Duggan’s accuracy vital for St Joseph’s

This Senior Football Championship game at Lissycasey on Sunday evening certainly won’t be remembered as one of the better games of the season but St Joseph’s were happy with the outcome as their two-point win has put them through to the quarter-finals.

Fortunate to have gone to the break on level terms, the Doora-Barefield side, beaten finalists last year, stepped up a gear in the second half to edge in front.

The accuracy of Cathal Duggan from frees proved decisive on an evening when the corner-forward contributed all but a point of his side’s tally.

Team boss Mark Raftery admitted that his side were lucky to go in at half-time on level terms. “We knew it was going to be tough. We are glad to get out of here with a win. We didn’t play well, just like the last day we were here.”

According to the team boss, who was a playing member of last year’s team, St Joseph’s have been working on different formations and haven’t got to the cusp of it yet. “There were a few home truths highlighted at half-time. The players simply weren’t putting it in from number one to number 15. We told them we were giving them 10 minutes or else they would be on the line. We knew we would be up against it as Clondegad have two county midfielders and they are a young team.”

Clondegad manager Martin Brennan said, “We didn’t play well enough through the game and there are no hiding places. You are not going to win a championship game with six points. We possibly could have been up at half-time but we have no complaints overall.”

Continuing, he added, “Our important goal this year was to stay up senior and we have done that. We clearly have to work a bit harder than we did this year. We are not finished yet and we will be back next year. We will re-group for the U-21 championship and we will see what will happen after that.”

Clondegad made the better start and early points from Kenneth Kelly and Brian Carigg gave them the edge.

At the end of the first quarter, they led 0-3 to 0-1 but St Joseph’s did better in the remainder of the half and when the half-time whistle sounded, the sides were level at 0-4 each.

Clondegad should have been ahead at this stage as they were guilty of some bad misses. They shot a total of eight wides in the opening half.

Both teams made changes for the second half, with Clondegad bringing in Tony Kelly while St Joseph’s called up Enda Lyons and his presence certainly improved matters. They had the better of the third quarter, at the end of which they were 0-7 to 0-5 in front. Ivor White scored their only point from play a minute before the mid-point of the half. Each side managed just a point each, both scores coming from frees in the final quarter, which was dominated by the respective defences.

Clondegad came closest to getting a goal. Paudge McMahon was heading for goal when he was hauled down by Stephen Collins nine minutes from the end, a foul that led to a yellow card for the St Joseph’s centre-back.

With the game in the final minute, when a Kieran Browne delivery was fisted on by Shane Brennan but the ball went across the face of the goal before the winners cleared their lines.

The game finished on a disappointing note for Clondegad as Kieran Browne picked up a second yellow card, which led to his dismissal in the second minute of injury time.

St Joseph’s: Declan O’Keeffe; Declan Malone, Kevin Dilleen, Martin Brooks; Sean Flynn, Stephen Collins, Damian Kennedy; Alan O’Neill Cathal O’Sullivan; Paul Dullaghan, Greg Lyons, David O’Brien; Cathal Duggan, Ivor White, Luke Brannock.
Subs: Enda Lyons for Dullaghan (half-time); Jarlath Colleran for Brannock (52 minutes).
Scorers: Cathal Duggan (0-7f); Ivor White (0-1).
Frees for: 31; wides: 11; 45s: 2
Bookings: Damian Kennedy (23 minutes), Stephen Collins (50 minutes), Ivor White (52 minutes) and Kevin Dilleen (55 minutes).

 

Clondegad: Declan O’Loughlin; Conor Gavin, Brian Murphy, Flan Enright; Kieran Browne, Paddy O’Connell, Francie Neylon; Gary Brennan, Shane Brennan; Kenneth Kelly, Brian Carigg, Gearóid O’Connell; Francie O’Reilly, Eoghan Donnellan, Paudge McMahon.
Subs: Tony Kelly for G O’Connell (half-time), Eoin Griffin for Donnellan (45 minutes), Pat Coffey for O’Reilly (51 minutes) and Emmett Smithwick for K Kelly (55 minutes).
Scorers: Brian Carrig (0-2), Kenneth Kelly, Francie O’Reilly, Paudge McMahon (free), Gary Brennan (0-1) each.
Frees for: 27; wides: 10; 45s: 1.
Bookings: Francie O’Reilly (15 minutes), Gearóid O’Connell (28 minutes), Declan O’Loughlin (46 minutes), Kieran Browne (58 and 62 minutes).
Sent off: Kieran Browne (62 minutes).

Referee: Gerry Keane, O’Curry’s.