Aughrim revive in time

2-6 0-10

AUGHRIM recovered from a poor start to come from behind and beat 13-man Barndarrig and advance to the semi-finals of the Junior ‘C’ football championship, following a heated, ill-disciplined affair in Ballinakill on Thursday evening.

In a game that saw both teams lose men to a combined three red cards, Aughrim endured a disastrous opening portion, going five points down in the first 10 minutes, but came back strong and were largely on top for much of the remaining 50 minutes, with Dean Newsome and Dara O’Shea bagging the decisive goals to give them the win.

While they took the lead inside the first 30 seconds through a fine Daniel O’Hare strike, Aughrim appeared to have still been on the sideline getting kitted out for the first ten minutes. They suffered from a lack of urgency and composure, as Barndarrig quickly turned the game around.

Michael Crowley got them under way with a shot that was parried over the bar by Patrick Gannon, before Sean Campbell recklessly gave the ball away to the dangerous Joe O’Shea, who promptly set up Johnny Devereux to put Barndarrig into the lead.

From that moment on, until the whistle heralded the first-half water break, Aughrim were incapable of getting the ball out of their half. By the time the 10th minute had arrived, they had lost six of their eight kick-outs, as O’Shea and partner James Quinn dominated proceedings in the middle of the park.

In that same time, Barndarrig expanded on their lead yet still found themselves passing up major opportunities.

With just five minutes on the clock, they very nearly had the first goal of the day. John Kennedy won an Aughrim kick-out, before the resulting break into Aughrim territory led to Paddy Redmond bearing down on goal. He opted to try and lift the ball over the onrushing Patrick Gannon, only for Gannon to make a decent save to deny him.

Nonetheless, Barndarrig took a five-point, 0-6 to 0-1 lead into the water break through Kennedy, Redmond, Devereux, and Joe O’Shea (free). The water break itself featured a passionate, unbound rallying cry from Aughrim management to the players. Concerns were raised, disputes hashed out, and motivational words shared, leading to the side that had, to that point, greatly underwhelmed, roaring out of the blocks upon the restart.

Three consecutive wides were followed by a Dean Newsome free, before the error-strewn game turned on its head. Barndarrig, bewildered by the resurgent energy confronting them, sloppily gave the ball away near their own 45-metre line. Sean Campbell wasted no time in giving the ball to Dean Newsome, who ran into acres of space before delicately lifting the ball over the head of Ray O’Brien and into the back of the net to send the two sides separated by just a point at 0-6 to 1-2.

With the game very much on following Newsome’s goal, Aughrim did not waste any time in seeking to capitalise on that momentum, introducing Mark Clancy and Diarmuid Whelan at half-time. They wouldn’t have to wait long before they took the lead.

Less than a minute into the second-half, Whelan was involved as a flowing move down the righthand side ended in the hands of Dara O’Shea, who put the ball past O’Brien and into the back of the net.

Barndarrig responded well through a trio of Joe O’Shea scores to retake the lead going into a hectic, stop-start final 15 minutes that featured little in the way or productive football. It all started on 43 minutes, when Richie Murray was shown a black card for a sloppy tackle on Dean Newsome, who brought the sides level with the follow-up free.

On 46 minutes, Aughrim received a disciplinary setback of their own when Peter Quigley was shown a straight red card for a reckless tackle on Paddy Redmond. Less than a minute later, Barndarrig were reduced from 14 men to 13 when Hughie Doyle, brought on just over ten minutes earlier, was himself shown red by referee Pat Hickey for being adjudged to have made contact with the face of Bobby Newsome off the ball.

That was not the final dismissal for Barndarrig on the night, however, although before that came, Aughrim retook the lead through a Dean Newsome free.

Then, three minutes into injury-time, Barndarrig’s improbable task was made increasingly unlikely when a brief skirmish between some of both side’s players ultimately led to Paddy Redmond being sent-off for a second bookable offence.

Finally, after 64 minutes, five yellow cards, three red cards, and one black card, the game was put to bed, with Dean Newsome stepping up with the final score of the day to send his tea to the semi-finals.

AUGHRIM: Patrick Gannon; Sylvester Doyle, Liam Keenan, Patrick Byrne; Sean Campbell, John Byrne, Oisin Dunne; Robbie Doyle, Bobby Newsome; Jack Healy, Peter Quigley, Daniel O’Hare (0-1); Frank Byrne (0-1), Dean Newsome (1-4. 3f), Dara O’Shea (1-0). Subs: Diarmuid Whelan for J. Healy (HT), Mark Clancy for O. Dunne (HT),

BARNDARRIG: Ray O’Brien; Richie Murray, Cathal Keegan, Michael Owen Byrne; Joe Twomey, Andy Reilly, Paddy Redmond (0-1); James Quinn, Joe O’Shea (0-5, 3f); John Kennedy (0-1), Tom Doyle, Johnny Devereux (0-2); Eoin Brennan, Michael Crowley (0-1), Wayne Costello. Subs: Hughie Doyle for J. Quinn (35), Graham Wynne for W. Costello (40), Gary Collins for C. Keegan, Brian Walsh for M. Crowley (58).

REFEREE: Pat Hickey