Wilson curls over a beauty
Blessington secure crown
BLESSINGTON 0-12 BALTINGLASS 0-11
BLESSINGTON took home the Dick Allen Cup after a titanic battle in a sun-drenched Dunlavin, last Sunday morning, county final day.
Blessington went one step better, than last year’s final defeat to Dunlavin by defeating Baltinglass in a thrilling encounter that went right down to the wire to bring the Dick Allen Cup back to Blessington for the first time since 2011.
All the drama unfolded late on in the closing stages of this blockbuster, as Baltinglass looked destined to put their name on the cup, but a late rally by Blessington and an outstanding preformance by Harry Wilson swung the pendulum back into the Blues favour after one of the tighest finals played in years in front of a good crowd of spectators.
Patrick Small got Blessington of to a wonderful start with two quickfire points in the opening minutes after good work by Charlie Reid.
Kareem Matonmi split the posts from an acute angle to get Baltinglass up and running in the sixth minute after good work by Michael Connolly.
Cian Webb fired over Blessington’s third point in the next attack before Kareem Matonmi registered his second score of the match.
Diarmuid Woulfe levelled matters with a well taken point, as the play ebbed up and down the field.
The midfield sector was a fiercly contested battleground throughout the game.
Diarmuid Woulfe put Baltinglass in front with another long range effort after great build up play by Jamie Keogh and Colm Nolan.
Harry Wilson was introduced to the fray for the Blues and the young man would have a huge impact on the game.
Conor O’Toole restored parity with a point, going into the final few moments of the first half.
Blessington finished the stronger, with a brace of points, as Liam Cullen’s half-time whistle sounded, with the score reading 0-6 to 0-4 in favour of the Blues.
Conor O’Toole tagged on a brace of points for Blessington on the restart to increase the lead.
Diarmuid Woulfe steadied the ship with a well executed point after great work by Oisin Reardon and JP Kearney Keogh.
Again, Diarmuid Woulfe added another brace of points to cut into Blessington’s lead as the tempo increased tenfold going into the closing quarter.
Lively Harry Wilson swung the game back to the blue corner. with two of the best points ever witnessed in Dunlavin.
However, Baltinglass didn’t come here just to make up the numbers as they threw the kitchen sink at Blessington, with a Dylan Byrne point followed by a Kareem Matonmi point putting Baltinglass back in front with five minutes to play.
It was looking good for Baltinglass at this stage with Kareem Matonmi putting the lead out to two at this crucial stage as there was no dipping in the intensity or the excitement overall.
The Blessington back’s were on overtime trying to quell the Baltinglass offence, who made them fight tooth and nail for every chance.
Ciaran Gilmore put Harry Wilson through to tag on a point. as Blessington staged a fightback.
Harry Wilson who was creating havoc, tapped over his fourth point of the game to level matters, going deep into the closing stages as a draw seemed inevitable and extra time loomed.
In what would be the final attack of the game, Harry Wilson yielded his fifth point of the match as he roamed up from his spot on the right handside to curl over the winner as the final whistle sounded.
Both sets of players gathered all around the referee at this stage - they waited in anticipitation for the final tally, after all the buzz and excitement, they were not sure of the final result.
You could hear the roars of delight as far away as Joule Park, as the Blues rose ten foot tall, when the maths were done.
Pauline Allen presented the Dick Allen Cup to Blessington captain Charlie Reid, who is a grandnephew of Dick Allen, and the Man of the Match award went to Harry Wilson of Blessington, to spark of wild scenes of celebrations, as this was their county final day.
Scorers - Blessington: Harry Wilson 0-5, Pat Small 0-3, Conor O Toole 0-3, Cian Webb 0-1.
Baltinglass: Diarmuid Woulfe 0-5, Kareem Matonmi 0-4,Dylan Byrne 0-1, Liam Campion 0-1.
Blessington: Cillian Swan; Glen McStay, Max Kehoe, Aaron Mulhall; Ronan Smyth, Harry Nolan, Ciaran Gilmore; James Phibbs, Cian Webb; Luke Higgins, Conor O Toole, Charlie Reid; Pat Small, Jake Robbins, Thomas Lietner. Sub: Harry Wilson,
Baltinglass: Conor Kearney; Aaron Neill, Finn Moran, Brian O’Neill; Kareem Matonmi, Conor Doody, Michael Connoly; Diarmuid Woulfe, Colm Nolan; Liam Oisin Reardon, Jamie Keogh; Dylan Byrne, Conor Flanagan, JP Kearney Kehoe. Subs: Stephen Patterson, Jack Norton.
Referee: Liam Cullen (Hollywood)