This article is from page 78 of the 2011-09-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 78 JPG
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 0-07 – Doonbeg 0-06 at Lissycasey
FROM THE rags of losing their opening two games to the riches of reaching a first ever senior semi-final under the St Joseph’s banner, the Cinderella boys of Doora/Barefield have certainly become the fairytale story of the senior championship to date. And fairytales don’t come much bigger than stripping the defending champions of their crown that was earned through sheer persistence and determination as they stormed back from a 0-6 to 0-2 deficit by the 40th minute to snatch an injury-time winner.
The undoubted hero of the hour was substitute Colm Mullen who received a pass in space from Paul Dullaghan before kicking over the winner from 35 metres but in truth, they were all heroes. The hard graft of a dogged first half sowed the seeds of victory but when the holders pushed four clear by the 40th minute, it seemed as if they would close out the game.
St Joseph’s showed their true character after that though and after a second Declan O’Keeffe ’45 and a brace of Cathal O’Sullivan points, momentum was in their favour for the decisive impact from their substitutes.
In hindsight, the holders will rue their short handpassing game in the first half when they had the wind at their backs. With a starved full-forward line of Shane Ryan, David Tubridy and Kevin Nugent, they failed to supply them with any meaningful possession and as a result, only held a two point half-time advantage. In addition, the normally unerring David Tubridy will look back on missed frees late in the game when the Magpies craved a score to stop the rot.
It wasn’t to be however as a relentless Doora/Barefield side refused to lie down, traits that also worked to their advantage in a evenly-matched first half. Despite the strong breeze, Doonbeg took 13 minutes to open the scoring through Shane Ryan. Prior to that though, there were goal chances aplenty for both sides.
The game had barely begun when a teasing Greg Lyons pass inside was anticipated by David O’Brien who got to the ball ahead of goalkeeper Nigel Dillon, only to shoot wide. Down the other end, a slick passing move from Doonbeg ended with Shane Ryan but his shot was excellently parried by the legs of goalkeeper Declan O’Keeffe. The Kerry native was soon in action again when failing to hold a long range Conor Whelan effort, Shane Killeen duly gathered the ball only to be dispossessed by a Greg Lyons tackle that the Doonbeg forward felt was illegal.
However, once Shane Ryan kicked the opening score, Doonbeg appeared to have finally settled and added two more in the next six minutes, a 50 metre effort from Colm Dillon as well as one for Kevin Nugent.
St Joseph’s had the chance to cancel out that advantage in the 22nd minute when Enda Lyons weaved his way through the Doonbeg defence but this time, a sharper Nigel Dillon excellently repelled his stinging effort. His oppositie number O’Keeffe converted the resulting ’45 for Doora/ Barefield’s opening score but it was soon nullified when Conor Downes replied two minutes later.
Tensions were heightened approaching the break as the game threatened to boil over but instead, a late Aidan O’Connor free cut the deficit to two at the break at 0-4 to 0-2.
Now playing into the conditions, the Magpies upped the ante and after points from Tubridy and Downes, looked to be in the driving seat for their fourth successive semi-final.
St Joseph’s had other ideas however and after substitute Colm Mullen earned a ’45 for O’Keeffe to convert once more in the 44th minute, two Cathal O’Sullivan points in the space of a minute got them to within a point of the Magpies. Tubridy missed two frees that gave St Joseph’s the impetus to push on for the equaliser with Kevin Dilleen’s growing influence on the game significant in the turnaround.
First he offloaded to substitute Christy O’Brien to point and gain parity with his first touch of the game in the 59th minute and the former county senior also began the move for Mullen’s winner when feeding Dullaghan who in turn picked out the substitute to fire over from the right wing in the 61st.
What their fairy godmother has in store for the remainder of the championship is anyone’s guess but now in bonus land, the sky is the limit for a momentum-filled Doora/Barefield.