Shamrocks see off Nicks Real humdinger in Donard

SHAMROCKS ST NICHOLAS 1-13 1-10

FOR anyone that wasn’t in Donard last Sunday morning, they missed one of the battles of the year in this action packed under-20 football championship blockbuster.

This is the way football should be played, all-out attacking football in a local derby, plenty of off-the-ball stuff, just about within the rules, goal chances galore, plenty of firepower all over the field from both sides, massive hits, along with a very vocal sets of supporters and after the final whistle, handshakes all around.

St Nicholas started well as Tomas Lawlor got the scoring underway in the third minute with a point, after great work by Henry Healy.

Jordan Deans had a goal chance brilliantly cut out by Nic’s full-back Davy Lawlor in the next attack for Shamrocks. Niall Faherty was fouled going through and Tomas Lawlor pointed the resultant free.

Padraig O’Toole got Shamrocks on the board with a mighty point in the 10th minute after good build up play by Paddy Whelan.

St. Nicholas then took a stranglehold on the game in the next few minutes with marksman Tomas Lawlor firing over a trio of pointed frees as they built up a healthy four-point cushion in this period.

Tadgh O’Toole had a great chance of a goal for the Baltinglass side, but his piledriver cannoned off the crossbar and over for a point; a huge let off for St Nicholas.

Each side picked up yellow cards before another goal chance went amiss for the Shamrocks, Adam Wynne drew a point-blank save from Brian Keogh, which went out for a 45.

Alan Barrett came onto the Shamrocks side. A Cian Lee shot unbelievably came of one upright and across the goals, hit the other upright and fell out to Jordan Deans who somehow fluffed his shot wide from four yards out, another huge let off for the home side.

Johnny Keogh tagged on a point from a free, to cut the lead to two points to close out the first quarter. Mark Reid pointed to round off a brilliant move up the field, initiated by Henry Healy.

Both teams traded chances over the next period but failed to raise their score tally. Another pointed free from Johnny Keogh, closed out the opening half with the score reading 0-6 to 0-4 in favour of the Donard/Dunlavin combination side.

Padraig O’Toole switched into midfield on the restart, which had a huge bearing on the game. Johnny Keogh fired over another point after great work by Sean Doody.

Padraig O’Toole scored an outrageous point from 60m out the field, albeit from hoping over the crossbar. Shamrock’s upped the ante and drove at their opponents, this time Sean Doody crashed another shot against the crossbar and the ball flew over the bar, to put the visitors a point up, to huge roars of approval from the sidelines.

Game on, big time. Another pointed free from Tomas Lawlor, levelled matters again. It was riveting stuff at this stage, plenty of off-the-ball stuff and even more banter from the supporters added to the heat of the battle and the referee being updated constantly on the playing rules.

Cian Lee swung over a beast of a point before the Shamrocks tallied on another pair of white flags. Niall Faherty and Brian Nolan were putting in huge shifts for the St Nicholas side.

It was end-to-end stuff, flat out. Tomas Lawlor harvested another brace of pointed frees to close out an absorbing third quarter with the scoreboard reading 0-9 to 0-10, in favour of the Shamrocks.

Goalkeeper, William Rodgers found the target twice in succession, raising a brace of white flags from 45s to push the lead up to three points.

Tomas Lawlor pointed before Shane Daly blazed a glorious goal chance wide, which should have put St Nicholas back in front at this crucial period of the game.

Moments later, Tomas Lawlor crashed another chance of the crossbar, another huge let off for Shamrocks.

The lively Cillian Giligan had a great goal chance parried by Brian Keogh, however this time, Jordan Dean’s buried the rebounding ball across the goal line going into the closing stages to now lead 1-12 to 0-10.

Well, what a finish we were in for!

St. Nicholas refused to buckle. They won a 21m free, Tomas Lawlor went for goal, the freekick was charged down. The ball was moved into the 14m line, Tomas Lawlor with ball in hand was faced by ten defenders on the goal line, Lawlor unleashed a shot that sensationally ended up in the back of the net, 1-10 to 1-12 and on we went.

St Nicholass literally threw the kitchen sink at Shamrocks, however, some serious defending and hits by the Shamrock defence saw them stand strong before Cillian Gilligan closed out a brilliant game with a fine point for the Shamrocks.

Scorers - Shamrocks: Johnny Keogh 0-04 (4f), Jordan Deans 1-01, Padraig O’Toole 0-02, William Rodgers 0-02 (2 45’s), Sean Doody 0-01, Cian Lee 0-01, Cillian Gilligan 0-01, Tadgh 0’Toole 0-1.

St. Nicholas: Tomas Lawlor 1-9 (8f), Mark Reid 0-1.

Brian Keogh; Patrick Healy, David Lawlor, Tom Moran; MJ Moran, Mark Reid, Jack Grace; Sean Branagan, Henry Healy; Brian Nolan, Shane Daly, Niall Faherty; Tomas Lawlor, Conor Deering, Daniel Furlong. Subs: Mikey Byrne, Shay Travers.

ST. NICHOLAS: SHAMROCKS:

William Rodgers; Jason Steed, Darragh Doyle, Paddy Kirwan; Karl Furlong, Paddy Whelan, Colm Keogh; Sean Doody, Cian Lee; Padraig O’Toole, Johnny Keogh, Aaron Byrne; Adam Wynne, Jordan Deans, Tadgh O’Toole. Subs: Liam Fisher, Alan Barrett, Arun Daly Danne,Cillian Gilligan.

REFEREE:

Noel Kinsella (Lacken-Kilbride) An Tochar’s Gavin Fogarty looks to escape the attentions of Brian Bohan from Blessington during the JAFC final.

ST PATRICK’S BRAY EMMETS 2-17 3-10

JACK DUNNE was in ominous form for St. Pat’s, as the Wicklow Town men put in a clinical second-half performance to come from behind and beat a game Bray Emmets in a thrilling under-20 football championship opener last Wednesday night.

In a tale of two halves, Bray Emmets went into the half-time interval with a four-point lead courtesy of goals from Andrew Conway and Brian Nesbitt, as well as a commanding midfield outing from Darragh Rochford.

It was Dunne who turned the game on its head in the second-half, however, as his seven points, as well as a Luca Rampersaud penalty which Dunne himself won, helped Pat’s on their way to the opening night win.

Despite the cold, wet conditions that persisted all evening, neither side waited long to engage in what would transpire to be a fastpaced, entertaining encounter last Wednesday night in Newtown. It took less than three minutes for both sides to trade their first respective scores, with Rampersaud and Conor Dowling both splitting the posts.

Dowling scored twice more before Darragh Rochford notched apairofpointstopushBrayinto a three-point advantage. Jack Dunne brought Pat’s back to within one, before Andrew Conway got the first goal of the day.

Starting from a recovery in defence, Bray worked the ball up the pitch astutely, before Andrew O’Brien carried the ball into Pat’s territory. He then shifted the ball onto Conway, who put the ball past Sammon in the Pat’s goal.

Bray were very much in the ascendancy at this point and didn’t need to wait long for their second goal. Thinking quickly, Darragh Rochford worked a free swiftly onto Conway, who then moved possession into Brian Nesbitt, who calmly stroked the ball past Sammon.

Rochford was ruling the roost in the middle of the park; dominating in the air and orchestrating Bray attacks.

A deep, high ball from that very man was fisted into the goal by Nesbitt, only for that third goal to be chalked off for a foul, committed by Nesbitt.

Pat’s were losing battles all over the pitch in a difficult first-half, yet they were able to keep themselves within reach of Emmets. Ronan Murray, who would grow in prominence as the game wore on, set the table for Jack Dunne to take the ball, charge past a helpless Sid Hunt, and blast the ball into the back of the net.

Pat’s would finish the half strongly, with Rampersaud and Dunne pointing to send the team in at half-time trailing by four points at2-8to1-7.

Those two young men, as well as an assured performance from Ronan Murray and a change in tactical approach, would define a much-improved second-half performance from St. Pat’s, as came from behind to claim a hardfought victory.

While Bray would grab a third goal early in the second-half, Rochford once again the orchestrator with a searching ball over the top to an onrushing Brian Nesbitt, that would be about as good as it would get for Emmets in the second period.

Rampersaud and Dunne got Pat’s underway with a pair of points before Nesbitt’s goal, and Pat’s would find themselves level with 15 minutes of the half gone. That man Jack Dunne topped and tailed the flourish with a free and a nicely taken point on the turn off the left flank.

Between those scores, Luca Rampersaud slotted home a penalty that was won by Dunne.

Dunne notched another fine score off the left-hand side to put Pat’s in front for the first time since the fourth minute. Pat’s had their tails up, and Bray were struggling to cope. Whereas they were finding success with high balls into Rochford in the first-half, Pat’s deployment of a high press when off the ball was causing all sorts of problems.

Murray typified this by winning a ball off of Rochford in the air, allowing Dunne to point yet again. Frustration was setting in for Bray, who saw Conway sent-off with less than ten minutes to go.

Rochford would get Bray’s last score, but it was Jack Dunne who got the final say, as he won and pointed a free to send the points back to Wicklow.

Scorers: St. Pat’s: Jack Dunne 1-13 (4f), Luca Rampersaud 1-3, Ronan Murray 0-1.

Bray Emmets: Brian Nesbitt 2-1, Darragh Rochford 0-5 (3f), Andrew Conway 1-1, Conor Dowling 0-3 (1f).

Patrick Sammon; J.J. Power (for Aaron Byrne), Rossa Marron, George O’Brien (for Caolan Mooney); Ken O’Grady, Conor Brennan, Niall Delahunt; Ronan Murray, Luca Rampersaud; Reese Kelly, Callum Kelly, James Byrne (for Frankie Reynolds); Ciarán Byrne (for Dylan Kavanagh; for Scott Sheridan), Jack Dunne, Cian O’Brien.

ST. PAT’S:

Cathal Eddy; David Martin, Sid Hunt, Jack Tracy; Mark Lyon, Ben Kearney, Mark Cullen; Sam Kearney, Darragh Rochford; Andrew O’Brien (for Oisin Drury), Conor Dowling, Eoin Fitzsimmons (for Noah Cummings); Brian Nesbitt (for Andrew O’Brien), Andrew Conway, Noah Cummings (for David Nesbitt).

BRAY EMMETS: REFEREE:

Anthony Nolan (Baltinglass)