Carlow man breaks Carlow hearts
Kevin McDonald (SETU Carlow) is put under pressure by Ailbe Watkins (MIC Thurles) Photo: Pat Ahern
St Mullins player, Colm Kavanagh scored the winning point to inflict heart-break on some of his Carlow intercounty colleagues in this Ryan Cup semi-final at DCU on Friday.
With the game in injury time and the sides tied MIC came forward down the left-hand side and into the wind. SETU Carlow got numbers back but substitute, Kavanagh, came forward unnoticed from deep. With the play changing direction, the ball receiver, 40 metres out, collected without a hand being laid on him and rifled it over the bar. There was time for no more as the final whistle came on the puck-out.
Carlow Colm hits last-ditch winner!
— GAA Higher Education (@HigherEdGAA) February 13, 2026
See Colm Kavanagh win the @ElectricIreland Ryan Cup semi-final for @MICThurles against @SETUCarlowGAA_
The second semi, @TUDublinCCGAA v @UlsterUniGAA, will be Live Streamed here: https://t.co/wIy8IzYBYd@Carlow_GAA @StMullinsGaa pic.twitter.com/h5YDUCxO8a
The Carlow side, playing against the wind in the first half, worked hard to curtail their opponents. Michael Dundon scored four points as his side led 0-7 to 0-5 with twenty minutes gone.
MIC Thurles hit a purple patch scoring 1-4 without reply. The goal came when Zak Kennedy ran at the Carlow defence and as the ball fell to the ground he whipped first hand into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
Many observers had the eventual winners leading 1-9 to 0-7 at half-time but the match referee, Dean Alford from Dublin informed connections to both sides that MIC were 1-10 to 0-7 to the good at the break.
While Dundon scored the opening point from play in the second half, there was a bigger sense of urgency from the Thurles side. David Comerford raised a Thurles white flag while Carlow struggled to maintain a level of consistency in their performance. In that second half, Kevin McDonald scored three points from placed balls while Dundon was also on target.
Carlow never created any realistic goal chances in that second half. Even one green flag with the strong wind in their tails would have been massive. Their wide count overall went into double figures while the loss of Dundon to what looked like a head injury hurt them late on.
Josh O’Brien’s 54th minute point should have been a momentum changer for Carlow but MIC reacted best with Connery and Comerford replying. McDonald’s long range free levelled but it was the Thurles side who found that bit extra in a tense finale.
P Connery 0-6 (2fs), D Comerford 0-3, J Fitzgibbon 1-1, R Kavanagh, A Landy, A Watkins, C Kavanagh 0-1 each.
M Dundon 0-8 (5fs), K McDonald 0-3 (2fs 65), K Nolan, J O’Brien, M Gunner 0-2 each.
Michael McCormack; Daragh Landy, Ajay Cleary, Darragh O’Brien; Mark O’Shea, Tadhg Gould, Ruaidhri Kavanagh; David Comerford, Adam Landy; Aaron Ryan, Pierce Connery, Ailbe Watkins; Senan Butler, Darragh Maher, Jack Fitzgibbon.
Subs: Sean O’Mahony for Butler (44), Colm Kavanagh for Maher (50), Oisin Hayes for Landy (60).
Daniel Power; Stephen Power Kellett, Cathal Keegan, Lee Doyle; Paddy Ryan, Kevin McDonald, Zak Egan; Calum Corcoran, Tim Brennan; Aaron Byrne, Daithi Dennehy, Michael Dundon; Alex Bell, Kyle Nolan, Josh O’Brien.
Subs: Jack McCullagh for Bell (40), Mark Gunner for Byrne (40), Ben Asple for Dennehy (47), Paddy Redmond for Ryan (50), Patrick Coughlan for Dundon (58).
Dean Alford (Dublin).
The confusion of the half-time scoreline is hard to explain. Early in the game, the umpire appeared to have the white flag in his hand as he waved a Mary Immaculate Thurles effort just wide. The question is did the referee award the score on this occasion or would a video analysis reveal something else.
In any case the referee’s word is final as MIC Thurles advanced to the final
