Gaelic Games

Leinster SFC round-up: Naas ride their luck to beat Tullamore

Elsewhere, Blessington and Naomh Mairtin also progressed

Naas’ James Burke was part of the Naas team to see off Tullamore. Photo: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

Sun Nov 21 2021 - 16:13

Naas (Kildare) 2-11 Tullamore (Offaly) 3-7

A freak Darragh Kirwan goal in the fourth minute of injury time saw Naas progress to a Leinster quarter-final at the expense of a very unfortunate Tullamore.

After seeing a shot saved by Corey White, Kirwan charged down Aaron Leavy and when he blocked the Tullamore man’s attempted clearance the ball somehow rebounded past the stranded White and straight into the net.

It had looked like Tullamore were set for victory when Johnny Moloney and Ciaran Egan scored goals in the space of 60 seconds to turn a three-point deficit into a three-point lead with 10 minutes to.

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That scoring burst came after a spell of six Naas points in a row, which was in turn a response to five in a row from Tullamore as momentum swayed from one side to the other.

Diarmuid Egan scored the first goal of the game in the 14th minute but Kirwan replied two minutes later to set up a very exciting encounter.

Tullamore were set for victory late on but luck was on Naas’, and Kirwan’s, side.

Naas: J Rodgers; B Kane (0-1), P Sullivan, C McCarthy; T Browne, B Byrne, Paddy McDermott (0-1); E Doyle, J Cleary; C Joyce, E Callaghan (0-5, 4f), Paul McDermott; D Kirwan (2-4), J Burke, Sean Cullen.

Subs: L Griffin for Paul McDermott, 38; B Stynes for McCarthy, 38; C Daly for Doyle, 46-48.

Tullamore: C White; C Burns, J Furlong, P McConway; K O'Brien, J Moloney (1-2, 1f), O Keenan Martin; M Brazil, A Leavy; H Plunkett (0-1), D Egan (1-2), T Furlong; L Egan (0-1), L Plunkett, N Bracken (0-1).

Subs: Ciaran Egan (1-0) for T Furlong, h/t; M Feeney for O'Brien, 45; S Dooley for Plunkett, 58; J Sheerin for Burns, 60+1.

Referee: B Tiernan (Dublin).

Blessington (Wicklow) 1-7 Mullinalaghta (Longford) 1-5

Three points (one free) from the boot of Kevin Quinn saw Blessington overcome a seven point half-time deficit to claim a two point win over the 2018 Leinster champions Mullinalaghta in their opening game of the 2021 Leinster campaign.

It was the proverbial game of two halves with Blessington immense after the break. Changes made by manager Jonathan Daniels made a huge difference.

Mullinalaghta failed to score in the second half as the Wicklow side upped their performance.

Rían Brady and Aidan McElliigott fired over early points for Mullinalaghta but they were dealt a blow in the ninth minute when McElligott was shown a straight red card.

Despite numerical advantage Blessington found it hard to break through Mullinalaghta’s defence as they came back in numbers.

In the 17th minute Mullinalaghta were awarded a penalty after David McGivney was fouled. Gary Rogers put away the spot-kick.

McGivney, Brady and John Keegan added points for the Longford side as they extended the lead to eight points in the first minute of stoppage time.

One minute later Blessington finally got off the mark when Conor Kenny hit over a fine effort to leave the half-time score 1-5 to 0-1.

Anthony McLoughlin hit over Blessington’s second point in the 31st minute but they were reduced to 14 men in the 38th when Craig Maguire was sent off.

Suddenly Blessington were a different proposition. An excellent goal from sub Dean Silk-Fetherson cut the gap to one in the 54th minute.

Points from Quinn (one free) put the Wicklow side ahead for the first time in the 57th minute. A fine Quinn effort two between the sides in the 59th minute. The Wicklow champions held on for a memorable win.

Blessington: J Sargent; C Kenny (0-1), J Gilligan, C Gallagher; K Hanlon, C Maguire, B Bohan; D Cooney, KJ Rogers; M Shannon, A McLoughlin (0-1), J Cotter; M O'Connor, K Quinn (0-4, 2fs), S Bohan.

Subs: D Silk-Fetherson (1-0) for B Bohan (30+2), C Geraghty (0-1) for Cooney (ht), D Siney for O'Connor (41), David Boothman for Rogers (47), E Keogh for Shannon (59).

Mullinalaghta: D O'Rourke; S Cadam, P Fox, F Mulligan; D McElligott, S Mulligan, G Rogers (1-0, pen); J Keegan (0-1), D McGivney (0-1); M Cunningham, A McElligott (0-1), J McGivney; J Matthews, R Brady (0-2), C Mackey.

Sub: B Fox for F Mulligan (46).

Referee: S Mulhare (Laois).

Naomh Mairtin (Louth) 2-16 Rathvilly (Carlow) 1-5

Naomh Mairtin stunned Carlow champions Rathvilly in Haggardstown when the Louth champions went for the jugular with a devastating scoring blitz of 2-2 at the end of the first half.

Up until that point, the contest was a cagey one with both sides packing their defences. Conor Whelan and Val Leddy majors broke Rathvilly’s spirit and the second half was a one-sided affair.

Whelan pounced on a wayward kick out while Leddy cut through the Barrowsiders defence with an excellent run shortly after.

Louth and club captain Sam Mulroy landed five of his eight scores in that period to exude their control and midfielder Wayne Campebll would extend their dominance with a brace of long range efforts.

Despite conceding their first goal in championship football this season from Rathvilly substitute Conor O’Neill, the Monasterboice based side never looked in trouble.

Naomh Mairtin: C Lynch; M Whelan, T Sullivan, C Morgan (0-1); J Clutterbuck, S Healy, C Healy; W Campbell (0-2), E Whelan, V Leddy (1-1), E Callaghan, S Campbell; S Mulroy (0-8, 5f), C Whelan (1-3), B McQuillan.

Subs: JP Rooney (0-1, 1f) for McQuillan (47) P Berrill for Callaghan (54) J McGrane for S Campbell (57), C Smyth for M Whelan (57).

Rathvilly: T Pilkington; J O'Donoghue, BJ Molloy, D Curran; P Deering, C Doyle, J Moore; Brendan Murphy, E Finnegan; K Murphy (0-2), A Kelly (0-1), E Molloy; Brian Murphy (0-1, 1f), B Smith, J Elliott (0-1, 1f).

Subs: P Bolger for Kelly (42), C O'Neill (1-0) for Elliott (44) D Gavin for O'Donoghue (47) L Coleman for Brian Murphy (47), P Byrne for Deering (47).

Referee: Fergal Smyth (Offaly).