Two bites required
Glenealy through on penos despite normal-time win
GLENEALY 1-16
CARNEW EMMETS 2-13
GLENEALY WIN 2-1 ON PENOS
IT took two bites of the cherry and a dramatic penalty shoot-out headlined by a superb goalkeeping display from Joey Driver, but Glenealy have beaten Carnew Emmets to make the intermediate hurling championship final, following a bizarre and controversial semi-final in Avondale on Saturday afternoon.
Glenealy thought that they had beaten Carnew at the end of regulation time, after late scores from Alan Conyard and Ross O’Brien cancelled out Cormac Doyle’s late goal and appeared to win them the day. However, in a confusing development, the game was ruled as having ended level, taking it to extra-time.
During these additional 20 minutes, Emmets thought that they had added insult to injury by way of John Gregan’s goal. Glenealy responded well, though, with Alan Conyard forcing a penalty shoot-out that they won thanks to the heroics of Joey Driver in goal.
Compared to their lacklustre defeat to Barndarrig in their last game, Glenealy looked definitively sharper up against Carnew Emmets on Saturday. It took them just two minutes to hit the front. A long pass towards Kevin O’Halloran was partly repelled by the Carnew defence. Under pressure from the Glenealy forwards, however, they made a mess of the resulting clearance, allowing O’Halloran to get the ball, side-step Conor Wafer and bury the ball into the back of the net.
Further pointed efforts from Enan Glynn and Alan Conyard (3) gave them a 1-4 to 0-1 early advantage over their shell-shocked rivals. Carnew rallied well through Adrian Myers, Nick Skelton, and Paddy McArdle to make it a twopoint game, but it was Glenealy who finished the half stronger; Glynn (2) and Conyard sending them into the break with a solid 1-7 to 0-6 lead.
For the majority of the second-half, after Cormac Doyle had slotted a point to make it a onescore tie, the two sides merely traded scorers, keeping Carnew at an arm’s length from Glenealy as the game entered the final five minutes. It was at this point that Carnew clawed their way back into the proceedings by triggering the stunning end to the game that was to come.
Graham Keogh, who was married on Friday afternoon, was brought on in the final ten minutes, and hooked a pass into the air across the Glenealy square. Cormac Doyle rose highest to connect with his hurl, sending the ball into the back of the net and bringing his team level.
That was just the first of a remarkable number of twists that were to come.
Moments later, Ross O’Brien put Glenealy back in front, before Conyard sealed the deal with a free to make it 1-12 to 1-10. When the final whistle blew, Glenealy celebrated, only for referee Eddie Leonard to rule the game as having ended level, thus sending it to extra-time, much to the chagrin of the supposed victors.
Spurred on by this moment of good fortune, Carnew came storming out of the block in the additional period. Cormac Doyle thought that he had scored his second goal of the day, only for his shot to bounce off the base of the post.
They did eventually get their second goal. Goalkeeper Joe Murphy sent a hopefully pucked free towards enemy territory.
In there was Graham Keogh, who used his physicality to knock the ball down to fellow substitute John Gregan, who eventually managed to bundle the ball home to put them 2-13 to 1-13 to the good.
With the loss of what they thought was a certain win in regulation time, and now devastated by Gregan’s goal, Glenealy scratched and clawed their way back towards saving matters.
Three consecutive strikes from the ice-cool Alan Conyard levelled the game once again, before he was presented with a chance to win the game with a last-second free, which he sent uncharacteristically wide of the upright, condemning the teams to a contentious penalty shoot-out.
It was at this point that Joey Driver stepped up to the mark in a big way.
After initially falling behind in the shootout after Jack Byrne had blazed his effort over the bar following Joe Murphy putting Carnew 1-0 up, Driver stepped up to save from Adam Hughes and Timmy Collins, while Jack Manley and Aaron Meade were successful in securing the 2-1 advantage.
Alan Conyard had the chance to score the winning penalty, only for his shot to be saved, leaving it up to Driver to save the aforementioned Collins effort to send Glenealy into the Intermediate hurling final at the end of one of the most unorthodox matches you are ever likely to see.
GLENEALY: Joey Driver; Jack Byrne, Lee Kavanagh, Liam de Hora; Cian O’Neill, Nigel Driver, Jack Manley; Eddie Doyle, Theo Smith; Jack Kavanagh (0-2), Aaron Meade (0-1), Kevin O’Halloran (1-0); Enan Glynn (0-3), Alan Conyard (0-10, 8f, 1 65’), Vinnie O’Flaherty. Subs: Killian Hogan for V. O’Flaherty (33), Ross O’Brien (0-1) for K. Hogan (51), Michael-Anthony O’Neill for A. Meade (60), Stephen Cruise.
CARNEW EMMETS: Joe Murphy; Adam Hughes, Dan Nolan, Sean Kinsella; Conor Wafer, Willie Collins (0-1), Paul Murphy; Mark Collins, Adrian Myers (0-2); Nick Skelton (0-2), Paddy McArdle (0-1), John Kavanagh; Michael Collins (0-3, 2f), Jody Byrne, Cormac Doyle (1-2). Subs: Timmy Collins (0-1) for J. Byrne (40), Graham Keogh for P. McArdle (51), Justin House for N. Skelton (66), John Gregan (1-0) for P. Murphy (66), Jody Byrne for J. Kavanagh (70).
REFEREE: Eddie Leonard (St. Patrick’s)