Fitzgerald seals success for Sarsfields

Drumragh 2-7  Killeeshil 2-6
Drumragh full back Barry Fitzgerald wrote his name into Sarsfields folklore at Pearse Park in Galbally on Sunday afternoon when he popped up with the winning point with the last kick of the game to give his club promotion to Intermediate football and send Killeeshil down to Junior ranks.

It was an unbelievable turnaround by the winners who looked to have it all to do in the third quarter when they trailed by six points. At that stage their management rolled the dice with a triple substitute and two of those players namely Tommy Murphy and Daniel O’Neill got their goals as for the second week running in playoffs; the Sarsfields bench contributed a telling tally of seven points between them.

Murphy’s goal came with three minutes to go and it put them a point in front only for Tomas Hoy to equalise and we looked set for extra time until Fitzgerald had the final say.

It has proved to be a great season after all for Drumragh after the disappointment of losing the championship final as they grasped that sought-after promotion ticket at the second time of asking, while for Killeeshil they are left with the disappointment of relegation.

Midfielder Aaron Montgomery powered through for the opening score for Drumragh inside 60 seconds and it took Killeeshil until the 10th minute to equalise from a Hoy free.

Michael Carty and Niall McCarney then exchanged points to leave it 0-2 apiece at the end of the opening quarter.

In the 17th minute Killeeshil struck for the first goal of the game when a high delivery in from the right wing from Michael O’Neill saw Eoin Neill get on the end of it at the back post to palm to the net. Eoin Montgomery responded with a point from a mark but it was Killeeshil who were looking the better side.

They kept the ball wide at every opportunity both attempting to cut in and it worked a treat in the 25th minute with a clinical finish to the net from Hoy after being put in by Luke Donnelly. Donnelly and Alex McGlinchey then exchanged points to leave it 2-3 to 0-4 at halftime.

Both sides missed chances on the restart before Killeeshil put together a sweeping move that resulted in a point from substitute Conor McCool to leave six between the sides. That’s when Drumragh made three changes and after an Eoin Montgomery free had reduced the deficit Daniel O’Neill grabbed a 43rd minute goal after great approach play from Aaron Montgomery.

It was a score that visibly lifted the Drumragh players and their supporters and Murphy then swung over a beauty from out on the left wing to reduce the deficit to the minimum. Things got worse for Killeeshil when they lost defender Mark Monaghan to a black card for ten minutes.

With five minutes left to play Hoy lifted the siege for Killeeshil with a neat point after cutting in from the left wing but Drumragh had their tails up and they hit the front two minutes later when Murphy and O’Neill combined for the former to fire home.

Killeeshil didn’t panic with the lively Hoy winning a mark which he confidently knocked over. Martin Taggart had a free to win it for Drumragh in injury time but his effort went narrowly wide but the drama was still to come.

Aaron Montgomery won possession from a Drumragh kick out and played it to Fitzgerald who had no support so he fed it back to the former but crucially he continued his run to take a pass from Cian Murphy to win the day for his club.

The Scorers
Drumragh
Tommy Murphy 1-1, Daniel O’Neill 1-0, Eoin Montgomery 0-2 (1F, 1M), Aaron Montgomery 0-1, Niall McCarney 0-1 (F), Alex McGlinchey 0-1, Barry Fitzgerald 0-1
Killeeshil
Tomas Hoy 1-3 (1F, 1M), Eoin Neill 1-0, Michael Carty 0-1, Luke Donnelly 0-1, Conor McCool 0-1

The Teams
Drumragh
James Colgan, Eamonn Kerrigan, Barry Fitzgerald, Eoin McGread, Ben Monk, Patrick Colgan, Oran Devlin, Aaron Montgomery, Shane Devine, Andy Colgan, Ronan Maguire, Alex McGlinchey, Niall McCarney, Eoin Montgomery, Gareth Haughey. Subs: Daniel O’Neill for Andy Colgan, Tommy Murphy for McCarney, Cian Murphy for Devlin, Martin Taggart for Maguire
Killeeshil
Ciaran Reilly, Eoin McGlinchey, Matthew McCusker, Michael Carty, Conall Monaghan, Ciaran O’Neill, Mark Monaghan, Dillion O’Neill, Packie McMullan, Luke Donnelly, Michael O’Neill, Cathal Rafferty, Eoin Neill, Paul O’Neill, Tomas Hoy. Subs: Conor McCool for Rafferty, Daniel Rafferty for Paul O’Neill, Pascal Donaghy for Neill, Sean Paul McGuigan for Conall Monaghan

Referee
Shane Meehan, Glenelly