Southern Gaels hit by late points as crucial victory slips away

Two late points from Clonkill"s Mark Keegan meant that Southern Gaels had to be satisfied with the draw and wait to see if that will be enough to qualify them for the semi-finals of this year"s Westmeath intermediate hurling championship 60 minutes of entertaining play couldn"t separate the two at Shandonagh last Sunday afternoon in what was billed as a must-win game for the Gaels. It took just 16 seconds for the opening score to arrive when Dermot Whelan pointed after a pass from Alan Kennedy. Four minutes later it was Kennedy"s chance to raise the umpire"s white flag and after the midfield partnership of Joe Fallon and Paddy Divilly had both registered points, on the ninth and tenth minutes respectively, Southern Gaels found themselves with a four points to nil lead with ten minutes gone and Clonkill still yet to pose any sort of threat to Brendan Kehoe"s goal. The opening Clonkill point did arrive on 11 minutes when Mark Keegan landed the first of his day"s haul of seven points. Two minutes after that a David O"Reilly point brought Clonkill back to within two but the opening goal of the game was imminent. On the 16th minute Southern Gaels were awarded a 20-yard free. Tony O"Keefe stepped up but rather than take the simple option of the point, O"Keefe blasted the ball to the roof of the net with the five Clonkill men on the line helpless to stop it. It was a goal that the Gaels deserved and on the balance of play it seemed as though they would pull away easily from their opponents. But Clonkill hit back straight away with points from Mick Heffernan and Paul Farrell. The Heffernan point was of particular note as the umpires initially waved it wide before apparently changing their minds. David O"Reilly then brought the deficit back to two as Clonkill began to get a grip on proceedings. But, as the half moved into time added on the tide turned again as three consecutive points - two from Paddy Divilly and one from Dermot Carey - restored the five-point lead that Gaels had held earlier on in the game. Undeterred however, Clonkill hit back immediately with points from Farrell and Keegan to leave the scores at 1-7 to 0-7 in favour of Southern Gaels. The two teams twice traded scores in the opening stages of the second half. Dermot Carey"s point was cancelled out by a Mark Keegan score and then a fantastic solo effort by Dermot Whelan was cancelled out once again by another Keegan effort. Then came the Clonkill goal on 44 minutes when a long high ball dropped short in the penalty area where Stephen Tuite managed to get his stick to it and divert it past Brendan Kehoe and to the back of the net. Keegan then put his side into the lead for the first time in the game as Clonkill looked to capitalise on the momentum gained by Tuite"s goal. Dermot Carey steadied the ship for Southern Gaels with a point on 49 minutes and as the game moved into it final 10 minutes substitute Robert English, only on the field a matter of minutes, gracefully fielded a puck-out from Brendan Kehoe before turning and flashing the ball over the bar in an instant - one of the scores of the game to give Gaels back the lead Alan McGrath landed a 65 to level the teams up once again but then Gaels registered what looked like the two decisive points of the game. And they were two monster points from midfielder Joe Fallon. Both of them came from in and around his own 65 yard line. The first came under severe pressure from the Clonkill players and the second came from a placed ball. Gaels now held a two-point lead with three minutes to go and with scores coming at a premium it looked as though the balance had finally swung in their favour. But a routine Mark Keegan free brought the margin back down to the minimum once again. And as the time ticked over the 60 minute mark and into stoppage time Keegan was awarded another free, a soft one it must be said, on the 20-yard line. But just as O"Keefe did in the first half for Southern Gaels, Keegan too went for goal. It could be viewed as bravery or foolishness from Clonkill"s scorer in chief but either way the ball was blocked away to safety and it looked as though Gaels would hang on. But Keegan was given another chance to atone for his miss when Clonkill were awarded yet another free, this time a much more difficult one from 65 yards out. Keegan made no mistake in splitting the posts from the distance. The referee could clearly be heard telling the players that there would still be a further minute of play after Keegan"s final free. But time was called on the game immediately after leaving the Southern Gaels players feeling slightly aggrieved. But really they were quite lucky to escape with the draw. Had Keegan taken his point with that 20-yard free then they could well have been staring down the barrel of a defeat. SCORERS Southern Gaels: Paddy Divilly (0-3 - 3f), Joe Fallon (0-3 - 1f), Dermot Carey (0-3), Tony O"Keefe (1-0), Dermot Whelan (0-2), Alan Kennedy (0-1), Robbie English (0-1) Clonkill: Mark Keegan (0-7 ~ 4f), Stephen Tuite (1-0), David O"Reilly (0-2), Paul Farrell (0-2), Alan McGrath (0-1 ~ 1 65"), Mick Heffernan (0-1). TEAMS Southern Gaels: Brendan Kehoe, Kieran Duncan, Declan Hickey, Noel Mulligan, Eoghan Cronin, James Kilroy, Paddy Dunning, Paddy Divilly, Joe Fallon, Dermot Carey, Alan Kennedy, Neil Rattigan, Coleman Gantley, Tony O"Keefe, Dermot Whelan. Subs Used: David Geraghty for Coleman Gantley (20 mins), Robbie English for Alan Kennedy (46 mins), Alan Kennedy for Dermot Carey (52 mins) Clonkill: Brian Murray, Alan Keogh, Jimmy Fitzsimmons, Jimmy Hallinan, Dara Ayres, Alan McGrath, Shane Power, Mark Healy, David O"Reilly, Mick Heffernan, Paul Farrell, Mark Keegan, Stephen Tuite, Mick Murtagh, Alan Giblin.