WICKLOW SFC FINAL REPLAY Kiltegan 0-9 St Patrick's 1-5:KILTEGAN BRIDGED a 22-year gap to their last senior football title in Wicklow yesterday when they clinched the title against St Patrick's after a titanic struggle in yesterday's final replay at Aughrim.
This rematch went right down to the wire before it was decided by a late Kiltegan point by corner forward James Doyle two minutes from the end.
St Patrick's hit the front (1-3 to 0-5) for the first time when Paul Earls fired home the game's only goal 10 minutes into the second half, but they were unable to build on that lead.
Kiltegan were ahead 0-4 to 0-2 at the end of a free-punctuated first half.
St Patrick's goal came when John Slattery ballooned the ball across the face of the Kiltegan goal. Earls was lurking on the edge of the square to field; he swivelled around his marker before cheekily chipping the ball into the left corner of Alister Hambidge's net. St. Patrick's were ahead 1-3 to 0-5 and the tempo of the game moved up a gear.
But Doyle was the toast of his team-mates as he snatched the crucial winner with just two minutes left. Minutes later Earls had a chance of sending the game into extra time, but he pulled a free from 45 metres out on the sideline wide of the target.
KILTEGAN: A Hambidge, J Farrell, A Byrne, J Bermingham, R Finn, S Corrigan, P Finn, J O'Toole, JP Dalton (0-2), J Keogh (0-3, free), S Furlong (0-2, 1 free), A Furlong (0-1), A Foley, J Doyle (0-1), D Daly. Sub: Glen Harmon for A Furlong.
ST PATRICK'S: R Hollingsworth, P Higgins, R Connolly, D Byrne, B Cornyn, D McEvoy, W Farrell, G Jameson, P McWalter (0-1), R Murphy, J Slattery, C Doyle, D O'Sullivan (0-2), P Earls (1-2, 2 frees), D Smullen. Subs: D O'Reilly for Higgins, S Duffy for O'Sullivan, G Duffy for Murphy.
Referee: Declan Greene(Kilcoole).
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)