Codd’s late goal seals deal
Rory dismissed before Martin’s hold off Ferns revival
ST. MARTIN’S FERNS ST. AIDAN’S 2-16 1-15
THE OPPORTUNISM of substitute Darren Codd finally put the seal on another St. Martin’s victory in the Pettitt’s Senior hurling championship semi-final in Innovate Wexford Park on Saturday, but only after a late burst of 1-2 without reply from Ferns St. Aidan’s had left a share of the spoils very much on the cards.
The Wexford District side’s 1-15 to 0-12 lead in the 57th minute was an accurate reflection of the play up to that stage, but their generally disappointing rivals finally got their act together for a sustained period to reel off 1-2 without reply when it was needed most.
Ferns got the goal they hadn’t threatened beforehand after Ian Byrne played a pass into substitute Chris Turner. The county Under-20 player was faced by Patrick O’Connor, but he jinked on to his favoured left and delivered a shot that wasn’t particularly venomous but still found Luke White’s net.
The 2013 runners-up sensed that all wasn’t lost yet, and the momentum garnered from that score was put to good use as fouls on Christopher O’Connor and Paul Morris respectively led to pointed frees for Ian Byrne.
That made it 1-15 to 1-14 with just under one minute of the additional four played, and fixtures committee members must have been bracing themselves for another unwanted draw.
However, the width of a goalpost intervened to ensure St. Martin’s will be contesting a third final on the trot on October 27.
Wing-back Daithí Waters sent in a high, hanging point attempt in the third added minute that came back off the woodwork on the right.
Darren Codd was on to the break first, and he made room for himself before planting the ball beyond James Lawlor to the net.
It was the decisive moment, with Ian Byrne and Jack O’Connor going on to swap late points from frees to leave a margin of four at the finish.
Now St. Martin’s may well be preparing to fight a boardroom battle as well as working hard on the training ground over the next ten to twelve days, because they lost Rory O’Connor to a straight red card early in the second-half.
He was one of two players given their marching orders for separate incidents that occurred at roughly the same time, with Tommy Dwyer of Ferns also dismissed.
St. Martin’s were ahead by 1-12 to 0-9, and in truth the game was in need of some sort of lift because it had been fairly pedestrian up to that juncture.
It certainly lacked the normal cut and thrust of a county semi-final, largely because Ferns were unable to come anywhere close to the fine form that had led to the stylish dismissal of Naomh Eanna in their last encounter.
Christopher O’Connor had just intercepted a Martin’s clearance to narrow the gap to six points when the temperature finally did rise in the 35th minute.
The play had been close to the leaders’ right half-forward berth when Aaron Maddock was struck off-the-ball, but before dealing with that issue, referee Justin Heffernan was called in for a chat by his umpires at the Clonard end goal.
This was in relation to an incident that left Niall Murphy of Ferns on the ground, and Rory O’Connor was shown a straight red before the man in the middle ran back to the scene of the other disagreement and brandished a card of the same colour to Tommy Dwyer.
I expect that St. Martin’s will be doing all in their power to free their star attacker to play in the final, and adding to the intrigue is the fact that the same referee sent-off Cathal Dunbar of Naomh Eanna in last year’s penultimate round.
The young forward’s appeal was successful of course, and he went on to score four points from play as Gorey won their first title on a 2-11 to 0-13 scoreline.
It was an unusual game because none of the three inter-county regulars on view showed the type of form that one would expect from them at this stage of the year.
O’Connor had been picked up by Wexford Under-20 Niall Murphy from the off and had just one point to his name when he was dismissed, while his big brother, Jack, also struggled to make an impact on another young gun, Conor Scallan, although he was one of three players to split the posts in an exhibition of first-half lineballtaking.
On the plus side for the victors, Joe O’Connor can be very pleased with his policing job on Paul Morris, as the Ferns captain was also restricted to one point.
While Benny Jordan and Gavin Bailey formed the losers’ midfield pairing for both throw-ins, the latter dropped back as usual into a sweeping role while Ian Byrne drifted out to the centre on Aaron Maddock.
The free role at the opposite end of the field was taken by Martin’s captain Willie Devereux, and he was the stand-out performer in a generally disjointed and disappointing game, reading the play expertly and repeatedly spraying the ball intelligently to better-placed colleagues.
Ciarán Lyng had given last year’s runners-up the lead before a goal chance for Morris came and went in an instant as he was swiftly bottled up.
Jonny Dwyer was the first man to plant a line ball between the posts in the fifth minute, after Jack O’Connor had sent an early attempt wide.
The wind-aided Martin’s followed up with three of their nine opening half wides before the on-form Joe Coleman restored their lead from a long-range free.
The short Ferns puck-out that followed was turned over, with Lyng bearing down on goal before opting to pick out Mikey Coleman to his right when Rory O’Connor was also free to his left.
Netminder James Lawlor redeemed himself with a smart advance to smother the shot, while his defence stood tall near the end of the opening quarter when efforts from Lyng and Mikey Coleman were blocked.
It was 0-4 to 0-2 at that stage, with sweetly-struck line balls from Joe Coleman and Jack O’Connor, the first from the right and the second from the left, coming on either side of a Christopher O’Connor point at the other end.
The wides were mounting for a wasteful Martin’s, and Ferns had the gap down to one by the 20th minute after another Coleman score was bettered by Jonny Dwyer and Ian Byrne (free).
The leaders should have chalked up a couple of goals by that stage, but Jake Firman showed how it’s done when a long delivery hopped up invitingly for him to slam it first-time to the net and establish a 1-5 to 0-4 lead.
The score was the catalyst as St. Martin’s moved 1-11 to 0-6 clear by the break, with Rory O’Connor striking his sole point before a brace of wides apiece.
Joe Coleman pointed twice from play, after passes from Rory O’Connor and Mark Maloney, but Ian Byrne stopped the rot from a free before James Tonks was left unmarked to narrow the gap to 1-8 to 0-6.
However, St. Martin’s hammered home their advantage in a fruitful 80-second spell just before the break, with Harry O’Connor, Joe Coleman (free) and Mikey Coleman all on target – the latter ensuring that all six attackers had made the scoresheet.
Two successful Ian Byrne frees on the re-start heightened hopes of a Ferns comeback, with Jake Firman and Christopher O’Connor going on to exchange points before both sides were reduced to 14 men.
Byrne picked out Conor Scallan tomakeit1-12to0-10,buttheformer missed a couple of long-range frees before Joe Coleman ended a barren spell lasting almost nine minutes for St. Martin’s.
Twice Ferns made it a fivepoint game, via Paul Morris and Byrne (free), only for Coleman to respond, with his second arriving from play.
That 1-15 to 0-12 advantage looked quite secure, but the game took off on a new tangent after Chris Turner’s goal, meaning that the alert reaction of Darren Codd was ultimately priceless in booking a local derby final date.
St. Martin’s: Luke White; Mark Maloney, Joe O’Connor, Conor Firman; Daithí Waters, Willie Devereux (capt.), Patrick O’Connor; Aaron Maddock, Harry O’Connor (0-1); Jake Firman (1-1), Jack O’Connor (0-2, 1 line ball, 1 free), Joe Coleman (0-9, 4 frees, 1 line ball); Mikey Coleman (0-1), Rory O’Connor (0-1), Ciarán Lyng (0-1). Subs. - Darren Codd (1-0) for M. Coleman (49), Eoin O’Leary for Maloney (57), Michael Codd for Maddock (57), Ben Maddock for J. Firman (58), Kyle Firman for J. Coleman (60+4).
Ferns St. Aidan’s: James Lawlor; John Breen, Niall Murphy, Rory Scallan; James Tonks (0-1), Conor Scallan (0-1), Ciarán Roberts; Brendan Jordan, Gavin Bailey; Jonny Dwyer (0-2, 1 line ball), Eoin Murphy, Tommy Dwyer; Ian Byrne (0-8 frees), Paul Morris (capt., 0-1), Christopher O’Connor (0-2). Subs. - Peter O’Toole for E. Murphy (46), Declan Byrne for R. Scallan (51), Chris Turner (1-0) for J. Dwyer (52), Patrick O’Hagan for Roberts (58).
Referee: Justin Heffernan (Blackwater).