Jack Keogh, William Conroy, Páraic Redmond; James Redmond, Pat Kenny, Jim Kenny; Eoin Doyle, Ollie Doran (joint capt., 0-3); James Smyth (1-0), Martin Doyle (2-0), Tony Kavanagh (1-0); Martin Kenny, Kevin Poole (joint capt., 1-8, 0-5 frees, 1-0 pen.), Cian O’Toole (0-3). Subs. - Stuart Byrne for M. Kenny (45), Thomas Furlong for Smyth (60+3), also Luke Byrne, Jack Berney, Paddy Doyle, Stephen Greene, Seán Byrne.
Cloughbawn: Seán Keating (0-2 frees); Gareth Murphy, Jack Wickham, James Flood; Corey Bolger (0-1), James Dempsey, Shane Flood; Connal Flood (1-2), Shane Greene; Kyle Murphy (0-1), Bob Whitty (08, 4 frees), Robert Kinsella (capt.); Daniel Dempsey, Colin Murphy, Billy Wickham. Subs. - Darragh O’Connor (1-0) for Greene (40), Stevie Casserly for C. Murphy (47), Jack Fleming for D. Dempsey (58), also Micheál Kavanagh, Davy Casserly, James Boland, Cian O’Connor.
Referee: Seán Whelan (St. Martin’s).