Cloughbawn miss out
CLOUGHBAWN DID everything they could in their bid to claim the Wexford Football League Division 2 title on Sunday, but events elsewhere conspired against them.
The boys in green needed to beat their hosts Adamstown and hope New Ross Town could do them a favour against St. Cormac’s, but it was clear before this game even kicked off, 30 minutes after the other clash, that they had almost no hope. The news filtering through from Ross probably went some way to explaining the slow start they made.
Within five minutes they fell behind when P.J. Thorpe’s wicked free-kick from the left ended in the net, with Kieran Finn in the vicinity.
The hosts had chances to make it two in the opening quarter but slowly Cloughbawn started to find their rhythm.
It came with Barry Carton moving into a more advanced position and it was his goal, a header untouched from a Martin Kehoe long free, after a mix-up in the hosts’ defence, that produced the equaliser.
Level pegging at the interval, the game went a bit stale in the early stages of the second-half.
However, pretty much out of nothing, Cloughbawn took the lead when Páidí Cullen’s hopeful header from midfield, from a Nathan Thorpe kick-out, bounced wickedly over the stranded Adamstown ’keeper and found its way into the net.
Mere seconds later, with Adamstown still complaining for offside, Steve Casserly floated a left wing cross-cum-shot over Thorpe to make it 3-1.
With the game on the verge of being over, the home side hit back when Hickey converted from the spot after it was adjudged that Jack Curtis had been fouled.
While the scoreline suggested the game was in the melting pot, it wasn’t that close and Cloughbawn were comfortable.
They wrapped up the points and their second place finish when Willie Murphy released Darragh Cloke-Rochford in the final minute, and he rounded the ‘keeper and slotted home to complete the victory.
ADAMSTOWN: Nathan Thorpe; Jack Curtis, Dan Thorpe, Daithí White; Conor Hickey, Liam Moore, Colin Purcell, Kieran Finn, John Whelan; Ian White, P.J. Thorpe. Subs. - Kevin Thorpe for Curtis (72), also Stevie O’Dwyer, Lee White, Wes Bradley, David Cadogan.
CLOUGHBAWN: Billy Dunne; Johnny Cullen, Barry Carton, Martin Kehoe, Gareth Murphy; Steve Casserly, Kyle Murphy, Páidí Cullen, James Dempsey; Kevin Murphy, Willie Murphy. Subs. - Darragh Cloke-Rochford for K. Murphy (46), James Parle for K. Murphy (64), Darren Fortune for G. Murphy (76), Seán McCann for Cullen (86), also James Redmond, Tom Cogley, Brendan Coleman.
REFEREE: Derek Campion.