Late scores end Devenish’s Ulster hopes as they fall to Castlerahan
Devenish 0-10 Castlerahan 0-13
DEVENISH’S Ulster Club ambitions were ended at the quarter final stage on Saturday when they went down by three points to Cavan champions Castlerahan in Ederney.
However, it was only in the closing moments that the game got away from the Garrison men as Castlerahan edged in front in the 59th minute before tagging on two points in added-on time to seal the win.
Indeed, Devenish may have felt that the momentum had swung in their favour as they took the lead for the first time in the game in the 21st minute when Ruairi Maguire fired over to make it 0-10 to 0-09, but the Breffnimen went on to rattle off the last four scores of the contest to secure their spot in the semi-final of the competition.
Castlerahan had settled the quicker of the sides as they controlled possession in the early stages, although they did kick a number of wides when they could have opened up a more sizeable advantage.
Cian Mccabe landed the first score of the game from a free in the fifth minute, although Terry O’flanagan equalised when he converted a mark following a good ball from Barry Mulrone.
Castlerahan though moved back in front through a point from Cormac Daly, and the midfielder then added a further point with a long-range effort to make it 0-03 to 0-01.
As the half progressed though, Devenish began to grow into the contest, and they were twice denied by the frame of the goal in a two-minute spell.
Terry O’flanagan got on the end of a long ball from Jason Love but his flick came back off the post, while soon after a good Devenish break involving Jarlath O’brien and Maguire resulted in Joe O’brien firing at goal, but his effort was touched on to the crossbar by Kieran Daly in the Castlerahan goal before it was cleared to safety.
The Cavan outfit extended their lead out to three points when Padraig Mcgahren converted a free, but Devenish hit back in the latter stages of the half with JJ O’brien slotting over after good work by Maguire while Maguire himself then fired over to make it 0-04 to 0-03.
The impressive Stephen Cooney nudged Castlerahan two ahead after they swept down the pitch for him to score, but Devenish finished the half on top as the lively Fionan O’brien clipped over a free after a foul on
Terry O’flanagan before Jamie Flanagan levelled up proceedings after good play by Maguire and Fionan O’brien to leave it 0-05 apiece at the interval.
The second half saw the sides trade score for score, and they were level no fewer than five times over the period.
Castlerahan got their noses back on front early in the half through a Mccabe free, but Jarlath O’brien answered after Devenish had turned over possession and Fionan O’brien teed up the score.
It continued to be tit for tat as Oisin O’connell converted a mark while Fionan O’brien did likewise from a free.
Oisin Kiernan then drilled over a ’45 for Castlerahan, but again Devenish came up with a response as JJ O’brien notched his second point of the game to make it 0-08 to 0-08 entering the final quarter.
Enda Flanagan once more put the Cavan outfit ahead after linking up with Cooney, but Devenish hit back with a superb strike from the influential Mulrone, while Maguire then put the Garrison team in front with 51 minutes on the clock.
It was now Castlerahan’s turn to find a response and they did through Sean Og Mcgreaty, who blasted over after being put through on goal by Cooney.
And the Cavan side hit the front again when Daly landed a monster point to make it 0-11 to 0-10, and he followed up with another point while Karl Cosgrove also chipped in with a score in added-on time as Castlerahan eventually ran out 0-13 to 0-10 victors.
Subs
Referee: D O’hare (Down)
THE experienced Barry Mulrone admitted that the finish to last Saturday’s game was disappointing from a Devenish point of view as they made their exit from the Ulster Club IFC.
Devenish had looked as if they may push on when they got their noses on front for the first time in the game with just under ten minutes to go, but Castlerahan landed the final four points of the contest to progress to the last four of the competition.
“It was disappointing, how it finished out for us,” said Mulrone. “I thought we were in the ascendancy when we hit two in a row to go 0-10 to 0-09 up and I thought that they looked as if they were panicking a wee bit and we were controlling it.
“But it came down to those last couple of minutes and not taking the goal chances that we had in the first half, and a couple of other efforts that dropped short unfortunately came back to bite us, and we didn’t have it in us to finish it out for the last five minutes.
“I’m very proud though of the boys and the management, and I thought we were very capable throughout the whole game,” he added.
When the dust settles, the Garrison outfit will be able to take a lot of positives from their Championship campaign as they picked themselves up from the disappointment of relegation in the league.
“A lot of the boys have come out of their shell a bit over the last year or 18 months. The likes of Ruairi Maguire, Conor Mcgowan, Chrissie Mcgowan, Malachy O’flanagan, Lorcan O’brien have really shown what they are capable of at Intermediate level, and no disrespect to any of the other teams, but I thought we were the best team in Intermediate this year.
“I don’t think that there is a massive difference between the top sides at Intermediate, and those playing Senior Championship, you just have to look at where Enniskillen are now and Erne Gaels too after winning the last two Intermediate titles.
“Obviously, you want to keep everybody fit and away from injury, but I see no reason why we won’t be in for another positive season next season after a wee break.
“We have a really good age profile in the squad, and we have another four good players coming into the group from Minors for next year to add to that,” he said.
And the first goal in 2023 for Devenish will be to try and get back up to Division One, although Mulrone acknowledges that Division Two has the look of a competitive league next year.
“We were extremely disappointed to lose our Division One status after a 40-odd year stay and we’ll be looking to perform as well as we can in Division Two next year, although we know it will be tricky.
“You have the likes of Newtown, who are going well again, Roslea came down with ourselves, and you have the likes of Tempo and Teemore.
“It is probably as tight a Division Two as there has been over the last while, so it is going to be competitive but we’ll look to get as many wins as we can and hopefully that will get us back up to where we should be,” said Mulrone.
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I see no reason why we won’t be in for another positive season next season after a wee break. We have a really good age profile in the squad and we have another four good players coming into the group from Minors for next year to add to that.