LONGFORD LAMENT
Wicklow hurlers beaten in Kehoe Cup decider
LONGFORD WICKLOW 0-11 0-10
THE Wicklow Senior hurling team travelled to Pearse Park in Longford for this year’s Kehoe Cup final. Seamus Murphy’s men were seeking a first win in many years after suffering defeats to the hands of Meath and Maynooth University at the penultimate stage in more recent years, whereas Longford were hoping to use home advantage to collect their first Kehoe Cup title in their history.
No starting Wicklow player could make a claim to having a Kehoe Cup medal, only Jonathan O Neill Snr of the panel, along with the two team selectors could boast about claiming them.
With the controversy that followed the previous meetings of the sides in mid-January which saw Longford making a complaint about Wicklow fielding players who had played against Wexford the week previous, it resulted in Wicklow travelling with a weaker panel than hoped.
Any player who entered the field against Wexford was ineligible to play, but never-the-less this was still a reasonably strong Wicklow side with the likes of John Henderson, Christy Moorehouse, Daniel Staunton and others who have played in the two most recent national league games against Down and Armagh, along with stalwart Eamonn Kearns in reserve who only returning from injury.
When the Wicklow team and management look back on this game they will be bitterly disappointed by many aspects such as missed goal opportunities, poor discipline and the poor second half return of only two points, both coming from placed balls.
What will also be discussed is poor refereeing decisions which lead to an Eoin McCormack goal disallowed and saw Eamonn Kearns and James Cranley receive their marching orders from the Kilkenny official.
Wicklow started brightly and were playing all the hurling in the early exchanges with the inside line of Cranley, Moorehouse and George O’Brien looking dangerous.
Éire Óg’s Cranley had Wicklow on the board after a minute with a fine score from the right hand side; soon after, Moorehouse made it two with another from play.
After some hard work from Longford around the middle, Luke Evans gathered a ball on the wing and drove for the crossbar, he drew a defender and slipped the ball to George O’Brien who forced a fine saved at close range from Longford keeper Conor Gallagher.
Wicklow’s third point came from a fantastic solo effort from Bray’s Eoin McCormack who caught a Conor McNally puck out cleanly, took on two Longford defenders and pushed Wicklow further ahead when he found himself in space 45 metres from goal.
It was then that Longford began to get themselves on the ball as Wicklow took the foot off the gas slightly. The home side’s opening score came from man of the match Joe O’Brien who split the post from 30 yards after the ball broke to him following a scramble to prevent a goal in the Wicklow goalmouth.
The Longford midfielder then added to his tally soon after with a score of the highest quality, a side-line from the 45 which sailed over the Wicklow crossbar and it was becoming clear that Longford were going to be no pushovers.
John Connors and Cranley added two more Wicklow scores either side of a Cathal Mullane free. With 12 minutes on the clock, Wicklow lead 5-3 and seemed to be only getting going. By the time the 20-minute mark had passed, Luke Evans added a fine score after good work in the corner from Jack Doyle and Moorehouse, and George O’Brien added another. Wicklow lead 7-3.
Perhaps the most worrying stat from here on was that Wicklow only managed three points in 50 minutes of play, one in the remainder of the first half coming from Cranley. Longford added another two points before the break from Joe O’Brien again and team captain Daire Duggan leaving it at 0-08 to 0-05 at the break.
The second period commenced with Longford striking four wides in total and Wicklow failing to respond to the persistent Longford pressure.
Mullane cut the lead to two with a 21-yard free before missing a 65 again on 13 minutes. Longford substitute Johnny Casey cut the lead further before Mullane levelled for the first time in the game on 18 minutes.
The man of the hour Joe O’Brien pushed Longford into the lead with a fine score from the half-way line with 15 minutes left on the clock.
It was then that Wicklow began to shuffle things up with the introduction of Michael Connors and Eamon Kearns. The last 15 minutes of this game was where the controversy began and where Longford began to look stronger and stronger.
With 13 minutes remaining, Cranley saw straight red for a supposed strike. Moorehouse brought the sides back level and soon after Eamon Kearns picked up his first yellow card for a foul between the two 65s.
Mullane then added another from a free close to goal. From the resulting puck out Wicklow won the break and launched a long ball towards the Longford goal where Eoin McCormack found himself touching the ball into the goal.
The green flag was raised and Wicklow thought they had weathered the Longford storm. However, a disagreement between the umpires followed which resulted in a deliberation process with the referee and the verdict was what was believed to be a square ball with five minutes of normal time to be played and Wicklow still trailing.
With 31 minutes on the clock, Eamon Kearns picked up a second yellow which bewildered much of the crowd, nobody seemed sure as to what he had done to pick up the second yellow. Joe O’Brien then extended Longford’s lead to two points again before a John Connors 65 brought it back to the minimum but that was to be the last act of significance as Longford made hurling history by claiming their first Kehoe Cup crown while Wicklow faced the long road home having suffered a difficult defeat to a side they should be more than capable of disposing of.
Scorers – Longford: Cathal Mullane 0-4 (4f) Joe O Brien 0-4 (1 SL) Daire Duggan 0-1, Johnny Casey 0-1, Patrick Walsh 0-1.
Wicklow: James Cranley 0-2, Christy Moorehouse 0-3 (2f) Eoin MacCormac 0-1, John Connors 0-2 (1f), Luke Evans 0-1, George O Brien 0-1
Wicklow: Conor McNally; Darragh Maloney, Billy Cuddihy, Peter Keane; John Connors, John Henderson, Paul O’Brien; Daniel Staunton, Jack Doyle; Eoin McCormack, Gerry Connors, Luke Evans; Christy Moorehouse, George O’Brien, James Cranley. Subs: Eamon Kearns for Jack Doyle, Michael Connors for Luke Evans.
Longford: Conor Gallagher, Aidan Sheridan, Gerard Moore, Paddy Corcoran, Karl Murray Bart Hanley, Seamus Hannon, Joe O Brien, Patrick Walsh, Paul Barden, Sean Stakelum, Daire Duggan, Daniel Connell, Cathal Mullane, Jody Leonard. Subs: Johnny Casey for Paul Barden, Rueben Murray for Daniel Connell.