Junior a Football Wicklow

 

Junior A Football

Blessington 2-13

Shillelagh/Coolboy 3-9

Hollywood 

Eoin Horkan 

A last-minute point from Sean Mescall who had flown back from Prague three hours earlier saw Blessington come out on top in this third-round game in the middle of Storm Betty.

In the opening phases of this game both sets of players had to try to cage that swirling wing from the storm. The opening score of the game from Jordan Nolan with a dead ball effort for the Blesso. Within five minutes the opposition had taken the lead with a minor from Brendan Behan before they fired in their first goal of the game through Dan Behan. The west Wicklow side were playing with the breeze and found points easier to come by with Sean Mescall and Curtis Geraghty firing over. With points difficult to come by their opponents netted a second goal this time as Dean Grandy found the roof of the net. Then the south Wicklow side were then reduced to fourteen men when Enda Foley was given his marching orders with six to go in the half. A penalty was awarded that Mikey O’ Toole duly converted.  A last free from Nola and another Geraghty effort n finished the scoring for the side in blue and white. The opposition netted a third goal of the half when Conor Clinton gave his side the lead by the minimum at the break.

When the game resumed the tie was leveled when Finn Behan raised a white flag with a sublime effort. A double from Wayne Kinsella gave his side the lead with eight minutes gone in the half. The scores were flying over from both sides as Barry Murphy and Nolan brough the lead back for their side. Shillelagh/ Coolboy then hit a purple patch firing over four scores unanswered. The first came from the boot of PJ O’ Keefe before Clinton and Behan extended their tally. The final score of this patch came from Pj Mulhall as it looked like the victory was going to the south Wicklow side. With eight minutes left in the tie the opponents hit into gear with frees coming from Nolan before O’ Toole added to his tally. The game then swung in their favor when O’ Toole collected a ball and fired into the net.  As the final whistle drew closer, cornerback Ethan Cotter drove up the field to raise a white flag which gave his side the lead. A dead ball out on the wing from Cathal Murphy had looked like both sides were going to be going home with a point each. Blessington’s wing forward Sean Mescall had other ideas as he drove forward to fire over the last score of the game giving his side the victory. 

Blessington: Adam Williamson; Ethan Cotter (0-1), James Dooley, Dylan Friel; Barry Murphy (0-1), Finn Behan (0-1), Jordan Lynch; Ruairi Finan, Kevin John Rogers; Adam Smyth, Curtis Geraghty (0-2), Sean Mescall (0-2); Jordan Nolan (0-4fs), Sean Byrne, Mikey O’ Toole(2-2fs)

Shillelagh/Coolboy:Caoimhin Rawson; Enda Foley, Darragh Foley, Finlay Nolan; Ruairí O’ Brien, Aaron Kinsella, Dan Behan (1-1); Wayne Kinsella (0-2 1f), Dan Nolan(0-1); Dean Grandy (1-0), Pj Mulhall (0-1)l, Cathal Murphy (0-1f); PJ O’ Keefe (0-1), Brendan Behan (0-1f,Conor Clinton(1-1).

Referee; Noel Kinsella.