Éire Óg let seven-point lead slip as Davitts share the spoils
Bobby Daly (Michael Davitts) fires a shot with the outside of his boot in the first half against Eire Og. Phots: Pat Ahern.
Michael Davitts overturned a third-quarter seven-point deficit to take a share of the points in this U21 Football Championship Group 1 game at Teach Asca on Saturday.
They probably feel that they could well have taken the win as they finished strongly. While the home side would have been disappointed with the draw, on reflection they will probably be happy with the outcome as their opponents were in shading the closing stages.
The visiting corner forward, Darragh Fitzgerald, opened the scoring but Ronan Quinlan led the Éire Óg forwards scoring four of his side’s points from placed balls and play as the home side went into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead.
At the other end, Fitzgerald’s points nibbled away at the Éire Óg lead as the home side failed to hammer home their dominancy. At half-time they led 0-10 to 0-4 but the feeling persisted that there was more in Davitts.
Fitzgerald opened the second half scoring and Conor De Lacey added a point when he could well have found the net.
Even an Éire Óg goal from Dermot Lawlor didn’t see the visitors drop their heads and they hit back immediately when Tadgh O’Neill came forward and with no defender laying a finger on him, he hammered the ball to the back of the net.
With eleven minutes to go, Fitzgerald converted a free and now the home lead was down to three.
Eire Óg keeper, Ben McCarron, brought off a great point-blank save to deny Aidan Nolan. Even then the warning signs were not heeded by the Teach Asca side as they went four clear thanks to Quinlan.
Then again, Davitts could rightly claim, they were the ones who were setting the pace at that stage.
They had their heads screwed on when they won a free out on the left at the dressing room corner of the ground. The ball was dispatched quickly to Fitzgerald and he rifled the ball to the bottom right hand side-netting with a rocket of a shot.
Jacob Curran’s point from just inside the D should have given Éire Óg the momentum to go on and seal the game. They were unable to.
The visitors chased down their rivals and a Fitzgerald free brought in for dissent narrowed the lead to the minimum. With the game in injury time, Davitts came forward.
This time Charlie Nolan found himself in possession. There was definitely more than a half chance of a three-pointer against a defence who were in reverse gear. The full-forward went for safety and slotted the ball over the bar for the equaliser.
On the kick-out came the final whistle. Mixed emotions for both sides but a draw was not a bad result for either team. It is all to play for.
R Quinlan 0-8 (5fs), D Lawlor 1-2, J Curran, E Myers 0-1 each.
D Fitzgerald 1-6 (5fs), T O’Neill 1-0, C De Lacey, A Byrne, C Nolan 0-1 each.
Ben McCarron; Ryan Donnelly Finn, Aaron Bolger, Alex Donnelly Finn; Ryan Fitzgerald, Alex Delaney, Cillian McGrath; Eoin Myers, Kieran Nolan; Ruarc Murray, Liam Ryan, Jamie Coakley; Jacob Curran, Ronan Quinlan, Dermot Lawlor.
Shane Gurhy for Murray (3), Tom Behan for Gurhy (55), Jacob Chatten for Ryan (59).
Aaron McDonald; Brian Cox, Ben Stanley, Matt Burke; Gavin Dowling, Tadhg O’Neill, Kacper Gniedziejko; Ben Kavanagh, Bobby Daly; Ruarc O’Neill, Aedan Byrne, Conor De Lacey; Paul Fitzgerald, Charlie Nolan, Darragh Fitzgerald.
Aidan Nolan for P Fitzgerald (h/t), Jake Gorman for R O’Neill (38), Alfie Barcoe for Dowling (43), James McDonald for Gniedziejko (52) David Hickey (Fenagh)
