Raharney live to fight another day after crucial Briody goal

Raharney 0-16 Castletown-Geoghegan 1-13

Gerry Buckley

The closeness of the scoring in the closing stages compensated somewhat for the disappointing hurling on show in last Sunday’s curtain-raiser in TEG Cusack Park, at the end of which age-old rivals Castletown Geoghegan and Raharney must meet again to decide where the Ben Kelly Cup will rest for the next 12 months.

Of the two sets of participants, the young men in black and amber will probably be the more disappointed outfit as they looked the marginally better side for the first three-quarters of the contest. Perhaps it was big match nerves – entirely understandable for U17s – but patrons will be hoping to see the players’ entire skill-sets on show in the replay.

Castletown, under the tutelage of Fintan Clarke, Ger Jackson and John Cassidy, edged in front after a mere 45 seconds when Adam Cassidy pointed following a Peter Murphy sideline cut. The latter missed a ‘65’ before the Deelsiders equalized in the sixth minute, Caoleann Ready pointing at the end of a laboured move.

Free-taking was inconsistent at both ends, but two successful frees for both sides ensued by the end of the opening quarter. Joe Mulvaney’s brace for the boys in blue preceded one each from Sean Jackson (a huge strike) and Murphy (from closer to the target) at the other end, to leave the teams tied at 0-3 apiece.

Mulvaney was wide from a ‘65’, and Castletown Geoghegan made the most of this by rifling over three unanswered points in a four-minute period at the start of the second quarter, the scores coming via Andrew Dalton, Dylan Corrigan (a quality strike), and Murphy (a routine free).

Mulvaney and Jackson traded points from frees, either side of the latter’s shot from another free coming back off the upright. In added-time, Murphy tapped over another free, leaving his side ahead by 0-8 to 0-4 at the end of a low-key first half which had yielded just four points from play.

Less than three minutes after play resumed, Mark Doherty did well to hold a Jackson delivery from a free. Raharney’s half-time subs, Winston Larkin and Jayden Hill, combined well for a goal chance, but Sean Clarke pulled off a good save.

Converted frees by Murphy and Jackson from close- and long-range respectively put Castletown six points clear (0-10 to 0-4) with 39 minutes on the clock, and they looked well on the way to another county title.

However, three points without reply between the 40th and 44th minutes kept Peter McGee’s charges very much in contention, the scores coming courtesy of Cormac McKeogh (a very good long-range effort), and a Mulvaney brace (a free and a shot from play deflected smartly over his own crossbar by Clarke).

Two Murphy frees stretched Castletown’s advantage, but the game turned on its head in the 46th minute when sub Eoin Briody was hand to kick the sliotar to the net from close range. A tricky free conversion by Mulvaney and a lovely point from play by Eoin Daly followed and, all of a sudden, the game was level (0-12 to 1-9).

Jackson and Ready swapped points before an ambitious goal attempt by Jackson was saved by Doherty. Larkin then pointed neatly after soloing goalward. His colleague McKeogh was narrowly wide with a goal as his target before Corrigan equalised in the 57th minute.

The game was very much up for grabs at this juncture. The Deelsiders looked to have the edge when a successful Mulvaney free and Ready’s hat-trick completion put them two points up at the end of normal time, but Castletown earned a deserved share of the spoils when Murphy and Jackson (a great score given the pressure) both pointed frees in injury-time.

Scorers – Castletown Geoghegan: P Murphy 0-7f, S Jackson 0-5f, D Corrigan 0-2, A Dalton and A Cassidy 0-1 each. Raharney: J Mulvaney 0-7 (6f), E Briody 1-0, C Ready 0-3, E Daly, W Larkin and C McKeogh 0-1 each.

Castletown Geoghegan: Sean Clarke; Dylan Drake, Thomas Conlon, Jack Mulligan; Eoin Robinson, Sean Jackson, Killian Jackson; Shane Corcoran, Neale Pierson; Adam Clarke, Peter Murphy, Adam Cassidy; Dylan Corrigan, Philip Reynolds, Andrew Dalton. Subs used: Patrick Maloney for Dalton (57), Eanna Maxwell for Cassidy (60).

Raharney: Mark Doherty; Mikie Duffy, Sean McGee, Ryan Murphy; Adam Smith, Cian Weir, Aaran Flanagan; Callum McKeogh, Dean Enright; Joe Mulvaney, Cormac McKeogh, Eoin Daly; Oisín Flanagan, Caoleann Ready, Ciaran Kavanagh. Subs used: Winston Larkin for Enright (h-t), Jayden Hill for Flanagan (h-t), Eoin Briody for Kavanagh (37), Finan Reilly Smith (52).

Ref: Mickey Dan Murtagh (Clonkill).