Éire Óg put on a super show

Greystones beat Baltinglass

ÉIRE G GREYSTONES BALTINGLASS 7-14 1-04

THIS fixture was expected to be the 2017 under-15 A football final after the Baltinglass team won the county title at under-14 last season while the Éire Óg team at that level claimed a Féile crown in the same year.

However, Éire Óg slipped up against their now final opponents St Nicholas in the earlier stages and were sent on a collision course against Baltinglass in this semi-final clash in Ballinakill last week.

It didn’t take long to realise that the Éire Óg footballers had learned some valuable lessons from their earlier defeat when, after a shaky start, they powered to a 3-07 to 0-03 half-time lead over their west Wicklow opponents.

There were two players, in particular, who posed the highest threat level to the Baltinglass defence, and they were Conor Fulham and James Nicholson.

Interestingly, it was Baltinglass who enjoyed the best start to the game. They won the initial kick out and drove forward but spurned two chances in the opening moments.

Back came Éire Óg and they took the lead through a James Nicholson point.

From here on, Éire Óg settled into the game and bagged goals through Conor Fulham, James Nicholson and Cian Hayes which helped the Greystones lads to their healthy half-time lead of 3-07 to 0-03.

The midfield battle between Gerhard Zdunek and Jack Hanlon was a thoroughly enjoyable feature of the opening 30 minutes, with Hanlon working tirelessly to stop the dominance Éire Óg were exhibiting.

Things weren’t all doom and gloom for Baltinglass as they faced into the second half, they were to have the aid of the breeze for the second period. However, it wasn’t long before disaster struck for the west Wicklow side when Éire Óg scored their fourth goal through Nicholson and Baltinglass also lost the services of Jordan Etukudoh and Darren Walsh who collided with each other in a bid to stop Nicholson from firing home to the back of the net.

This was a huge loss for Baltinglass who were forced to reconstruct their team and further goals from Fulham, Nicholson and Eoin O’Neill secured the passage to the final for the talented Éire Óg side.

It’s important to note that this victory for the Greystones side would not have been possible, or would certainly not have been as resounding, were it not for the superb performance from Luke Dorgan who played the role of sweeper as well as anyone at any level of the GAA has ever played it.

For Baltinglass, Tom Keogh, Jason Kenny and Jack Hanlon never stopped working, but the loss of the two key players early in the second half was a blow from which the west Wicklow men could not recover.

Scorers - Éire Óg Greystones: Conor Fulham 3-03, James Nicholson 3-04, Eoin ‘Neill 0-04, Luke Dorgan 0-02, Cian Hynes 1-00, Roy Byrne 0-01.

Baltinglass: Jason Kenny 1-00, Tom Keogh 0-02, Niall O’Connor 0-01, Shane Whelan 0-01.

Sean O’Neill; Colm Condron, Neill Browne, Daniel Healy; Cillian Keane, Thade Shanahan, Colm Shortt; Eoin O’Neill, Gerhard Zdunek; Conor Fulham, Roy Byrne, Cian Hayes; Fionn Melia, James Nicholson, Luke Dorgan. Subs: Max Scully for C Hynes, Oisin Shanahan for C Shortt, Conor O’Donovan for J Nicholson, Indie Kenny for G Zdunek, Oisin Kavanagh for R Byrne, Joseph Prendergast for C Ke.

Robert Brien; Neil Murphy, Darren Walsh, Jack Kirwan; Stephen Connolly, Arun Daly Danne, Jordan Etukudoh; Jack Hanlon, KB Matomni; Evan Frahill, Niall O’Connorr, Hugh O’Toole; Connor Quinn, Jason Kenny, Tom Keogh. Subs: Hugh Leigh for D Walsh (inj), Kealan Hunter for KB Matomni (inj), William O’Brien for J Etukudoh, Shane Whelan for N O’Connor, Conor Flood for H O’Toole, Gary Kelly for S Connolly.

Eddie Leonard (St Pat’s)