Blessington stage remarkable fightback to earn share of spoils

ST NICHOLAS BLESSINGTON 3-7 2-10

ST. Nicholas sensationally surrendered a seven-point lead with seven minutes to go and were shipped out of the Renault Minor Football Championship by Blessington in an scintillating game of football.

Mark O’Sullivan pointed in the fifth minute for the opening score of the game for St. Nicholas.

Stephen Carroll levelled from a free and shortly after he had a goal disallowed as it went straight in from his hand pass.

The home side then wasted three great point chances, putting them all wide.

Tomas Lalor came on as a substitute for St. Nicholas as Stephen Doyle picked up a black card.

Marty Caplis pointed before Adam Boland kicked a long range point for the Blues. St. Nicholas owned the ball for the next 10 minutes but only Daire Wright registered a point which came from a brilliant save by Adrien Ciecko who pushed the shot over the bar in the 28th minute.

Adam Boland hit another point for Blessington to somehow lead at half time at 0-04 to 0-03.

Daire Wright pointed a free to level the match as Henry Healy was starting to dominate at midfield for the green and gold men.

Conor Deering gave them the lead in the 40th minute with a point.

In the 43rd minute Tomas Lalor rifled a shot to the roof of the Blues net. Adam Boland played a great one-two with Jack Cotter and fired over a point to ease the pressure on the Blues.

Tomas Lalor pointed before Marty Caplis rocked the blues net again, in the 47th minute.

Dan Sarkauskas should have goaled for Blessinton but his effort went over the crossbar for a point.

Sean O’Rourke was a thorn in Blessington’s side as they could not cope with his power and pace. Sean O’Rourke found Conor Deering with a sublime pass and Deering rocked the Blues net again for the third time in the match with 52 minutes on the clock to the roars of delight from the large crowd of supporters.

Daire Wright pointed a minute later as Nicks looked home and dried.

Blessington manager Peter Behan moved Jordan McGarr out to the midfield area and what a difference it turned out to be.

Simon Creighton found the back of Tom McGuirk’s net in the 55th minute to reduce the lead and Steven Carroll pointed for Blessington to leave the score 3-07 to 1-08 with three minutes of normal time left.

Unbelievably, Blessington found another lease of life and when Adam Boland goaled in the 59th minute it was game on as St. Nicholas were shell-shocked.

Sean Mescall thought he had the winning goal in the 62nd minute but McGuirk brilliantly pushed it over the bar to leave the minimum in it as the home crowd were baying for the full-time whistle.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man they say and Sean Mescall, from 45 yards out, hit the sweetest shot high into the floodlit sky and the ball hit the highest point of the upright and dropped over the crossbar to level the game in the 63rd and final minute to put Blessington into the quarter-finals and brought a shell-shocked St Nicholas team to their knees in disbelief.

ST NICHOLAS SCORERS: Tomas Lalor 1-01, Marty Caplis 1-01, Conor Deering 1-01, Daire Wright 0-03, Mark O’Sullivan 0-01.

BLESSINGTON SCORERS: Adam Boland 1-03, Simon Creighton 1-00, Sean Mescall 0-03,Stephen Carroll 0-02, Dan Sarkauskas 0-01, Jordan McGarr 0-01.

ST. NICHOLAS: Tom McGuirk; Mj Moran, Mark Reid, Shane O’Rourke; Shane Figgis, Conor Deering, Pat Healy; Sean Branagan, Henry Healy; Stephen Doyle, Brian Nolan, Daire Wright; Mark O’Sullivan, Marty Caplis, Sean O’Rourke. Subs: Tomas Lalor for Stephen Doyle (17min), Jason Huntley (48min), Eoin McGonagle (54 min).

BLESSINGTON: Adrien Ciecko; Dara McGorman, Sean McGarr, Glen Farrell; Simon Creighton, Jack Cotter, Aaron Curran; Dan Sarkauskas, Adam Boland; Ciaran Mescall, Stephen Carroll, Ferghal Hennessy; Sean Mescall, Dara Richardson, Jordan McGarr. Subs: Eoin Higgins for Ferghal Hennessy (38min), Wayne Miley for Dara Richardson (53min).

REFEREE: Gareth Whelan (Kiltegan).