UNDER THREAT
Sport braced for shutdown under Level 5
THE All-Ireland football and hurling championships are in the balance before they even begin as Irish sport reels from the news that NPHET is recommending the country move to Level 5, the highest level of restrictions.
With the GAA, FAI and IRFU just learning to adapt to the pandemic and enjoying a return to live action, the news last night could have major repercussions across the board for the rest of 2020.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan chaired a NPHET meeting yesterday to discuss the deteriorating Covid-19 situation and sent a letter to Government recommending the drastic move which will have a major impact on sport as much as society.
Under the latest roadmap, Level 5 is the closest thing to a national shutdown, especially where sport is concerned. Whether Government accepts such a recommendation is the next big question that will be answered.
UNBELIEVABLE drama at Páirc Tailteann. A couple of weeks back, a live televised hurling classic produced heart- stopping tension and a match-winning goal right at the death, when Kiladangan broke Loughmore-Castleiney hearts. And here again was another football version of same, another team in blue and gold colours – Ratoath – finding the crucial score at just the crucial moment, coming in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
Joey Wallace was the hero of the day for the holders who carved out a bit of history by putting titles back-to-back after Davy Byrne guided them to the Keegan Cup for the very first time in 2019.
Man of the Match in the county final for the second year in a row, Wallace was a thorn in the side of Gaeil Colmcille all afternoon and was the decisive figure in a nerve-tingling endgame.
That it was his first start of the championship added to the back story, his brother Eamon joining him on the field in the second half after the pair spent the summer on the athletics track in preparation f or t he Nationals.
The match was poised on a knife edge coming up the hour mark, Ratoath leading 0-13 to 0-12 after a game that went out live on TG4 and showcased plenty that is good about Meath football.
Then, Emmet Boyle, only on as a second-half substitute, got a straight red for a late frontal challenge that left Conal Courtney poleaxed on the ground and forced to be substituted.
A free from Seamus Mattimoe levelled as the clock ticked into the seven allocated minutes of injury time.
Soon after, Ben Wyer went to gain possession in the Ratoath full-back line only for the ball to squirt lose and Mattimoe to pounce.
When he was fouled, the livewire figure of Brian Hanlon rolled the ball into the corner of the net and sent the Kells support in the main stand wild as they entertained the prospect of a first title since 1991.
A nerveless point from Ratoath captain Bryan McMahon was all his team could muster as those seven long minutes elapsed, with referee David Coldrick adding a bit extra for the various late substitutions and stoppages.
Then the dramatic finale. Substitute Barry Tormay should have gone down on a ball only to try and clear his lines and end up slicing it out over the sideline.
From there, Ratoath’s Andrew Gerrard dropped a tantalising ball down around the square. A mass of bodies went to contest and then… Wallace takes up the story. ‘It was a long ball in. Edge of the square. About four lads jumped for it. I just positioned myself, edge of the box, and it just fell my way. I slapped it in. It’s kinda last resort. A bit of luck. That ball could have broke anywhere.’
Cue a knee- slide celebration that the official Man of the Match was sheepish about afterwards.
‘I’d a bit of a fuzzy head from a bang earlier so I don’t know what happened there. Can’t explain it. Went a bit mad, I suppose!’
The Wallaces’ absence for much of the season was just one aspect of a turbulent title defence which i nvolved t he c ontroversial ousting of Davy Byrne and his local management team despite the euphoria of last year’s triumph – a turn of events that put the focus on the club’s internal politics. Nobber’s Brian Farrell took over and oversaw a campaign that was ultimately successful, though Gaeils will wonder how that came to pass after looking to have done enough until that late, late strike. Wallace revealed how he got the no don Saturday to say he was starting. ‘ Found out yesterday. Got a phonecall off Brian. I’ve a lot of respect for him putting that trust in me. ‘A lot of managers wouldn’t because I haven’t been here all year. Fair play to him. ‘First game this year for Ratoath. I was doing athletics all summer. Was training away there. Then came back for two weeks training before the semi-final. ‘At the start of lockdown I made a decision, I put in four months of training just pure athletics training. Very beneficial, and competed in the Nationals.’ And that explosive turn of pace that has seen himself and his brother compete on the national stage was all too obvious from the start in a game that was so tightly contested throughout. Ratoath profited when Philip Ward picked up an early black card and rifled over three quick points, two from the boot of McMahon and another from Jack Flynn.
Wallace added another but then when Gavin McGowan was black carded – a challenge which looked more like a mistimed shoulder than anything deliberate – Kells found their own groove with three points on the bounce, Seamus Mattimoe and Brian Hanlon buzzing to good effect in the corners.
Level at 0-6 apiece coming up to half-time in a fiercely contested game in hard, wet conditions, another scoring burst from Kells lent them a three-point cushion at the break.
Daithi McGowan kicked a couple of quality frees from distance to keep Ratoath right in it and Cian O’Brien and McMahon had points from play as the tension rose in the third quarter with both sets of players leaving it all out there.
At 12 points apiece then after the last water break, a fisted point from Wallace put Ratoath one clear.
But the true drama was only beginning to unfold approaching the hour mark with the red card for Emmet Boyle, the converted penalty, and then the incredible late match-winning goal from a Ratoath team who showed serious guts to play to the final whistle.
History then with a first Keegan Cup in 2019. Now back-to-back titles. Wallace answered the question as to where Ratoath can go from here, even if the GAA have ruled out a provincial and All-Ireland club series due to current circumstances: ‘That’s the thing. We wanted to push on and build Leinsters.
‘We just need to get the right people in behind the scenes now if we want to push on. I truly believe if we get that in a few years we’ll be competing for Leinsters.’
“We just need to get the right people behind the scenes now”
RATOATH: S Duffy; C Ó Fearraigh, C McGill, B Wyer; J Gillespie (E Boyle 44), G McGowan, A Gerrard; B McGowan (D Kelly 63), C O’Brien (K McCabe 56); D McGowan, C Rogers (E Wallace 38), J Flynn; J Wallace, B McMahon, C Rooney (C Ahearne 52).
Scorers: J Wallace 1-3, B McMahon 0-5 (4fs), D McGowan 0-4 (3f, 1 45), J Flynn 01, C O’Brien 0-1 Yellow card: C Ó Fearraigh 42 Black card: G McGowan 8 Red card: E Boyle 58 GAEIL COLMCILLE: J Carry-Lynch; J Muldoon, P Tormey, A Muldoon; C Courtney (K Reilly 59), S Curran (B Tormay 47), J Reilly; P Ward (B Smith 38), L Ferguson; E Sheridan, O Reilly, F Reilly; S Mattimoe, M Barrett (C Doogan 66), B Hanlon (R Farnham 35). Scorers: B Hanlon 1-5 (1-0 pen, 4fs), S Mattimoe 0-4 (3fs), L Ferguson, J Reilly, E Sheridan, C Courtney 0-1 each Black card: P Ward 5 Referee: D Coldrick