St Mary's 2-5 Rathnew 0-10:ST MARY'S corner forward Paddy Byrne hammered home two first-half goals to set his team up for a surprise win that dethroned the defending senior champions at Aughrim yesterday.
In a 43 minute-second half with the wind, Rathnew threw everything at the first time finalists but the combination of Coolkenno and Shillelagh players held their nerve under pressure to carve out victory by the wafer thin margin.
Close on 4,000 people packed into Aughrim to see the Saints lay the foundations for victory in the opening 30 minutes, with Byrne’s goals providing them with a 2-3 to 0-3 cushion at the break after Ireland star Leighton Glynn had given Rathnew an early lead with a point after 10 minutes.
It was the Karl O’Dwyer-trained combination from south Wicklow who were making most of the running with the wind at their backs in the first half as Eamonn Rossiter, David Cullen, Paddy Dalton, Keith and Paddy Byrne ran at their more experienced opponents.
On 13 minutes Byrne struck for the first killer blow when he poked to the net from a long delivery from Don Jackman.
Eleven minutes later the Byrne brothers managed to work the oracle again, Keith the provider and Paddy the finisher as he punched to the net from the edge of the small square.
Rathnew, who were appearing in their 14th final in 16 years, losing only two in that time, began their fightback immediately after the restart.
Leighton Glynn, back from Australia earlier in the week, drilled over three points, Tommy Gill chipped in with two more and the champions had cut the margin to just one point at the end of the third quarter, 0-8 to 2-3.
And shortly after the start of the second half St Mary’s suffered a blow as the influential David Cullen had to be stretchered off the field.
Paddy Byrne eased the pressure on St Mary’s with a pointed free, but the omens were still inclined to favour Rathnew as Mark Doyle slotted over the bar from a 45.
Declan Nolan put St Mary’s two points ahead in the 59th minute, but there was seven minutes of injury time to be added.
Rathnew midfielder James Stafford had stepped up his game in the second half and was making an impact, but then he and Keith Byrne were both given straight reds.
St Mary’s, who had been on the back foot for a lot of the second half, dug deep with Eamonn Rossiter winning a lot of dirty ball.
Leighton Glynn narrowed the gap to a point on 63 minutes, but as the clock ticked on for an agonizing 13 minutes of injury time St Mary’s just refused to buckle and withstood the pressure to clinch the title.
ST MARY’S: J Corcoran; F Simpson, C Rossiter, S Walker; D Doyle, N Murphy, D Nolan (0-1); D Jackman, J Cushe; B Rossiter, P Dalton, D Cullen; P Byrne (2-2), E Rossiter (0-1), K Byrne (0-1). Sub: G Murphy for Cullen.
RATHNEW: J Hollingsworth; A Clarke, D Power, P Merrigan; S Byrne, S Canavan, P Ellis; J Stafford, S Kavanagh; E Glynn, N Mernagh, E Doyle; T Gill (0-4), M Doyle (0-1), L Glynn (0-5). Subs: B Mernagh for E Doyle, C Healy for Byrne.
Referee: K Kenny (Tinahely).
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