St Patrick's survive dramatic comeback to prevail in extra-time
St Patrick's captain Eoin O'Toole lifts the Carlow Credit Union Division 5 trophy
St Patrick’s clinched a dramatic Division 5 Final after extra time, surviving a remarkable Old Leighlin comeback from nine points down.
Just a few hours before the New York Knicks created NBA history with the biggest ever comeback back in play-off history, Old Leighlin almost pulled off something similar in a crazy finale.
From the moment that captain Eoin O’Toole and Tadhg Foley scored goals inside 60 seconds around the ten minute mark, St Patrick’s were always in charge. That put them 2-0 to 0-2 ahead after they had conceded the first two points of the game. Their next two scores were two-pointers, from Donal Kelly and a Brian Byrne free, either side of an Alan Fitzgerald goal at the far end, and they led 2-4 to 1-2.
They were looking comfortable by then, and even more so when TJ Kavanagh netted their third goal in the 25th minute and they led 3-6 to 1-5 at half-time.
The third quarter meandered its way through without giving an inkling of the drama that was to come. Byrne’s second two-point free of the game in the 46th minute made it 3-11 to 1-8 and the game looked set to peter out.
Especially when a fracas broke out in the 50th minute ending with a yellow card to Robert Gahan of St Patrick’s and a black card to Old Leighlin’s key forward Darragh Fitzgerald. However, even though Fitzgerald had to leave the pitch for ten minutes after that, it was actually the yellow card shown to Gahan that had more of a bearing on the game because six minutes later he was shown a second and the numbers were levelled up.
Old Leighlin had pulled back one point by then but still trailed by eight. Steven Scallan added a point but there was still a gap of seven as Fitzgerald returned to the field to bring them back to their full complement of players as the game ticked into injury time.
It took a Daniel Brennan goal, when he palmed in at the back post after Alan Fitzgerald’s pass across the face of the goal to really spark belief that there could be a comeback.
The break on the sideline seemed to do Fitzgerald a lot of good as he was reenergised when back on the field and he scored a 64th minute free to leave a goal between the teams.
He was then fouled in the final attack of normal time but what would have been a free out near the left sideline was brought right in front of goal due to a three-up breach at the far end. Fitzgerald was faced with nine defenders and goalkeeper Aaron O’Byrne as he shot from 20 metres but although his effort was blocked, Ruarc O’Neill was on hand to slam in the rebound with the final kick of the game.
The sent the game to extra time and St Patrick’s faced into an extra 20 minutes with just 14 players.
Old Leighlin used that extra man well in the first half to take a one point lead, and were unlucky not to double that advantage when a Sean Whelan shot hit the outside of the post late in the first half The most important score of the game came early in the second half of extra time when Tadhg Foley landed a wonderful two-point effort for the 14 men. That seemed to give the Tullow men a new lease of life and they went two ahead after a Byrne free.
Old Leighlin pulled back a point but the tide had turned by then and Byrne sealed a supremely hard-fought win with his seventh point of the game, capping a remarkable contest that swung wildly before St Patrick’s finally held firm with 14 men.
Aaron O’Byrne; Conor Murphy, Adam Johnson, Conor Brophy, Robert Gahan, Cathal Lyons, Tadhg Black; Adam Cleary, Darragh Butler; Donal Kelly 0-2 (1tp), Tadhg Foley 1-4 (1tp), Jack O’Neill 0-1, Eoin O’Toole 1-0, TJ Kavanagh 1-2, Brian Byrne 0-7 (2tpf, 2f). Subs: Cillian O’Neill for O’Toole, 38; Conor Cleary for Black, 38; David Orbinski for Kelly, 45; Donal Kelly for Butler, 70.
Aaron McDonald; Matt Burke, Kevin Carpenter, Tadhg O’Neill, Daniel Brennan 1-1, Ben Stanley, Fionn Forde; Bartek Gniedziejko, Michael Meaney; Steven Scallan 0-3 (1’45), Richie Burke, Ciaran Bambrick, Gearóid Foley, Darragh Fitzgerald 0- 6(4fs), Alan Fitzgerald 1-2. Subs: Ruarc O’Neill for Scallan, 30-h/t b/s; Ruarc O’Neill 1-0 for Foley, h/t; Sean Whelan for Burke, h/t; Noah Walsh 0-1 for Gniedziejko, 51; James McDonald 0-1 for Bambrick, 60; Páraic Coughlan for Whelan, 75; James Maher for Scallan, 78.
Brian Deering
