Magical day for Pat’s with win over Ferbane
ST PATRICK’S FERBANE (OY) 1-14 2-9
LONG after the final whistle had sounded in Bord na Móna O’Connor Park Tullamore to signal victory for Wicklow club champions St Patrick’s over Offaly kingpins Ferbane in the AIB Leinster Club Senior Football Championship, the supporters and players of Casey O’Brien’s side gathered on the pitch to share the joy of what was a superb win for a brave and talented outfit who looked in serious trouble in the opening half.
Two early Ferbane goals spoiled a really bright start of the Wicklow champions and left Casey O’Brien’s charges five points down with concerns about a lack of testing on the full-back line rising to the surface in the bright sunlight of the midlands.
But it’s how teams react to hammer blows like these that define them, and bind them, and improve them and the St Patrick’s reaction was immense, and their performance under pressure away from home, from Shane Doyle in the goals to Tommy Kelly up top and the powerful subs that were required, will live long in the memory of the travelling supporters who made the trip in big numbers and who will no doubt do likewise in two weeks when Portlaoise come calling to Aughrim for what promises to be a tremendous battle.
This Ferbane team were no duds. Suggestions that Rhode are an aging team are very disrespectful for what is a formidable outfit who beat their Offaly counterparts twice in this year’s championship campaign, in Round 4 and the county decider. They also saw off Cappincur, Gracefield, Shamrocks and Edenderry and all those victories coming on the back of a bad start with defeat to Clara way back on July 20.
They had useful players all over the field. David Nally at half-back was very impressive at times and it was his seeking long balls into the heart of the Pat’s defence that cause so much trouble early on. Throw in the lofty Leon Fox at full-back, captain Stephen Wren, Kevin Nugent, Kyle Higgins, David Kelly, Joe Maher, Cathal Flynn and the much publicised Cian Johnson and this was no straight-forward assignment by any stretch of the imagination.
The key elements for Pat’s in terms of the win were fitness, hunger and bravery. O’Brien’s men looked to be a far fitter outfit in the closing stages of this game, finishing strongly as they have done all season, men throwing themselves on the line, driving out of defence, creating, supporting and, most importantly, hurting the opposition at key junctures in the game.
To a man, Pat’s were superb. Losing Stephen Duffy could have been a fatal blow but Bryan Doyle’s performance when he came in for the black-carded captain was immense, scoring two points and dragging Ferbane defenders all over the field.
The midfield pairing of John Crowe and Dean Healy have to be commended for their huge performances – Healy was unable to shake hands with his right hand after the game such was the pain from an injury. His runs through the heart of the Ferbane defence were lung-bursting for him and spirit-crushing for the Offaly side. Crowe was relentless, hunting, sniping, disrupting and always looking to go forward and create.
Could Tommy Kelly unleash himself on this game? Would a tight marking defence shut down a major avenue of scoring for St Pat’s? The lofty Kelly bagged 1-3 from play, his goal a monstrous boost for the Wicklow side.
And what of Paudge McWalter – surging runs, weaving and dodging, scoring two massively important scores and working himself to a standstill. A truly excellent performance from one of the best footballers to have worn any jersey in Wicklow.
Matthew Traynor was key, especially in the second half, Patrick O’Keane showed maturity and bountiful talent and self-belief to bounce back from Johnson’s early goal and, to a large extent, nullify the lethal threat of the corner-forward.
In fairness, you could go through the entire team and subs and you’d be hard set to come up with a negative comment and as Casey O’Brien remarked after the game, hopefully all Wicklow GAA people will get down to Aughrim to give Portlaoise a Garden County welcome on Sunday week for what should be a major battle.
O’Brien was a delighted man after the final whistle on Sunday.
‘Unbelievable! We were looking for a fast start ourselves, we spoke about it all week, about getting a fast start on these, and we did, we got a couple of scores up, and then we conceded two sloppy goals. We could have got frees out. I thought Ffrenchy (Conor Ffrench) had the ball in his hand when he got fouled, Paddy (Paddy O’Keane) might have had a slight touch in the back, but they were goals we gave away that normally we wouldn’t give away, uncharacteristic, said Casey O’Brien.
‘And a lot of people sad we weren’t tested all year, by Jesus we were tested today and we were still able to respond, and I keep saying it: These lads are unbelievable, they’re an unbelievable bunch of men and they just don’t know when to quit,’ he added.
The early goals were a big blow. The first arrived from nippy Cathal Flynn but Conor Ffrench might have had a free after he looked to be gathering a messy ball when it was broken away from him. The goal stood, as did Johnson’s ripper to the bottom of Shane Doyle’s net after 12 minutes, and Pat’s looked in dire straits as Joe Maher made it a six-point game immediately after Johnson’s major.
‘We did (recover from the two goals superbly). We spoke about it about for the last two weeks that if we were still in this game with 10 minutes to go there’s only going to be one winner. And the lads bought into it, and they knew it, and you seen us in the last 10 minutes, we just grew and grew and grew and grew. Lads have cramp there. Johnny Delahunt came off with cramp, Paul O’Brien came off with cramp, lads ran themselves into the ground. John Crowe and Dean (Healy) were immense, Matthew
Traynor was unbelievable, our back line – Paddy O’Keane, this Cian Johnson lad, you can talk all you want, and make noise all you want, you make the noise out on the pitch on the grass, and Paddy, he got one goal on Paddy, Paddy Keane is unbelievable, and he has a great future ahead of him in Gaelic football.
‘Look, it’s a great win for us, to win the first round of Leinster. We’re at home and we’re going to give Portlaoise a right rattle as well,’ said Casey O’Brien.
Pat’s enjoyed a great start. Dean Healy bombed over the opener before Paudge McWalter swung over a beauty after patient and positive work throughout the field from Pat’s.
That excellent start was wiped out when Joe Maher pointed and Cathal Flynn goaled with five gone.
Stephen Duffy made it a onepoint game and Tommy Kelly’s chance to level matters came to nothing when his 45 came back of the upright and his subsequent effort from play after good work from Stephen Duffy tailed wide.
Jack Clancy drilled over a stunner off the outside of his boot