Athlone CC find extra gear to book quarter final place
Athlone CC 1-8 Patrician Newbridge 1-6 (aet)
Athlone CC advanced to the quarter-finals of the Leinster Colleges championship with this hard-earned victory over Patrician, Newbridge, last Wednesday.
Extra-time was required to decide the outcome, with the sides level on 1-6 each at the end normal time. Two points from Athlone CC midfielder Ray Connellan were the only scores in extra-time and they were enough to send Athlone into the quarter-finals, where they are likely to face a very tough challenge against St Mary's, Edenderry.
For Patrician, it was disappointing to bow out of the championship on their on own school pitch, but they could hold their heads up high after a battling performance.
Although they led in the early stages, Patrician (PBS) spent most of the game playing catch up against their opponents and it took a last gasp free from Ronan Fitzgibbon four minutes into injury time to send the game into extra time.
PBS were a spent force by then though and couldn't summon the energy to find a score during the additional 20 minutes in energy sapping conditions.
The pitch in the PBS grounds was wet and boggy but the weather stayed dry until a torrential downpour in extra time and although it may not have suited nippy, quick players, it was Ronan Fitzgibbon who caught the eye early on.
He opened the scoring with a glorious point from the right hand side of the pitch and once Clann na nGael's Ruairdhi McManus equalised, Fitzgibbon also scored Patrician's second point, from a free, in the eighth minute.
From that moment to when Ryan Houlihan scored a goal for the home side with the last kick of the half, the PBS struggled to get out of their half as Athlone midfielders Ray Connellan and McManus took control of the game.
Athlone were aided by a wind that blew diagonally across the pitch from one corner to the other, but they also had two midfielders who were very comfortable in front of the posts. Both scored two points apiece in the final ten minutes of the half and Athlone also raised a green flag in that time when Eoin Fallon fired past Tom Kinsella after an incisive Matthew Darling pass.
The game seemed to slipping away from Patrician at that stage and although they were going to have the wind after the change of ends, they needed something to cling to heading into the half-time break.
They got it thanks to a terrific Ryan Houlihan goal. For the first time in the half the PBS moved the ball quickly through the hands of a number of players and they got their reward. Diarmuid Hartley won the ball in defence and Ryan Moore and Fitzgibbon were also involved as Patrician went from one end of the pitch to the other, before Houlihan fired to the back of the net to leave his team just two points behind at the break.
Fitzgibbon hauled the PBS level with the only two scores of the opening 15 minutes in the second period but in a half short on attacking intent, Athlone moved ahead again through a Connellan free nine minutes from the end.
The PBS had struggled to create many chances through the second half but on more than one occasion were kept in the game by some terrific last ditch defending. It was defenders putting their bodies on the line to keep their team in the competition so few could argue that they weren't full value for Fitzgibbon's late equalising free after Darragh McHugh had been fouled.
After the full-time whistle and as the respective management teams were trying to gee their teams up for extra time, the heavens opened and the additional time was played in monsoon conditions.
It was Athlone who dealt with the difficult conditions better and Connellan scored the only two points in extra time to send his team through.
Athlone CC:
Michael McMahon; Martin Flannery, Brian Shaughnessy, Jack Donohue; Conor Mulry, Ronan Daly, Dermot Donnelly; Ray Connellan 0-5 (2fs), Ruairdhi McManus 0-3 (2fs), Eoin Fallon 1-0, Ronan Morris, Matthew Darling; Senan Farrell, Ronan Donohoe, David Brookes. Subs: Ollie Milton for Mulry (41); Mark Keenan for R Donohoe (54); Mulry for Fallon (70).
Patrician, Newbridge:
Tom Kinsella; Alan Scully, Kevin Scully, Tom Kealy; Aaron Murphy, Diarmuid Hartley, Liam Healy; Ryan Moore, Adam Burke; Cian McConnell, Ryan Houlihan 1-0, Darragh McHugh, Ronan Fitzgibbon 0-6 (5fs), Liam McDermott, Donal Dempsey. Subs: Kevin Lynch for McDermott (52 mins); David Malone for Dempsey (56); Con Kavanagh for Kealy (60); Cathal Hanafin for Burke (60); Burke for Moore (64); Ciaran Hanrahan for Lynch (65); McDermott for McConnell.
Referee:
Pat Keogh (Carlow).
