Youthful Taghmon pip Duffry
Late Carty point of vital importance in tight, tense finish
A YOUNG Taghmon-Camross side kept their composure in a tight finish to become the third successive New Ross District club to clinch the Top Oil Intermediate ‘A’ hurling championship title in Innovate Wexford Park on Saturday, inflicting a second successive final defeat on a bitterly disappointed Duffry Rovers in the process.
Three years after capturing the Junior crown, the victors grabbed the key score 90 seconds into added time when captain and official man of the match Ian Carty played a one-two with substitute Stephen O’Keeffe before landing his third long-range point from play.
And although Liam Pender did manage to pull back a point after a Cathal Clince free broke into his path, the Duffry couldn’t create another opening in the 80 seconds that followed as they fell at the final hurdle again, one year after Fethard beat them by a goal at the same stage.
Carty was a colossus in the heart of the Taghmon-Camross defence and, along with county Under-21 colleague Stephen O’Gorman who scored 1-4 from play, they were tormentors-in-chief on a day when the victors made sure of a return to the Intermediate grade for the first time since 2000.
The Duffry couldn’t have asked for a better start, as a mere 27 seconds had elapsed when full-forward Joe Coleman caught a Liam Pender delivery and fired to the town end net.
They only managed two more points before half-time though and, while their goal-getting capabilities kept them very much in the hunt until the bitter end, they really needed to be tapping balls over the bar with more regularity to shade this particular verdict.
A notable feature of the game was that only a paltry one point of the combined tally of 4-19 arrived from a free.
Referee Dan Crosby hails from Kilkenny where players really have to earn a placed ball, and he adopted this approach by blowing for a mere twelve frees – six per side – throughout.
Indeed, the second-half free count was three to the Duffry, and none to Taghmon-Camross, and games refereed in this manner in Wexford are certainly the exception rather than the rule.
The response of the youthful Ross District men to that early goal blow was a positive sign for their followers, as they had drawn level by the twelfth minute after points from Luke Sinnott and a Stephen O’Gorman brace.
A Jack Dunne block had kept out a goalbound Alan O’Neill shot, but the Duffry regained the lead at the end of the opening quarter when Cian Fitzhenry pointed from a short Johnny Flynn-O’Connor pass (1-1 to 0-3).
Stephen O’Gorman missed a goal chance after controlling a Thomas Furlong delivery, but he didn’t let it get to him as his third point followed at the end of a solo run from a Chris Cullen pass, shortly after Cathal Doyle had slotted the game’s sole pointed free.
Doyle then made it 0-6 to 1-1 after Darren Carty’s delivery broke off a defender into his path, but Alan O’Neill caught the puckout from Stephen Watchorn and provided an immediate response (0-6 to 1-2).
The last ten minutes of the half were scrappy, featuring four wides for Taghmon-Camross and three for the Duffry, along with just one more score when Ian Carty won an opposition puck-out and posted the first of his three points (0-7 to 1-2).
However, there was a key moment at the death when Joe Coleman was fouled for a penalty, but Duffry centre-back Cathal Clince was unfortunate to see his strike rebounding off the crossbar before being cleared to safety.
That unlucky miss was quickly forgotten on the re-start as it was a carbon copy of the first-half.
This time 28 seconds, rather than 27, were required before the Duffry goaled, with Coleman applying the last touch from a pull after Alan O’Neill initially found Gavin Watchorn whose attempt was blocked (2-2 to 0-7).
Watchorn added a swift point from a Johnny Flynn-O’Connor delivery, but the Duffry went on to shoot ten second-half wides and ended with a costly 18, five more than the victors, despite wing-backs Thomas Dunne and Matthew O’Connor providing an ample supply to the forwards.
Ian Carty’s reading of the play was excellent, and his second point steadied Taghmon-Camross again before their big moment arrived in the 37th minute.
A high cross from the right by Cathal Doyle at the town end was retrieved by Stephen O’Gorman whose close control was first rate before he arrowed the ball to the net (1-8 to 2-3).
Johnny Flynn-O’Connor, moved to right half-forward after sustaining a hand injury, pulled back a point, but scores from Luke Sinnott and Chris Cullen left Taghmon-Camross clear by 1-10 to 2-4 moving into the last quarter.
After Gavin Watchorn and Stephen O’Gorman swapped points, the Duffry drew level in the 52nd minute when the former flicked the sliothar past Jack Dunne from an Alan O’Neill pass (3-5 to 1-11).
And they had a couple of chances to edge ahead, but David O’Keeffe made a fine tackle to deny Cian Fitzhenry a possible goal before a Cathal Clince free – only the second awarded in the half – went wide in the 54th minute.
That was another vital moment, because the diminutive Cathal Doyle latched on to the puck-out that followed and put Taghmon-Camross in front again (1-12 to 3-5).
Aidan Byrne and Stephen O’Gorman fired wides at either end, and a Duffry puck-out was struck over the sideline, before Ian Carty’s third point left the side trained by Jason Ryan with a sufficient cushion to hold on after Liam Pender replied for the Johnny Nevin-coached losers.
This win will come as a huge boost for Taghmon-Camross after their relegation from Senior football ranks last month, following in the footsteps of District rivals St. James’ and Fethard who won this championship in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
And they will be embarking on a road trip next Saturday when they travel to face Longford Senior champions Wolfe Tones, victors against Avondale from Wicklow by 0-19 to 1-11 in the first round of the Leinster series under the Newtownforbes floodlights last Friday.
As for the Duffry, all they can do is endure the pain and hope that it will be third time lucky in 2019.
Taghmon-Camross: Jack Dunne; David O’Keeffe, Alan Nolan, Mark O’Gorman; Shane Doyle, Ian Carty (capt., 0-3), Stephen Stafford; Thomas Furlong, Darren Carty; Chris Cullen (01), Barry O’Gorman, Darren Hayden; Luke Sinnott (0-2), Stephen O’Gorman (1-4), Cathal Doyle (0-3, 1 free). Subs. - Stephen O’Keeffe for M. O’Gorman (39), Michael O’Gorman for Furlong (57), Tom Banville for D. O’Keeffe, inj. (60+3), also Seán O’Gorman, Shane Lacey, Pierce Doyle, T.J. Codd, Pete Murphy, Declan Carroll, Pat Nolan, Robert Nolan, Jim Carroll, Alex Gondard, Adrian Doyle, John Banville, Derek O’Hanlon.
Duffry Rovers: Stephen Watchorn; Craig Casey, Donie Doyle (capt.), James Nolan; Thomas Dunne, Cathal Clince, Matthew O’Connor; Johnny Flynn-O’Connor (0-1), Liam Pender (0-1); Robert Frayne, Donie O’Connor, Cian Fitzhenry (0-1); Alan O’Neill (0-1), Joe Coleman (2-0), Gavin Watchorn (1-2). Subs. - Aidan Byrne for Frayne (34), John Dunne for D. O’Connor (58), also Conor Coleman, Feargal Kenny, Colm Redmond, Alan Doyle, Eamonn Doyle, Michael Coleman, Seamus Doyle, John McCarthy, Jamie Roban, Gavin Rafter.
Referee: Dan Crosby (Kilmore).