Pure bliss as Valleymount leave it late!
‘We’ve been knocking on the door’
FOR the first time in this Covid-19 season a tiny handful of spectators were allowed into games but Valleymount made it sound like a chorus of a thousand voices on Saturday evening as the curtain came down on the Junior A football final.
And the men from the West had every reason to let their feelings rip and lift the roof as their team had beaten Ashford in the final and were crowned champions in a dramatic finale to the decider.
With just five minutes left on referee Liam Keenan’s watch, few people in Aughrim would have put their shirts on Valleymount surviving let alone succeeding.
Ashford were in front by 2-7 to 0-10 and looking like they were going to replicate their first-round victory.
Even Valleymount’s most ardent supporters were beginning to despair that their team would get the goal they so badly needed at that late stage if they were to have a chance of pulling the game out of the fire
‘We showed great heart, we never gave up, we wanted to win,’ declared an ecstatic manager Jason Dunne afterwards. ‘We have
been knocking at the door and this time we wanted to kick it in’.
While Jamie Miley received the man of the match award for a consistently strong performance from the wing-back position through
out, it was Jack Miley’s goal in the 57 minute and James Fitzpatrick’s fourth point deep in injury that sent the cup of victory winging its way to West Wicklow.
From an Ashford perspective it was a bitter pill to swallow so late in the match. No doubt they had been thinking they had done enough to repeat their first round 1-17 to 1-9 victory over Valleymount. Instead, even though the margin between the teams was a mere one point, they now found themselves with no time left to mount a response.
Betimes, such is the cruel fate that can befall a team.
Since their first-round defeat, Valleymount had shown improvement in subsequent rounds and they were determined not to let Ashford hammer them by eight points a second time. Indeed, both teams left everything out on the pitch in this game, notwithstanding the frequent errors and spilled possession at times.
Centre-back Tadgh Miley drew first blood for Valleymount when he fired over the opening point after two minutes, having received assistance in the build up from his corner-backs Shane Browne and Robbie Behan.
However, Valleymount cheers quickly turned to tears of dismay in the seventh minute as Ashford’s full-forward Gavin Weir made a great catch from a high delivery from the right, swiveled in a twinkling before drilling to the far corner of the net off his left boot.
Ashford’s winger Rob Clarkson got through a huge shift in the early play. Repeatedly he made himself available for ball, ran at the opposi
tion and sought to set up chances. He was given huge freedom to be a receiver and playmaker, and it was inexplicable that Valleymount never picked him up and close off that avenue.
The respective midfielders, Declan Cahill and Jack Slattery, and Danny Kavanagh and Joey Doyle, all had their moments.
Valleymount had the breeze at their back in the first half and needed to put scores on the board. A long ball in from Shane Browne found its way to full-forward Stephen Byrne and up went the white flag. But after 15 minutes Ashford led 1-0 to 0-2.
Things could have been worse for the men from the west. A minute earlier Ashford’s corner-forward Cormac Doyle fed the ball low across the face of goal to his unmarked full-forward Gavin Weir. A gaping goal beckoned, but in his rush to gain possession, Weir was deemed to have picked the ball off the ground. The chance was lost.
It would appear that during the water-break Jason Dunne had some words of ‘encouragement’ for his Valleymount players. In the next ten minutes they responded with three unanswered points, the first by Stephen Byrne after the referee overruled the umpires, having consulted with his linesman.
That was followed by an excellent brace from James Fitzpatrick. For the second he was fed by a dazzling run by his winger Jack Miley.
Ashford responded with two points by corner-forward Brendan
Manning before Jack Slattery closed out the half for Valleymount. But a one-point advantage for the West Wicklow men at half-time (0-6 to 1-2) was hardly enough considering their opponents now had the wind behind them.
As if to emphasise the fact, Ashford had wiped out the deficit inside two minutes. The leveler came off the boot of centre forward Brian Coen, who was picked out in a scoring position by a terrific ball from his full-forward Gavin Weir way out in the left corner.
Midfielder Declan Cahill responded for Valleymount while Brian Coen tied up the scores once more after 34 minutes (1-4 to 0-7) with another of his five points, this time from a placed ball.
On 37 minutes Weir bombed in along the endline from the left but lost control at the vital moment.
Moments later Valleymount were guilty of a grievous error. Several defenders were ‘found out’ by a through ball which sailed over their heads to the waiting Gavin Weir who was home alone with only the keeper to beat. This time there was no mistake as he blasted to the net from close range.
Ashford ahead 2-4 to 0-7. They freshened up their forces for the expected Valleymount response springing Dean Mooney off the bench to replace wing forward Ross Quinn. Coen bisected two Valleymount points by Stephen Byrne and Jack Miley, leaving two between the sides (2-5 to 0-9) at the water break.
Ashford sought to batten down
the hatches. At times they had 13 players behind the ball helping out in defence. On one occasion Weir was to be seen clearing defensive lines, next minute he was back in his full-forward position but this time missing the target.
Valleymount were finding it hard to break down barriers. By the 53rd minute Ashford had stretched their lead marginally to 2-7 to 0-10. Manning and Coen responding to James Fitzpatrick’s solitary point for Valleymount.
As the clocked ticked into final five minutes, things were not looking too rosy in the West Wicklow garden. Gavin Weir had a chance of snatching an insurance point for Ashford put he pulled his shot wide.
Valleymount breathed a huge sigh of relief. But yet even their most avid supporters were not holding out great hope of their team securing the goal they badly needed if they were to win this
match.
Hope Springs eternal, as they say. ith under three minutes left Valleymount launched another assault down the right flank. The ball was fed to winger Jack Miley who made yards before launching a rocket that took a trajectory to the far-right hand corner of Ashford’s net.
I venture to say the goal would not have needed the slight deflection it got enroute.
Sides level 1-10 to 2-7. It was still all to play for. A fitting finale to the final, which may not have been a classic, but was still full of honest endeavour and commitment by both teams. It was still there for the taking as Ashford’s Brian Coen and Valleymount’s man of the match Jamie Miey traded points.
Deep in injury time Valleymount ‘s James Fitzpatrick prevented ball from going wide on the right, made an angle for himself before squeezing a beauty between the
sticks for the winner. Valleymount in front 1-12 to 2-8.
A mere point behind. No time left. No time to respond. Beyond their reach. Ashford distraught and gutted. Valleymount deliriously overjoyed and happy after pulling off a victory that looked beyond their reach minutes earlier. Hail the new champions.
Paul Miley; Shane Browne, Steven Cahill, Robert Behan; William Kavanagh, Tadgh Miley (0-1), Jamie Miley (0-1); Declan Cahill (0-1), Jack Slattery (0-1); Jack Miley (1-1), James Fitzpatrick (0-4, 1f), Robbie Miley; Brian Miley, Steven Byrne (0-3), Michael Richardson. Subs: Robert Miley for L Miley (21), Sean Higgins for M Richardson (39).
Lee Fitzpatrick; Rian Dwyer, Michael Dickenson, Iarla O’Donnell; Robert Keenan, David Dowling, Michael Treanor; Danny Kavanagh, Joey Doyle; Robert Clarkson, Brian Coen (0-5, 1f), Ross Quinn; Cormac Doyle, Gavin Weir (20), Brendan Manning (0-3, 1f). Subs: Dean Mooney for Ross Quinn, Brian Egan for M Treanor, Billy Clarkson for R Clarkson.
Liam Keenan Jnr (Aughrim)