Shandonagh and Multyfarnham serve up game of the season contender

Multyfarnham almost managed a full fightback but a stoppage time two pointer saw Shandonagh just coming out on top in a pulsating and highly entertaining encounter.

The Sunday evening game in Ballynacargy swung wildly in the closing stages of this Shay Murtagh Precast Intermediate Championship Round 3 clash.

In a sign of the action to come, Brian Kavanagh opened the scoring for Shandonagh with a neat turn and score after just two minutes. Ronan Wallace responded in kind for Multy with a free following a foul on Anthony McGivney. Multyfarnham had a lot of pressure on the Shandonagh goals in the early stages and Anthony McGivney finished a nice score following a rebound to him after six minutes.

Shandonagh settle into their rhythm and Tom Molloy neatly scored after a long ball into the inside line in the 8th minute. Three minutes later they found the Multy net for the first time with Brian Kavanagh finishing a great team move.

In keeping with the tone of the day, Ronan Wallace then replied with a huge two point free to bring his team back to within a point after 14 minutes.

Multy fullback Brennan was black carded midway through the first half when Brian Kavanagh was brought down with Tom Molloy slotting the free.

A minute later, Anthony McGivney raced through and fired over for another point from play for Multy.

The end-to-end nature of the game saw Kavanagh score next with a 45 following a scramble in the Multy square that was cleared over the line. Again, Ronan Wallace was to find a response with a two point free following a foul on Matthew Thornton. Into the last five minutes of the first half Tom Molloy scored from play following good work from Adam Treanor with Ronan Wallace again providing the response for Multy with a point from play in the 27th minute.

Before the half time break Kavanagh pointed another free for Shandonagh and the electric Thornton finished the scoring with a fine score from play to leave the half time score at Shandonagh 1-7 Multyfarnham 0-9.

The second half resumed as the first half left off with another barnstorming Ronan Wallace run which was ended with a fine block by Ben Trainor who unfortunately required substitution following.

Ray Sheridan’s half time team talk must have worked. Shandonagh turned the ball over in their full back line and worked the ball well up the pitch with a brilliant run by Kavanagh.

His lofted delivery toward the Multy goal was finished to the net by Rory O’Brien.

A minute later, Kavanagh scored another free following a foul on him and followed up with a delivery to Molloy who finished with another score. This pushed Shandonagh six points ahead, however Multy were not finished. In the thirty sixth minute, Ronan Wallace scored another two pointer off the ground, Kavanagh responded with his own two point free following a later hit on Aaron Craig. Shandonagh provided the next big moment with another Rory O’Brien goal.

Following a catch of his from a kickout, O’Brien made his way inside and received the ball again when he fired home to register Shandonaghs third goal.

Multyfarnham were now nine points adrift with less than 20 minutes to play. It was Matthew Thornton who provided an inspirational score when he prevented the ball from going dead, turned and fired over.

Wallace followed this score up with a two pointer from play and a minute later Ian McGovern added another Multy two pointer from play.

With four points separating the sides and the excitement levels reaching fever pitch, Ronan Wallace again delivered with another huge two pointer. Shandonagh marksman Kavanagh responded with another two more scores from play in the 27th minute to bring the contest into injury time with just four points separating the teams.

Anthony McGivney scored from play for Multy, then a follow up two pointer from Thornton left the bare minimum between the teams. There was still time for a lot of excitement with three man breaches being called for both sides.

Ronan Wallace delivered another two pointer free from the ground but mere seconds later, Multy were guilty of not having three men up and Brian Kavanagh scored the resulting two point free to win by one point with the final score of the game.

Scorers – Shandonagh – B Kavanagh 1-12 (2 2ptf, 0-3 fr), R O’Brien 2-0, T Molloy 0-3

Multyfarnham – R Wallace 0-14 (4 2ptf, 2 2pt, 0-1 fr), M Thornton 0-4 (1 2pt), A McGivney 0-3, I McGovern 0-2 (1 2pt)

Shandonagh – Cian Molloy, John Fry, Ben Treanor, Jack O’Brien, Gareth Carr, Adam Treanor, Conor McCrossan, Caelum Faughnan, Eoin Conlon, Tom Molloy, Rory O’Brien, Luke Tynan, Jake Costello, Brian Kavanagh, Kevin Boyle

Multyfarnham – Craig Sweeney, Jude Auld, Feichin Og Brennan, Jack Leavey, Gareth Mullaniff, Ronan Greene, Sean Brennan, Ronan Wallace, James Greene, Anthony McGivney, Matthew Thornton, Cian Lee, Ian McGovern, Adam Loughrey, Adam Bate

Referee – Pat Fox