Gorey coast into semi-finals
No home comforts as Taghmon-Camross outclassed
NAOMH EANNA made light work of opponents Taghmon-Camross on their way to a 17-point victory in the Greenstar Under-21 football Premier ‘A’ championship quarter-final on the losers’ home turf on Saturday.
Truthfully, it could have been far more humiliating for the hosts. They can thank ‘keeper Jack Dunne for keeping Gorey’s goals tally down, as he saved countless efforts in the first-half to keep his clearly inferior side in the ball game.
The Taghmon-Camross man of the match could only have regretted one incident during the game, and it gifted Naomh Eanna their first goal. After saving Darragh Hughes’ initial shot, he fumbled the ball and allowed Charlie McGuckin to tap into an open net.
Stephen O’Gorman added to Adam Winters’ and Luke Sinnott’s earlier points to pull Taghmon-Camross within one, but that was as good as it got for them.
Eoin McGuckin punched home Seán Delaney’s pass and then pointed before the half-time whistle (2-2 to 0-3).
Gorey ran away with it after the break. Delaney pointed within 15 seconds of the re-start before Eoin McGuckin scored his second goal, finishing low at the near post after a Naomh Eanna counter-attack caught Taghmon-Camross short.
Charlie McGuckin was back on the scoresheet with a minor as Eoin somehow failed to complete his hat-trick, punching Jack Cushe’s shot onto the bar and over from five metres out.
He pointed once more before the final whistle while Jack Cullen got in on the act also, scoring twice including once from a dead-ball.
Gorey raised the green flag once more before the end, as they over-ran a porous Taghmon-Camross back line. Substitute Evan O’Dwyer was barely on the pitch ten minutes when he batted into the roof of the net at the back post.
O’Gorman added a late consolation for Taghmon-Camross, but it did little to appease their disappointment as they fell to a sizeable defeat against their conquerors in the Under-21 hurling earlier in the year.
Naomh Eanna: Cillian Donohoe; Seamus O’Donnell, Daniel Sunderland (capt.), Nathan Byrne; Aodhán Doyle, Eoin Molloy, Gary Molloy; Niall Hughes, Jack Cullen (0-2, 1 free); Jack Cushe, Darragh Hughes, Kevin Harrington; Eoin McGuckin (2-3), Charlie McGuckin (1-2), Seán Delaney (0-1). Subs. - Evan O’Dwyer (1-0) for Delaney (46), Alan McPartlan (0-1) for E. McGuckin (57), Larry Cullen for C. McGuckin (57).
Taghmon-Camross: Jack Dunne; Declan Carroll, Stephen Stafford (capt.), Tomás Banville; Barry McGrath, David O’Keeffe, Darragh Winters; Stephen O’Gorman (0-2, 1 free), Shane Doyle; Adam Winters (0-1), Darren Hayden, Patrick Murphy; Shane Lacey, Luke Sinnott (0-1), Stuart Murphy. Subs. - Anthony Roche for A. Winters (37), Anthony Doyle for S. Murphy (43), Adrian Doyle for P. Murphy (46), Winters for O’Keeffe (53), Stuart Murphy for Hayden (59).
Referee: Kevin Carty (Sarsfields).