Two Mile House 2-7
Shandonagh (Westmeath) 1-9
Leinster IFC preliminary round
It was nervy and it was nailbiting, but Two Mile House just about got over the line in the end despite finishing this game with 13 men and suffering numerous injuries in the final few minutes of a tense encounter.
Goalkeeper Didier Cordonnier and midfielder Shane D’Arcy were sent off in the closing stages, with the latter going on a straight red card, but the Kildare intermediate champions managed to hold on for a superb win and a crack at a Dublin side in the quarter-finals.
First half goals from Caomhan Doolan and Shane D'Arcy invigorated their challenge, but they were made to hang on for dear life in stoppage time as the game lost all shape and tensions began to simmer over. It took some sterling interventions and numerous ball-winning moments from captain Peter Kelly, who played the second half with a sprained ankle according to manager Niall Browne, to see them through in those frantic closing stages.
There were three changes to the Two Mile House starting side from their county final win, with Didier Cordonnier continuing in goals after replacing the injured John Goff against Monasterevan, while Aidan Casey was an absentee through injury. That was a considerable loss for the House after the corner-forward scored 10 points in a man of the match performance in the county final.
Playing with the aid of a stiff breeze in the first half, Two Mile House would have wanted a good lead by half-time. They seemed intent on scoring goals from the offset, and they had four chances to do so in the first quarter and returned with the goods on half of those occasions. Peter Kelly had their first opportunity in the opening minute when he burst through the middle and aimed to fist the ball into Conor Keogh, but it was out of reach for the corner-forward and went into the net, meaning the goal was disallowed.
It was Shandonagh who opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Tom Molloy curled over a fine score from the right wing. Kelly got Two Mile House off the mark shortly after however, once again bursting through the centre but this time seeing his fisted effort go over the bar. Chris Julian doubled their tally from a free soon after, but Mickey Boyle restored parity with a score at the other end.
The Kildare champions soon delivered a couple of brilliant suckerpunches to their opponents however, and it was Kelly who was providing the platform. The county man took the ball of Chris Healy close to goal and set up Caomhan Doolan who finished low to the net for the first goal of the game on 11 minutes. The Westmeath men hardly had time to regroup before they conceded a second goal less than 60 seconds later. Midfielder Shane D’Arcy stormed through the middle and flicked the ball in to Kelly who beautifully knocked it back into his colleague’s path and he duly found the net.
The Westmeath men didn’t drop their heads however, and a couple of scores in quick succession helped them to settle once more, with Alan Hickey and Brian Kavanagh both hitting the target.
Two Mile House’s performance level dropped considerably in the second quarter, and they managed just two further points from the 12th minute onwards as Shandonagh upped their game and enjoyed more possession.
Julian and Boyle both swapped scores, before Healy got Two Mile House’s final point of the half from an acute angle. Kavanagh pointed another free on the stroke of half-time to reduce the Kildare side’s lead to 2-4 to 0-6 at the turnaround.
Despite playing with the strong breeze in the second half, Shandonagh managed just two points in the first 20 minutes of the second half, which was the same tally that their hosts clocked up in that spell.
It took seven minutes for the first score to arrive after the break, Healy excellently dispatching a long range free off the ground, while the impressive Boyle responded at the other end with his third of the afternoon for Shandonagh.
Mark Sherry set up their next score with a storming run down the left before playing in Kelly who fisted over from close range, but Molloy cancelled that out by knocking over a handy free with 10 minutes to go. With four points separating the sides, Shandonagh finally got their major breakthrough when they were awarded a 52nd minute penalty after Finnian Breen pulled down Alan Hughes inside the area. Kavanagh stepped up to rifle home the penalty, and that left the gap at the minimum and the tie finely balanced with such little time remaining.
Healy settled the House down with a free at the other end, but Molloy again responded to leave the tie on a knife edge with such little time left to play.
A bizarre situation ensued at the start of injury time when Two Mile House goalkeeper Cordonnier was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in 30 seconds, one which appeared to be for kicking a ball away to waste time and the second which looked to be for dissent. There was hardly a meaningful play in the game after that as Niall Browne’s men looked to see the game out, and there were numerous little incidents breaking out all over the pitch as referee Chris Dwyer lost control of the game. Shane D’Arcy was sent off for hacking down a Shandonagh player soon after that, leaving Two Mile House with just 13 men for the final few moments.
Kelly came up with a couple of big plays in defence in the final moments as the men in yellow and green struggled to get out of their own half, but they eventually fell over the line and into the last eight of Leinster.
Scorers for TMH: C Healy 0-3(2f), S D’Arcy and C Doolan 1-0 each, P Kelly and C Julian(2f) 0-2 each.
Scorers for Shandonagh: B Kavanagh 1-2(1-0pen, 2f), M Boyle and T Molloy(2f) 0-3 each, A Hickey 0-1.
Two Mile House
Didier Cordonnier; Finnian Breen, William Burke, Andrew May; Mark Sherry, Nathan Sherry, Matt Kelly; Peter Kelly, Shane D’Arcy; Stuart White, Chris Healy, Conor Keogh; Chris Julian, Caomhan Doolan, Jack Collins.
Subs used: Gavin Burke for Keogh 23mins, Joe D’Arcy for White 39mins, Liam Cummins for Julian 57mins, Christy Burke for M Sherry 67mins.
Shandonagh
Damien Fox; Conor Craig, Daire Conway, Maitiu Scully; Barry Sheridan, Aaron Craig, Gareth Carr; Luke Tynan, Alan Hickey; Ciaran Shanley, Kevin Boyle, Conor McCrossan; Mickey Boyle, Brian Kavanagh, Tom Molloy.
Subs used: Christy Coyne for Sheridan 42mins, Alan Hughes for Tynan 43mins, Ben Treanor for McCrossan 47mins, Ryan Norris for Kavanagh BC 53mins.
If you have a story or want to send photos or videos to us please contact the KildareNow editorial team. via our Facebook, via our email at content@kildarenow.com or on 045 409350 during office hours.
Shandonagh's Brian Kavanagh fires a second half penalty past Cordonnier
