Monasterevan 1-15
St Kevin’s 0-16
Pittman Traffic & Safety IFC semi-final
Monasterevan showed huge heart and bottle on Saturday afternoon as they battled through a thrilling semi-final replay with St Kevin’s to edge through to a showdown with Two Mile House.
Nothing could separate these two teams a week earlier, and it was a similar case again as a late Wayne Fitzpatrick free tied the game to send it to extra-time, where Monasterevan proved to have a little more in their legs to see it through.
Brian Lonergan’s men had to battle through more than 40 minutes of normal time with 14 men after John O’Toole was shown a straight red card for an altercation with a member of the St Kevin’s management team, and the relief and joy shown by the men in blue at full-time was a sight to behold after coming through such trying circumstances.
There wasn’t as explosive a start to this game as we had seen the previous week, but there was plenty of intrigue as both sides chipped away at each other without ever really asserting any dominance. The biggest lead that either side enjoyed in the opening half was just two points, which is incidentally the gap that separated the teams at the interval.
There were just two minutes on the clock when Barry Noone opened the scoring from a free, but Wayne Fitzpatrick responded with his own point from a placed ball a minute later.
The first score from play arrived after Kevin Fitzpatrick delivered a long ball in to Padraig Nash, and the Kildare U20 star swivelled to create space and slot a tidy shot between the posts.
Noone had a big influence for Kevin’s in the first half, and while he did make some mistakes on the ball at times, his impact was mostly positive as he both created and scored for his side. He pulled them level with a point, before Ryan Casey nudged them ahead with a fine score from an acute angle to the right of the posts.
They could have put a bit of distance between themselves and Monasterevan when Ross Carew squared a ball across goal for Declan Flaherty to palm in, but Eoin Stapleton got back onto the line brilliantly to clear.
That seemed to be a bit of a turning point as Monasterevan went on to score three points in succession over the next 10 minutes. Wayne Fitzpatrick caught a long ball towards the square before blazing over a point to pull the blues level, but they were dealt a blow moments later when O’Toole was shown a straight red card.
The young defender, who had been involved in plenty of off the ball skirmishes with St Kevin’s forward Conor Murray, was adjudged to have struck out at St Kevin’s selector John Casey on the far sideline.
Brian Lonergan’s men showed no ill effects from being down to 14 men, but it did allow St Kevin’s centre-back Tom Barron to act as a free man on front of his full-back line.
Nonetheless, Paul Maloney and Fitzpatrick both curled over superb points in quick succession as the blues pulled a couple of points clear, before Mark Grace ended a 10-minute barren spell for his side by nudging over a simple effort.
The defending on both sides for the remaining few minutes of the half was really superb, with Cian Harrison particularly effective for Monasterevan, while Jason Brosnan was performing well at full-back for St Kevin’s. Lennie Havens and Paul Maloney really established some control around the middle for Monasterevan, and the former kicked a fine point at the end of a good move to put his team 0-6 to 0-4 ahead.
A lovely run from Noone that featured a couple of exquisite dummies allowed the forward to clip over a point before the break, but Nash ensured that Monasterevan went 0-7 to 0-5 clear by booming over a fabulous effort from distance just before the interval.
St Kevin’s had the wind at their backs for the second half, but they started slowly and it took Mark Fitzharris’ side 10 minutes to get off the mark.
In that time, Monasterevan managed to plunder 1-1 to really seize the initiative.
Paul Kelly fired over the first point of the second half in the 35th minute, and the game’s opening goal arrived a couple of minutes later on the back of a superb move. Maloney brilliantly robbed Conor Murray of possession around midfield, and he traded a couple of passes with Cormac Stapleton who eventually got in behind the opposition defence and delivered a composed finish into the roof of Brian Elliott’s net.
The experienced Ross Carew finally hit the target for a St Kevin’s side that really needed a score, and that lit the touch paper for a brilliant comeback as they tagged on seven points in as many minutes to turn the game on its head.
Ryan Casey was the catalyst for their purple patch, slotting over three fine points, but Noone was also a major factor in the comeback as he bagged a brace of really exceptional scores. It was Murray who would eventually kick them into the lead in the 48th minute when he found a little space on the left before splitting the posts.
Monasterevan were always likely to mount a comeback such is the spirit in their ranks, and they duly roared back into the game thanks to a fine score from Kevin Fitzpatrick before his brother Wayne nudged them back in front by dispatching a simple free.
The game swung back in favour of St Kevin’s after that as they showed some great composure, with Cormac Noone levelling matters three minutes from time with a super point from the right. The key score looked to have arrived at the start of injury time when Tom Barron put in a brilliant hit on Nash to claim possession, allowing his side to work the ball up to Flaherty who finished from close range.
Monasterevan had other ideas however, and a late free from the ice cool Fitzpatrick levelled the game in the fourth minute of extra-time.
Monasterevan were restored to their full complement of players for the start of extra-time, with Christy Dempsey coming in to bolster the midfield. The south Kildare men were the better of the two sides in the first half of extra-time, with Fitzpatrick landing a couple of points from frees either side of a score from Mark Kelly. Flaherty offered the only response for St Kevin’s, who trailed by 1-14 to 0-15 at the break.
The second half saw just a point scored on either side as both Fitzpatrick and Noone traded scores, meaning Monasterevan got over the line with two points to spare at the end of a titanic tussle.
Scorers for Monasterevan: W Fitzpatrick 0-8(6f), C Stapleton 1-0, P Nash 0-2, P Kelly, P Maloney, M Kelly, L Havens and K Fitzpatrick 0-1 each.
Scorers for St Kevin’s: B Noone 0-7(3f), R Casey 0-4, D Flaherty 0-2, C Noone, C Murray, M Grace and R Carew 0-1 each.
Monasterevan
Robbie White; John O’Toole, Eoin Stapleton, Cormac Stapleton; Cian Harrison, DJ Earley, Cian Harrison; Gavin Worrell, Lennie Havens; Paul Kelly, Padraig Nash, Paul Maloney; Wayne Fitzpatrick, Ryan Bannon, Kevin Fitzpatrick.
Subs used: Tristan Kennedy for Worrell 43mins, Mark Kelly for K Fitzpatrick 53mins, Sean Kavanagh for Kelly 53mins, Anthony Kavanagh for Earley 62mins, DJ Earley for K Dunne 67mins, K Fitzpatrick for Nasg 77mins.
St Kevin’s
Brian Elliott; Alan Bennett, Jason Brosnan, Paddy Walshe; Jamie Smyth, Tom Barron, Brian Fogarty; Mick Kenny, Mark Grace; Dean O’Regan, Ryan Casey, Ross Carew; Conor Murray, Declan Flaherty, Barry Noone.
Subs used: Cormac Noone for O’Regan 46mins, Trevor McDonald for Grace 40mins, Cathal O’Leary for Walshe 60 mins(ET), Garry Kelly for Murray 66mins, Joe Kenny for Casey 77mins.
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