Late rally earns
Longstone a deserved SFC final replay
09 October 2007
There was a large attendance at Pairc
Esler, Newry on Sunday last, 7th of
October for the meeting of St. Patrick’s,
Mayobridge and Longstone in the Down
SFC decider. The Mayobridge side seemed
to be marching to their fourth successive
senior title with the game deep into
the final ten minutes, thanks to a
point from Cathal Magee which saw
them hold a five points lead. However,
the challengers Longstone had other
ideas and a spirited finish to the
game saw them level matters with a
late point from their impressive centre-forward
Barry Doran to take the final to a
replay. Final score - Mayobridge 0-16,
Longstone 1-13.
Mayobridge the more
experienced side looked in command
for much of this game, and after weathering
early storms by the Longstone side
in the beginning of both halves seemed
to be on course for another title
success.
However, there is great confidence
in this Longstone side this season
- as was shown in winning the recent
Kilmacud ’Sevens’ All-Ireland
title. They went into this final believing
that they could win the county senior
title for the first time - and only
their third time ever in the decider,
and even when the game seemed to be
slipping away from them in the final
minutes still had the ability to battle
back and get a draw.
It was important
that Longstone would get a good start
to the game and after five minutes
play they were ahead by two points
0-3 to 0-1. However, Mayobridge with
county stars Benny Coulter and Michael
Walsh to the fore finished the half
well to lead by five points 0-10 to
0-5.
Once again the Longstone side started
well in the second-half and three
points from the in-form Barry Doran
kept them well in contention, although
the champions replied with efforts
from Ronan Sexton and C. Magee.
Despite the best
efforts of the Longstone side Mayobridge
continued to be in control, and with
the game now in the last ten minutes
they were in front by five points
and playing well within themselves.
Then county star, Ambrose Rodgers
began to dominate in the middle of
the field for the challengers and
put the Mayobridge defence under real
pressure. They made the breakthrough
with time almost up when a long ball
into the heart of the Mayobridge defence
was collected by Mark Poland who offloaded
to Ryan Kelly and he fired to the
roof of the Mayobridge net. This score
really ignited the Longstone supporters
and when Rodgers powered through for
a point - it was now a one point game
with time almost up.
Mayobridge had their
chances in extra-time to close down
the game but it wasn’t to be.
Then a last-gasp attack from the Longstone
side earned them a free which the
ice-cool Barry Doran sent over the
bar, and the sides will have it all
to go again in the coming weeks.
This was a tremendous comeback by
the Longstone side who looked ’dead
and buried’ in those closing
minutes of the game. This strong finish
will give them great heart ahead of
the replay, but if they are to be
successful then they will have to
play more consistently over the duration
of the match, and key players such
as Barry Doran and Ambrose Rodgers
will have to get greater support.
Mayobridge will be
very disappointed to let this game
slip away from their grasp. They had
the game won, but maybe a bit of complacency
set into their play, and they almost
paid the price. Despite this they
are still champions, and they will
have learned a lot from this drawn
encounter. They should be capable
of winning the replay, but next time
they will have to play for the full
duration of the game.
Overall, this was
a very exciting county senior decider
and the fans went away looking forward
to more of the same in the replay.
Mayobridge - L. Coulter; G. Barry,
B. Grant, L. Lively; S. Grant, Ronan
Sexton 0-1, K. O’Hare; E. Woods,
J. Caldwell; A. Barry 0-1, M. Walsh
0-6, five frees, C. Garvey; Noel Sexton
0-2, C. Magee 0-3, Benny Coulter 0-3.
Sub - J. Quinn for C. Garvey.
Longstone - A. Poland; M. Higgins,
E. Quinn, C. Poland; M. Doran, N.
McCombe, C. Smyth; J. Magee, P. Trainor;
E. Trimble, B. Doran 0-10, 8 frees,
S. Doran; R. Kelly 1-0; A. Rodgers
0-1, M. Poland 0-2.
Sub - G. Trainor for Trimble.
Referee - D. Moore from Tullylish.
