Incredible drama as Shandonagh win with late extra-time goal

Shandonagh 4-6, Milltown 2-11

(After extra-time)

Shandonagh took home the Westmeath U18 Division 4 title last Sunday afternoon in an incredible affair which saw almost disbelieving drama at the end of both normal and extra-time in Seán Doolin Park, Milltown GAA.

With the home side, Milltown, destined for defeat and trailing by six points in additional time, they managed to find two amazing goals to force extra-time. The eventual victors, Shandonagh, then found themselves behind by four a minute into the overtime at the end of the added twenty minutes, only to hit two goals either side of another Milltown score to take the game by the smallest margin, sparking some scenes of frustration towards referee, Ray Farrelly, from Milltown for the additional minutes in which Shandonagh won.

Ten minutes elapsed before Milltown opened the scoring through Lia Heduvan’s free which was soon followed by Eve Medforth’s point from Kaitlyn Nugent’s pass. Shandonagh’s first came from Sarah Gallagher after some chaos in the Milltown square. The forward eventually knocking the rebound over. Milltown dominated with the wind, firing four points with the midfield dynamic duo of Katie Flanagan and Medforth pointing along with Heduvan’s double. Coming to the break Shandonagh replied with a lovely point from their main creative force, Quyen Bartley. Shandonagh were awarded a penalty in the dying minutes of the half after Lucy Hickey was fouled inside the square. Centre back and attacking threat, Anna Geoghegan, stepped up to drive the ball low to the net beyond Robyn Duffy and reduce Shandonagh’s deficit to one, 1-2 to 0-6. There was still time for Gallagher to level in added time and the teams went in on par.

Both defences were strong with Milltown’s Muireann Donohue and Áine Heduvan proving to be tough to break down. Grace Tynan was equally on form for Shandonagh. Milltown’s first shot of the half from a Lia Heduvan free was punched onto the underside of the crossbar from Rachel Molloy off the line before Leah Shields pulled off a good save to keep Shandonagh level. With the half still without a score, Shandonagh took the lead with 1-2 in three minutes heading for the final ten. A quick give-and-go between Bartley and Sophia Webb ended with the St Finian’s student Bartley seeing her looping effort in the wind hit the back of the net. Points from Katie Glennon and Geoghegan followed as the lead went out to six with two minutes to go when Caitlin Donoghue teed up Gallagher for another. Incredibly, in the three minutes of added time Milltown found the net twice. A stunning left-footed strike from Ellie Scally and a smashing finish from Flanagan meant extra-time was needed.

Milltown showed their strengths and were able to find four unanswered scored between the fourth minute of the first period and the end of the normal twenty-minutes to be added. Ellie Scally and Muireann Donohue were at the heart of it all for Tom Dillon’s side. Scally firing a point and then both girls having a hand in the other three that Medforth, Heduvan, and Flanagan scored.

Incredibly, with Milltown 2-10 to 2-6 to the good, the drama had not finished. Despite only one substitution and no real major stoppages, the referee played over three minutes of time added on. In the second of those, Shandonagh hit the net first as Quyen Bartley got the final touch on a shot from Sophia Webb. Milltown replied with a sensational point from Flanagan as the third minute of added time passed on the clock. Amazingly, Shandonagh still had time to work the ball out under pressure into attack where Katie Glennon, Webb, and Bartley found Éabha Bracken. Her shot was saved onto the crossbar by goalkeeper Duffy before substitute Caitlin Donoghue blasted to the net in the ensuing scramble. The final whistle sparked mixed scenes of jubilation from the Ballinea blues, while frustrations were vented by those in green at the additional time amount.

Westmeath LGFA secretary, Paula Finan, presented the cup to the winning Shandonagh side after the final whistle.

Scorers – Shandonagh: Q Bartley 2-1, A Geoghegan 1-1 (1 pen), C Donoghue 1-0, S Gallagher 0-3, K Glennon 0-1.

Milltown: K Flanagan 1-3, E Scally 1-1, L Heduvan 0-4 (2f), E Medforth 0-3.

Shandonagh: Leah Shields; Síofra O’Reilly, Grace Tynan, Tara Lynch; Rachel Molloy, Anna Geoghegan, Aimee Lynch; Sophia Webb, Molly Thornton-Sleator; Éabha Bracken, Quyen Bartley, Lucy Hickey; Katie Glennon, Sarah Gallagher, Rachel Wheeler.

Subs used: Caitlin Donoghue for Hickey (39), Ciara Best for Wheeler (43), Ellen Sharry for Tara Lynch (56), Mia Brennan for Thornton-Sleator (59), Masa Pesic for Gallagher (60+2), Sarah Gallagher for Pesic (ET-1).

Milltown: Robyn Duffy; Aoife Maguire, Áine Heduvan. Muireann Donohue; Leah Reid, Isobel Finn, Alanna O’Roarke; Katie Flanagan, Eve Medforth; Rachel Finn, Lia Heduvan, Ellie Scally; Holly Moran, Amy Crowley, Kaitlyn Nugent.

Subs used: Georgina Kiernan for Scally (27), Gemma Whyte for Reid (35), Ellie Scally for Moran (37), Leah Reid for O’Roarke (51), Alanna O’Roarke for Whyte (ET-11).

Referee: Ray Farrelly (Ballycomoyle).