Carlow denied place in McDonagh Cup final in cruellest fashion
A last gasp Hail Mary ball into the square somehow ends up in the Carlow net
Carlow suffered heartbreak when a late-late goal in injury time clinched a place for Laois in the Joe McDonagh Cup final. With the visitors enjoying a superior points difference coming to Netwatch Cullen Park for this final fifth round game, the draw was good enough to see them through.
With the match referee, Caymon Flynn, calling three minutes injury time, Carlow looked to have done enough when they conceded a line-ball on half-way. When the ball was delivered Carlow conceded a 65. With every player bar the Laois keeper gone forward, Padraig Delaney’s delivery was inch perfect and James Duggan got the merest of deflections to deflect the ball down and over the line. With the puck-out came the final whistle.
Carlow had got off to a great start when Chris Nolan scored a fifth minute goal. The three-pointer put the home side four points up. Laois responded well with Tomás Keyes firing over a range of points from play and placed efforts.
By the 23rd minute, Laois, with Keyes always a threat and Jer Quinlan also raising a white flag, had turned the game around.
It was then the turn of Carlow to hit a purple patch and Marty Kavanagh knocked over four frees in succession. Yet there was a feeling there was a lot more in the visitors as Carlow struggled at times and a lot of effort was more about containment than creating scoring chances.
At the half-time break, Carlow led 1-9 to 0-11.
In the damp conditions, the second half was finely balanced. Carlow were gritty holding on to that goal advantage as play ebbed backwards and forwards.
Carlow’s second goal came from Paddy Boland coming towards the end of the third quarter. That looked as if it was going to be the crucial score. Both sides threw everything into the final quarter. The home side had chances to go four clear in the closing stages but couldn’t take them. After that, it was the visitors who forced the draw which was enough to get them through to play Kildare at the expense of the home side.
T Keyes 0-14 (9fs 2-65s), James Duggan 1-1, J Quinlan, P Delaney (f), T Cuddy, C Dwyer (f), A Dunphy 0-1 each Carlow: M Kavanagh 0-10 (7fs, 2-65s), C Nolan, P Boland 1-1 each, J Doyle 0-2, JM Nolan, F Fitzpatrick, Jon Nolan 0-1 each
Cathal Dunne; Donnacha Hartnett, Lee Cleere, Diarmaid Conway; Tom Cuddy, Padraig Delaney, Ryan Mullaney; John Lennon, David Dooley; Aidan Corby, Charles Dwyer, Paddy Purcell; Jer Quinlan, Tomas Keyes, Ben Conroy. Subs: Aaron Dunphy for Lennon (50), Mark Dowling for Dwyer (58), James Keyes for Quinlan (64), James Duggan for Conroy (65).
Brian Tracey; Paul Doyle, Dion Wall, Tony Lawlor; Evan Kealy, Kevin McDonald, Jack McCullagh; Ciaran Whelan, Fiachra Fitzpatrick; Jon Nolan, James Doyle, Paddy Boland; Chris Nolan, Marty Kavanagh, John Michael Nolan. Subs: Conor Kehoe for JM Nolan (52), Ted Joyce for J Nolan (65).
Caymon Flynn (Westmeath).
