Extra-time victory for Doonbeg

 

Doonbeg 0-15   Kilkee 1-9 (AET)

UNTIL the 61st minute of this Round 2 championship fixture, the bizarre throw-in time had been the primary talking point. Pat Cosgrove threw in the ball at 5pm in Quilty, which was around the time that Cork v Dublin was concluding in Croke Park. That turned out to be a reasonable example of how to play hurling, which wouldn’t have encouraged people to swap their television sets for St Mary’s Park in Quilty.

With Doonbeg 0-9 to 0-6 ahead, a minute into injury time, this neighbourly joust was about to explode.

“I knew something was going to happen. I could just feel it. I knew when David Russell made a run from midfield that anything could happen,” Doonbeg manager, Kieran O’Neill commented wryly afterwards.

How right he was. A Micheál Keane delivery, into the pocket of space in front of the Doonbeg goal, was met with a Kevin Larkin flick, aided by Russell. The green flag wasn’t raised immediately, which is understandable as Russell and Conor Whelan were soon dispatched to the sideline, having been issued with a red card each. It was impossible to see exactly what happened but both looked shaken as they left the field, having been central to a mini “all in”. After some consultation, the flag was hoisted and the goal stood.

Two minutes later and with almost three injury-time minutes having elapsed, Chris Williamson steered over what looked to be a winning point from 40 yards. The Kilkee supporters in the Quilty stand were now as wild as an Atlantic storm hammering at the West End in the resort town.

Time was allotted for the kick-out, which Doonbeg won, presenting centre-back Brian Dillon with a chance to curl over a spectacular equaliser from play.

“In a derby match like that, anything can happen. Kilkee could have won it but fair play to Brian Dillon. He went up the field and scored a great point. We knew it was going to be a savage battle. Kilkee missed a lot as well. We’re looking forward now to the next round and taking it step-by-step,” Kieran O’Neill added as the respective dressing rooms emptied.

Extra time wasn’t quite as incident packed. Doonbeg outscored Kilkee 0-5 to 0-2, with David Tubridy and Enda Doyle kicking Doonbeg’s extra-time scores.

Substitutes Michael O’Shea and Evan Garvey kicked an extra-time point each for Kilkee, who led 0-6 to 0-2 at half-time in normal time. They played some lovely, controlled football in that opening half, with Micheál Keane shooting four of those six points.

“We had a great chance in normal time when Chris put over that point but it would have been a steal really if we had taken it at that stage,” Kilkee mentor, Kevin Shalloo acknowledged.

“We knew we were in good enough shape coming into it. But playing Division 3 football against a Division 1 side is a yardstick, in that we now know where we are in terms of how close we are to it. Doonbeg don’t give you anything easy but we felt deep down that we might have had a few tricks up our sleeves,” he added.

He felt Larkin’s goal was a product of pure desperation. “We were just trying to get it in there. It was our only hope at that stage and with no square ball, it’s a free for all. You might as well,” Shalloo said.

“We’ll learn a lot about ourselves from tonight and we won’t fear taking on anyone in the next round,” he added.

O’Neill feels Doonbeg have plenty left to look at between now and the quarter-final.

“I felt we were a bit leggy and we need to work on that. We’ll have a look at the video and we’ll drive forward to the next day,” he concluded.

Doonbeg: Eamon Tubridy; Cian Clancy, Conor Whelan, Pádraig Gallagher; Paraic Aherne, Brian Dillon, Joe Blake; Shane O’Brien, James McInerney; Colm Dillon, Ronan Goode, Shane Ryan; Conor Downes, David Tubridy (captain), Enda Doyle.
Subs: Paul Dillon for Conor Downes (37), Jamie Whelan for Colm Dillon (58), Colm Dillon for Shane Ryan, Richie Vaughan (on for Conor Whelan, red card), Conor Downes for Jamie Whelan, Shane Ryan for Conor Downes, Cian O’Mahoney for Paul Dillon and Jamie Whelan for Ronan Goode (all extra time).
Scorers: David Tubridy (0-8, 7f, 1 45’), Colm Dillon, Enda Doyle (0-2 each), James McInerney, Shane Ryan and Brian Dillon (0-1 each).
Frees won: 28; wides: 14; 45s: 3.
Yellow cards: Shane O’Brien, Colm Dillon, Paraic Aherne, Ronan Goode, Enda Doyle and David Tubridy.
Red card: Conor Whelan.
Kilkee: Kevin Harte; Brendan Smyth, Darren Owens, Gavin Melican; Darren Clarke, Thomas Galvin, Christy Kirwan; Darragh Kelly (captain), Chris Williamson; Brian Clancy, David Russell, Kevin Larkin; Ronan Browne, Micheál Keane, Conor King.
Subs: Michael O’Shea for Christy Kirwan (37), Christy Kirwan (on for David Russell, red card) and Evan Garvey for Kevin Larkin (extra time).
Scorers: Micheál Keane (0-4, 3f), Kevin Larkin (1-0), David Russell, Darragh Kelly, Chris Williamson, Michael O’Shea and Evan Garvey (0-1 each).
Frees: 29; wides: 7; 45s: 1.
Yellow cards: Kevin Larkin, Conor King and Darragh Kelly.
Red card: David Russell.
Referee: Pat Cosgrove (Corofin).