Thrilling repeat of last year’s final ends in stalemate

The senior footballers from The Downs and Coralstown/Kinnegad served up a cracking contest in TEG Cusack Park last Saturday evening, a draw a fitting result in what was a repeat of last year’s Flanagan Cup final, won on that occasion by the men in black and amber.

Overall, both sides will feel they should have won this game. Jack Cooney’s troops ultimately paid for a profligate first moiety in which they shot 11 wides, while the champions will regret not closing out the game when in a great position to do so with time almost up.

The men in red and white had the aid of a slight wind in the first half blowing towards the scoreboard end of the ground, and they raced into a two-point lead courtesy of skipper Darren Giles (after 30 seconds) and full back Podge Quinn (some three minutes later).

At the other end, there was nobody on hand when Tom Tuite fisted the ball across the goalmouth. Coralstown/Kinnegad showed no such mercy in the sixth minute when Ciaran Daly Jnr caught The Downs’ defence napping and, in acres of space, he cleverly rolled the ball to the net soccer-style past Trevor Martin.

A quickfire brace of points from Dean Egerton and Niall Mitchell reduced the gap to a goal (1-2 to 0-2) with eight minutes on the clock. The Leech brothers, Ger and Dan, soon combined for the latter to open his account. Their colleague Jack Torpey then missed a great goal and point chance respectively, bringing Coralstown/Kinnegad’s wide count to six in the opening quarter.

Mitchell doubled his tally from a tight angle. A Tuite shot came back off the upright and almost led to a goal opportunity. Dan Leech fisted a point after fine play by the energetic Brían Cooney. A low-trajectory shot from the latter’s Westmeath colleague Charlie Drumm left the holders trailing by 1-4 to 0-4 after 18 minutes. Tuite had strong claims for a penalty waved away in the 20th minute after receiving the ball from a clever knock down by the imposing Mitchell.

Giles and Ger Leech (a free) tagged on points for last year’s losing finalists before an angled shot from Cooney was clawed away by Martin at the expense of a ‘45’ which Stephen McNevin failed to convert. Eoin O’Brien’s 28th-minute shot just crept inside the post, but Joe Moran soon cancelled this out with a fine curling effort for The Downs. Rory Cole’s shot was deemed to be wide with the last kick of the first half – it would have gone to Hawkeye in Croke Park or Semple Stadium – but Coralstown/Kinnegad still led by 1-7 to 0-5 at the interval.

Understandably, the introduction of Luke Loughlin for the second half by Dermot Power was greeted enthusiastically by The Downs’ fans. Josh Murtagh was denied by McNevin’s outstretched leg just 40 seconds after play resumed. Five minutes later, his opposite number Martin came forward to superbly convert a long-range free from the ground.

James Maxwell (with his fist) traded points with the hitherto-wasteful Tuite. Loughlin had been busy trying to get back into the groove for the champions, but his first attempt at a score for a two-pointer was narrowly wide. However, he more than compensated with a great two-point free on the quarter-hour mark, leaving his side trailing by the bare minimum (1-8 to 0-10).

Dan Leech kicked a quality point for Coralstown/Kinnegad before Cooney teed up O’Brien for a goal chance which Martin bravely kept out. Within seconds, Tuite pointed at the other end. Dan Leech was on fire and he added another classy point to his tally. Sub Shane Fleming then almost got in on goal. In the 51st minute, Loughlin kicked a wonderful two-pointer from play to level the contest (0-13 to 1-10).

At this juncture, the large crowd anticipated a thrilling finish, and they were not to be disappointed. The lively Cole kicked a well-worked point for Coralstown/Kinnegad and Dan Leech raised another green flag with just a minute of normal time remaining. A minimum of three minutes’ added-time was signalled and, in the first of these, a probing right-footed delivery by Loughlin was met by the fist of Mitchell on the edge of the small parallelogram and this goal edged The Downs in front for the first time.

The champions tried to run down the clock in their opponents’ half and a difficult, but scoreable, free resulted. However, Mitchell’s shot was very high and badly misdirected, and a Coralstown/Kinnegad counterattack allowed Cole to calmly equalise with the last kick of what was a terrific contest.

Scorers –The Downs: N Mitchell 1-2, L Loughlin 0-4 (1 2ptf, 1 2pt), T Martin (2ptf), T Tuite 0-2 each, Dean Egerton, C Drumm, J Moran 0-1 each.

Coralstown/Kinnegad: D Leech 0-5, C Daly Jnr 1-0, Darren Giles, R Cole 0-2 each, P Quinn, G Leech (f), E O’Brien, J Maxwell 0-1 each.

The Downs: Trevor Martin; Eanna Burke, Charlie Drumm, Josh Murtagh; Michael Moloney, Ciaran Nolan, Joe Moran; Lorcan Mullen, Niall Mitchell; Oisín Loughlin, Darragh Egerton, Ian Martin; Philip Martin, Dean Egerton, Tom Tuite. Subs used: Luke Loughlin for Mullen (h-t), Dan O’Callaghan for O Loughlin (32), Oisín Murphy for Moloney (53), Ben Harte for Dean Egerton (inj., 59), Michael Moloney for I Martin (inj., 60+2).

Coralstown/Kinnegad: Stephen McNevin; Eoin O’Brien, Podge Quinn, Eoghan Bracken; Rory Cole, David Giles, James Maxwell; Ciaran Daly Jnr, Brían Cooney; Liam Daly, Darren Giles, Jason Macken; Jack Torpey, Dan Leech, Ger Leech. Subs used: Josh Gahan for Quinn (inj., 17), Shane Fleming for Gahan (inj., 39).

Ref: Barry Pierce (St Mary’s, Rochfortbridge).