O'Hanrahans come up short in Wexford
Lee Walker takes the play into the Oylegate-Glenbrien half, with Fiachra Hourihane getting ready to make a tackle. All Photos: Pat Ahern.
O'Hanrahans are out of the AIB Leinster Club Junior Football Championship after losing out to Wexford's Oylegate-Glenbrien on Saturday afternoon at McCauley Park Bellefield in Enniscorthy.
The home-county side led by a point at half time, but they blew O'Hanrahans out of the water in the third quarter to give themselves an unassailable lead heading down the closing stretch.
O'Hanrahans had not played since they beat Palatine by two points in the Carlow Junior Championship final four weeks ago; while Oylegate-Glenbrien had played twice between then and Saturday's quarter-final, beating St Mary’s Rosslare to win the Wexford Intermediate 'A' title before crushing Beann Eadair in the opening round of the provincial championship, sailing past the Dublin Junior Champions by 5-10 to 0-7.
O'Hanrahans started well and went two points up inside the opening five minutes. Cian Dowling won a free in the third minute, which Lee Walker converted before curling over another from play.
Oylegate-Glenbrien dominated proceedings after that, kicking four unanswered points over the next five minutes, including two from Seamus Casey and one each from Darragh Harris (free) and Shane Doran, who salvaged an dropping-short two-point free which he fisted over the bar.
O'Hanrahans worked hard to alleviate the pressure and closed the gap when Walker kicked his second free midway through the half. All that hard work was undone in the 16th minute, however, when Harris pointed from a free at the other end to give Oylegate-Glenbrien the two-point lead once more.
Blake Holmes then kicked a brilliant score before teeing up Patrick Kavanagh for the opening goal of the game with 20 minutes on the clock.
But there was no time for O'Hanrahans to savour the green flag, as Harris nailed an incredible two-pointer to draw the sides level just 30 seconds later.
O'Hanrahans goalkeeper, Aaron Power then had to make a superb save to deny Damien Reck what would have been a brilliant goal. Oylegate-Glenbrien had two further goal chances straight afterwards, but the game remained level heading into the final two minutes of the first half.
Lee Walker landed another free to push the Carlow champions in front, but a second spectacular two-pointer from Harris left Oylegate-Glenbrien one up at the interval, leading 0-9 to 1-5.
Ber Horohan's side will not have been too disappointed, however, having spent the first half playing into a strong wind, with hopes that the same conditions would help turn the game in their favour after the break.
But the reality proved far different, with Oylegate-Glenbrien bursting out of the blocks after the restart, kicking four points without reply in the first eight minutes of the half, courtesy of Harris, Conor Shields, Evan Kelly and Paul Burns.
Any hopes of an O'Hanrahans comeback were well and truly extinguished by the 42nd minute when Joe Dunne and then Damien Reck each rattled Aaron Powers' net within the space of 60 seconds.
Walker pulled a score back midway through the half, but O'Hanrahans were now ten points adrift with only 15 minutes to go.
The last quarter petered out, with the Wexford side adding another three scores through Doran and a Harris double, while Walker landed one final free to bring O'Hanrahans' season to an end.
D Harris 0-9 (2tp, 3f), J Dunne and D Reck 1-0 each, S Doran and S Casey 0-2 each, E Kelly, P Burns and C Shields 0-1 each.
L Walker 0-6 (4f), P Kavanagh 1-0, K Holmes 0-1.
Paul Burns; Jack Hennessy, Evan Kelly, Conor Shields; Paudi Casey, Shane Reck, Jack Nolan; Damien Reck, Mike Kelly; Seamus Casey, Darragh Harris, Fiachra Hourihane; Joe Dunne, Shane Doran, Sean Rowley.
Odhran Loughran and Jim White for S Doran and S Casey (both 49), Mikie Doyle and Jamie Ronan for D Reck and Rowley (both 56).
Aaron Power; Thato Rammusi Milo Feehan, Lazzy Meaney; Daniel Hayden Donovan, Graham Power, Ciaran Thomas; Ray Walker, Lee Walker; Darren O'Keefe, Patrick Kavanagh, Blake Holmes; Joe Doran, Brian Cawley, Cian Dowing.
Scott Lawlor for Power (HT), Daniel Core, Mikee Horohan and Keelan Lacey for Dowling, Kavanagh and Rammusi (all 47), Mark Davis and Owen O’Gorman for Holmes and Hayden Donovan (both 56).
Stephen Fagan.
