Baltinglass saved by the crossbar!
AGB come close in pulsating clash
BALTINGLASS AGB 4-06 3-07
THE width of the crossbar was all that separated these sides in a pulsating under-17 championship encounter in Carnew on a damp and dark Monday evening.
Baltinglass dominated the opening period, as they ruthlessly punished some wayward Arklow passing and they led by 12 points after 34 minutes when Alan Barrett cooly dispatched a rebound from his own penalty.
Incredibly though they west men would not score again as AGB laid siege to their goal for the remainder of the game.
Arklow went goal hunting very early as they turned down kickable points with 15 minutes still on the clock and in hindsight may have been better chipping away point by point.
But in the end they came agonisingly close to completing a remarkable comeback as Jack O’Reilly rattled the crossbar with the last kick of the game.
It was Baltinglass who reigned supreme in the opening half though. From early on the intensity on both sides was very high as big tackles, blocks and swift counter attacks were completed from those in white and blue jerseys alike.
Alan Barrett was brilliant at corner forward and he opened the scoring for Baltinglass with a peach off his right.
The sides seemed well matched but AGB couldn’t score early on and that seemed to knock their confidence as a string of loose passes around the middle invited Baltinglass on and they were ruthless in punishing Arklow’s wayward play.
Corner back Colm Keogh showed lightening pace and good strength to dispossess his man and set up one of the scores of the game as the ball was swiftly worked to full forward Jack Hanlon who made no mistake from 25 yards. The Baltinglass 14 soon had the first major as AGB switched off after Darragh Doyle’s high, wayward shot was kept in and passed across for Hanlon to fist in the first goal.
AGB almost had a goal of their own but Liam Moore’s soccer shot across goal was brilliantly defended by the covering Jack Fleming who slid in to intercept.
Baltinglass continued to punish AGB errors as a Fleming ball over the top found Tadhg O’Toole who fisted over the stranded Luke Delaney for Jason Sinnott to finish to the empty net.
The impressive Kian Bolger finally got Arklow off the mark a minute later and from then till the end of the half they steadied the ship somewhat. Corner forward Jack O’Reilly finished to the net well from close range and Mark Fitzgerald hit a peach of a free kick off the ground to close out the half and leave AGB trailing by just 5 at the break, 2-5 to 1-3.
Arklow needed a big start in the second period but it was Baltinglass who came flying out of the blocks as they stuck 2-1 in the opening 4 minutes and effectively won the match.
Hanlon opened the half with a point from the first attack before a brilliant run and pass from hugely pacey wing back Karl Furlong saw the ball offloaded to midfielder Seán Doody who cut through the middle and finished to the net.
Baltinglass soon had their fourth. Joe Delaney saved brilliantly initially from Hanlon but then collided with the Balto man as referee Brendan Furlong pointed to the spot. Up stepped Barrett and once more Delaney made an exceptional save but unfortunately for him the rebound fell back to Barrett, who didn’t seem flustered by the penalty miss and cooly finished to the top right corner.
Arklow found themselves 12 points down but in their perilous position they seemed to throw off the shackles as they almost managed to reel back the lead in the final 25 minutes. Andrew Maher kicked 3 points in that period and substitute Conor Breslin was brilliant as he kept Arklow pushing forward with 4 or 5 great runs.
Seán Crowley got a goal back for Arklow but they trailed by 5 going into injury time as it looked like they would come up short.
Kian Bolger then buried an outstanding goal deep into injury time to bring it back to 2 with about a minute left on the clock. Surely they couldn’t pull it out of the bag.
That they very nearly did though and after the ball was ricocheted around the Baltinglass square it fell to Jack O’Reilly who was ever so unlucky to see his effort bash the crossbar. Brendan Furlong blew his whistle and Baltinglass breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Scorers - Baltinglass: Jack Hanlon 1-2, Alan Barrett 1-1, Jason Sinnott 1-1, Seán Doody 1-0, Johnny Keogh 0-2 (2f).
AGB: Kian Bolger 1-3, Jack O’Reilly 1-0, Seán Crowley 1-0, Andrew Maher 0-3, Mark Fitzgerald 0-1 (f).
William Rogers, Jason Steed, Christopher Grimes, Colm Keogh, Karl Furlong, Patrick Whelan, Jack Fleming, Darragh Doyle, Seán Doody, Johnny Keogh, Tadhg O’Toole, Killian Kelly, Jason Sinnott, Jack Hanlon, Alan Barrett. Subs: Liam Fisher for Tadhg O’Toole, Diamantino Marcu for Jack Fleming, Emelie Faulkner for Killian Kelly.
Luke Delaney, Brian Fennell, David Kealy, Darragh O’Byrne, Dylan Furlong, Thomas Lynch, Andrew Maher, Elliot Young, Seán Crowley, Kian Bolger, Mark Fitzgerald, Mark Hurley, Jack O’Reilly, Liam Moore, Ben Fennell. Subs: Michael O’Reilly for David Kealy, Luke Cummins for Brian Fennell.
Brendan Furlong (Tinahely).