Great escape from Sars for second year on the trot
SARSFIELDS 4-9 TAGHMON-CAMROSS 1-12
THE FINAL that nobody wants to be in produced an absorbing contest and a gripping finish on the perfect Cushinstown sod on Friday, with Sarsfields coming from seven points down in a tension-filled last quarter to preserve their Tom Doyle Supplies Senior football championship status with a late, late burst for the second year running.
History repeated itself in every sense as, twelve months ago at the same venue, the town team trailed Horeswood by 1-7 to 0-3 with 18 minutes left in the relegation decider.
They turned it around to win by 2-9 to 1-8 on that occasion, and those events were repeated on Friday as 14-man Taghmon-Camross, the long-time pace-setters, lost the last quarter by 3-5 to 0-1 to return to Intermediate ranks after two years in the top flight.
The New Ross District side had produced most of the positive football in the opening half and led by 1-9 to 1-4 at the break, despite the 28th-minute dismissal of midfielder Chris Cullen who picked up a black card after an earlier yellow.
The third quarter was a stopstart affair punctuated by a couple of injuries, and this certainly didn’t suit the Sars whose troubles intensified when on-fire Taghmon-Camross attacker Seamie McLoughlin availed of an Ian Carty interception to put them six points clear in the 43rd minute.
That was the first score of the half, and it was quickly followed by a converted McLoughlin free to make an already difficult task even tougher for the town team (1-11 to 1-4).
The tactic of moving Lee Chin to full-forward at the start of the second period hadn’t worked, but his first contribution after drifting out to the ’40 was to kick a point in the 45th minute.
It proved the beginning of a comeback that had to be seen to be believed.
Taghmon-Camross started to panic in defence, and that led to three pointed Chin frees between the 47th and 51st minutes (1-11 to 1-8).
However, arguably the biggest moment of all arrived after he knocked over that first dead-ball. Taghmon-Camross substitute Cathal Doyle was mere seconds on the field when he got on the end of a breakaway move featuring the Carty brothers, Darren and Ian, but his shot on goal was saved by Sars veteran Philip Cullen.
It was a huge moment, and it ensured the Butters still had plenty to fight for after Eoin Roche and Seamie McLoughlin swapped points to leave Taghmon-Camross clear by 1-12 to 1-9 in the 54th minute.
Quite incredibly, the last three scores of the game were all Sarsfields goals as they dug extremely deep to ensure that 2019 will be the club’s 40th successive year playing in the Senior championship.
They pushed forward in waves, with defenders Michael Hanrahan and Con O Donnagáin the key men in the move that led to full-forward Eoin Roche slotting home the equalising goal from the edge of the square in the 55th minute.
Then Seán O Corcora dinked a superb pass over the head of a Taghmon-Camross back and into the path of Lee Chin who ran into open ground from just inside the 65-metre line before drilling a low shot into Jack Dunne’s net at the Terrerath end (3-9 to 1-12).
A missed Chin free, taken with his right when it was more suited to a left-footer, added to the drama, along with another Philip Cullen save from Ian Carty when the ball seemed to hop behind him for a second but crucially didn’t cross the line.
The mother and father of all comebacks was completed 20 seconds into the almost four minutes of added time when Brendan Mulligan fed the outstanding Cathal Kirwan who popped the ball into the air for Eoin Roche to palm home his second goal.
It was a shattering defeat for Taghmon-Camross who had played so well for such a long time.
They conceded an eighth-minute goal when Lee Chin burst through before handpassing to Ciarán Kirwan, and the centre-forward first-timed it to the net when the ball hopped off the surface (1-1 to 0-1).
The Taghmon-Camross response was immediate and impressive, though, as Chris Cullen availed of a favourable break to run unimpeded down the middle before beating Philip Cullen with a low shot.
They outscored their rivals by 0-8 to 0-3 for the remainder of the half, and were full value for that 1-9 to 1-4 half-time lead, with Seamie McLoughlin practically unmarkable while Darren Carty (two) and Barry O’Gorman also chipped in with points.
In hindsight, an early missed goal chance from Stephen O’Gorman - firing to the left and wide in the sixth minute - had a big bearing on the eventual outcome, along with the sending-off of Chris Cullen.
As for Sarsfields, the introduction of David Gouldson in the 38th minute was a master stroke by the mentors, as his calmness on the ball had been lacking beforehand and his presence brought a newfound stability to the attack.
Sarsfields: Philip Cullen (0-1 free); Cathal Kirwan, Con O Donnagáin, Michael Hanrahan (capt.); Dylan Furlong, Seán O Corcora, Brendan Mulligan; Lee Chin (1-4, 0-3 frees), David Mooney; Ryan Furlong, Ciarán Kirwan (1-0), Cillian Gahan; Conall Clancy (0-1), Eoin Roche (2-2), John Bridges (0-1 free). Subs. - Fran Cleary for Gahan (HT), David Gouldson for Bridges (38), Shane Hall for Clancy, temp. (41-44), Hall for R. Furlong (47), Conor Halligan for Mooney (55), Colm Browne for Roche, black card (60+3).
Taghmon-Camross: Jack Dunne; David O’Keeffe, Alan Nolan (capt.), Stephen Stafford; Darren Hayden, Mark O’Gorman, Darren Carty (0-2); Barry O’Gorman (0-1), Chris Cullen (1-0); Anthony Breen, Stephen O’Gorman (0-1), Eoin Doyle; Seamie McLoughlin (0-8, 3 frees), Ian Carty, Michael O’Gorman. Subs. - Shane Doyle for Stafford, black card (24), Luke Sinnott for B. O’Gorman, temp. (33), Sinnott for Michael O’Gorman (37), Cathal Doyle for O’Keeffe, inj. (47), Shane Lacey for E. Doyle (60).
Referee: David Jenkins (Gusserane).