Blessington rejoice
First final since 1988 for west men after semi-final win
BLESSINGTON AVONDALE 2-14 2-05
AVONDALE took on Blessington in the first semi-final of the Renault Senor football championship on Sunday last in Joule Park, Aughrim.
With neither team having reached the final in many years, it was going to be a tough battle for both sides.
Blessington drew first blood with a quick point from big midfielder Eoin Keogh with 14 seconds on the clock.
From the kick out, Mick Mcloughlin won a mark, passds to Patrick O’Connor but his shot flashed across the face of the goal.
Again, from the kickout, Eoin Keogh jumped above Barry Sheehan to break to Kevin Hanlon who sent it in high to O’Connor but the Blessington man is turned over by Liam Kinsella but he is pulled up for over carrying.
Anthony Mcloughlin gets his first scoring chance but pulls it to the right and wide.
Avondale’s first attack came from a long ball by Marc Baker to the burley Barry Sheehan who had got himself into the box but the ball broke to Barry Murphy and he cleared down the field but it was turned over by Eugene Dunne who found David Baker and he flashed his shot wide of the goal. However, Anthony Nolan had blown for a free out.
Kevin John Rodgers took it quick up the field to Eoin Keogh who set himself and slotted his second of the day and Blessington are off to a great start.
David Burke takes the kick out, again it breaks to Hanlon who finds Anthony Mcloughlin for the first goal chance of the day but the Burke gets a leg to it for a fine save.
Avondale are under serious pressure in the early stages but they then broke down the stand side of the field with Dean Gahan but again Barry Murphy turns it over.
He feeds Hanlon who fires high to Curtis Gerathy who flicks it on to the onrushing O’Connor for point number three.
Avondale needed a score and they very nearly had a goal with Eugene Dunne finding Cian O Hannain with some space and he kicked on to Ryan Cahaill whose shot for goal brought a super save out of Stephen Kitt.
The ball broke out and up the field Blessington came with Kevin Hanlon again; this man was everywhere and he passed long to O’Connor who flicked across the goal to Anto Mcloughlin and he toe poked it to the net a major blow for Avondale.
Barry Sheehan won a mark from the kick out and he found Dunne who set off on a solo run before passing to Dean Gahan but the half-forward is pulled up for handling on the ground and you could say that nothing was going right for the Avondale men.
Kevin John Rodgers takes the free to Anto McLoughlin, he feeds O’Connor and it brings the tally to 1-04 to no score with all of Blessington’s total coming from play.
With 20 minutes on the clock, Blessington go on the hunt again with Keogh winning the kick out.
The big midfielder found O’Connor who heads for goal but Burke pulls off another fine save. Only for him this game could of been over already.
Avondale made a double change the brought in Eamonn Kearns and Conor Byrne and straight away Kearns wins a free, he passes to Dunne and again he lets a quick ball into Cahill but his shot just goes wide of the mark.
Keogh wins the kick out, he goes on the run looks up sees Mick Mcloughlin with some space, finds him, he shoots and again Burke saves. He really is Avondale’s hero in the opening half.
Again, Barry Sheehan wins the kick out before off loading to Conor Byrne who evades two tackles but his shot goes wide, but the ref brings it back for a free.
Ian Heffernan takes and points Avondale’s first score after 23 minutes.
The kick out again breaks to Geoghegan who finds Conor Byrne. The talented Byrne runs and tries to find Ian Hefffernan again but is fouled. Heffernan takes but pulls it wide.
Avondale are struggling in the final quarter to find their scores.
Hanlon picks up another break around the middle and sets up O’Connor to the onrunning Eoin Keogh and he fists it over the bar but it could have been goal number two.
Sheehan wins the kick out and passes to Cian O Hannain but Barry Murphy turns it over but his pass is bad and finds Conor Byrne who feeds Ian Heffernan who slots over for his second of the day. Better from Avondale.
Keogh again wins the kick out. It’s a real tit for tat with him and Sheehan when it comes to the kick outs. Keogh passes to Mick Mcloughlin who finds O’Connor who fires over a point.
Blessington are finding their scores with ease and the half-time break sees them leading by 1-06 to 0-02.
The second half starts with Conor Byrne winning the break off of Sheehan. Byrne tries to launch an attack but it’s turned over.
Blessinton then lose Kevin John Rodgers through injury and in comes David Boothman. He gets his first sniff of the action but his shot goes out for a 45 which Paul Mcloughlin converts.
Sheehan wins another mark from the kick out. He passes to Dunne who tries to find Gahan but Boothman gets there the quicker and he passes to Hanlon but his pass is sloppy and Eugene Dunne comes away up the field and finds Geoghegan. The midfielder sets off but is pulled up again for over carrying.
Nugent takes the quick free down to Curtis Geraghty who fires over.
Avondale then decide to bring bring Sean McGraynor for Ian Heffernan. Sean picks up a break and finds Marc Baker and he slots one over.
Eamonn Kearns wins the kick out and passes to Cian O Hannain who finds Conor Byrne who sells his man with a dummy, hand passes across the goal and Ryan Cahill is there to box to the net.
The kick out is taken and up jumps Sheehan and with a massive box sends it back in from where it came from.
Conor Byrne turns and shoots with his left for a peach of a score.
Avondale have started well but Blessinton break up the field but Shane Beevor wins the ball back with a tough challenge and sends it long to Sean McGraynor who is fouled under that stand.
He sets himself and kicks what is a monster free. Anto McLoughlin wins the break goes on a driving run through the middle, he side steps one and passes to Patrick O’Connor who grabs a fine score.
Eugene Dunne wins another break and from his knees he finds Sean McGraynor who flicks it on to Conor Byrne who runs off his shoulder and he strikes but it goes wide.
It is end to end stuff and Blessington could have been sorry they missed those goal chances in the first half.
Blessington brought in Aussie Rules star Gavin Murray. Barry Murphy wins another break in defence he sends it out to Keogh, to Hanlon, to Geraghty and point.
Blessington are now moving the ball with one touch football and there is no marking them.
The ball is kicked out and Murray rises highest to break to O’Connor but he pulled his shot left and wide.
The kick out again finds Murray and this time Geraghty points and Avondale clearly need to keep the ball away from the recently introduced Murray.
Avondale had started to tire and Blessington broke up the field again with David Boothman.
He plays a one two with Geragthy and he gets his first score and Blessington lead by 1-12 to 1-05.
With the game entering the final minutes, it had gone very flat with tired legs everywhere.
There was a lot of loose ball around the middle and it was been gathered up by Gavin Murray.
Then, against the run of play, Avondale won a break to Paul Gahan he sent in a quick ball to O Hannain to drill to the bottom corner.
The kick out was taken and Keogh found Anto McLoughlin who fisted to substitute Mikey O’Connor and he side stepped his man and shot to the net to kill the game as a contest.
That pretty summed up Avondale’s day and the referee sounded the final whistle whortly afterwards and Blessington march on to their first final since 1988 on a score line of 2-14 to 2-05.
- Blessington: Eoin Keogh 0-03, Patrick O’Connor 0-03, Anto McLoughlin 1-03, Paul McLoughlin 0-01, Curtis Geraghty 0-03, David Boothman 0-01, Mikey O’Connor 1-00.
Avondale: Cian O Hannain 1-00, Ian Heffernan 0-02, Ryan Cahill 1-00, Marc Baker 0-01, Conor Byrne 0-01, Sean McGraynor 0-01.
Stephen Kitt; Barry Murphy, Stephan Bohan, Declan Hennessy; Conor Kenny, Paul McLoughlin, Kevin John Rodgers; Eoin Keogh, Brian Carroll; Michael Nugent, Anto Mcloughlin, Michael McLoughlin; Patrick O’Connor, Curtis Geraghty, Kevin Hanlon. Subs: Gavin Murray for Micheal Nugent, David Boothman for Kevin John Rogers, Peter Manning for Brian Carroll, Barry Finnan for Declan Hennessy, Mikey O’Connor for Patrick O Connor
Brian Burke; Simon Cullen, Saoirse Kearon, Shane Beevor; Kevin Fitzpatrick, David Baker, Liam Kinsella; Barry Sheehan,Padraig Geoghegan; Dean Gahan, Marc Baker, Eugene Dunne; Cian O Hannain: Subs: Conor Byrne for Kevin Fitzpatrick; Eamonn Kearns for Simon Cullen; Sean McGraynor for Ian Heffernan; Shane O’Neill for Padraig Geoghegan; Paul Gahan for Marc Baker.