Leinster Club IFC: Sean O'Mahonys reach final
November 17, 2014
Keith McLoughlin (Sean O'Mahonys) gets the better of Eadestown's Eoin Cummins during the Leinster Club IFC semi final in Clan Na Gael Park Dundalk.
SEAN O'MAHONYS 0-10
EADESTOWN 1-5
Sean O'Mahonys clinched a place in the Leinster Intermediate Championship Final with a hard-fought win over Kildare champions, Eadestown, at Clan na Gael on Sunday afternoon.
The reward for the Point Road men is a meeting with Meath champions, Ballinlough, in the final on November 30th in Drogheda where they will look to follow in the footsteps of the Geraldines who won the title last year.
The semi-final may not have been a classic but once again the O'Mahonys showed great character to bounce back from a five point deficit in the second quarter before taking control after the break.
Once again, Conor Finnegan was the scoring hero as he landed what proved to be the decisive point as the Louth champions held off a late rally from the visitors.
In a game where the heavy underfoot conditions made it difficult for both sides, it was the O'Mahonys who got off to the better start and points from Stephen Kilcoyne and Conor Crawley had their side leading by 0-2 to 0-1.
Eadestown had suffered the setback of losing half forward Cian Bolton to a black card inside the opening minutes, but the regained their composure and took a firm grip on the game, with sub Stevie Smith making a big impression.
Three unanswered points had the visitors two in front before Shane Dowling scored the only goal of the game just after the third quarter to make it 1-4 to 0-2.
The O'Mahonys were under pressure at that stage but once again they responded to the challenge and points from Kilcoyne (2) and Liam Dullaghan got them back into the match, but just before the break Eadestown extended the gap to 1-5 to 0-5.
Without every playing at their best, the O'Mahonys continued to hold the upper-hand and reduced the deficit with points form Finnegan and Kurt Murphy before Kilcoyne levelled at 0-8 to 1-5 early in the third quarter.
The Louth champions maintained that momentum and edged in front through Stephen Fisher before Conor Finnegan landed a free five minutes from time to give his side some breathing space.
As expected, Eadestown threw everything into attack in the closing stages but found it difficult to breach the disciplined O'Mahonys defence. Kildare star, Emmet Bolton, reduced the gap to one but in a tense finish the same player saw a last minute free fall short as the O'Mahonys held out to book a place in the final.
SEAN O'MAHONYS: Kevin Brennan; Pat O'Brien, Mickey Clarke, Ronan Byrne; Kurt Murphy 0-1, John O'Brien, Keith McLaughlin; Shane Brennan, Peter Nixon; Liam Dullaghan 0-1, Conor Finnegan 0-1, Gary Mulligan; Stephen Fisher 0-1, Conor Crawley, Stephen Kilcoyne 0-4. Sub: Conor Martin for K Murphy.
EADESTOWN: Mark Murphy; Ben Osborne, Willie Casey, Eoin Cummins; Eddie Conroy, Emmet Bolton 0-1, Eoin Woods; Pat O'Sullivan, Barry Lawlor; Shane Dowling 1-0, Robbie Smith, Cian Bolton; Cian Malone, Ciaran O'Sullivan 0-1, Conor McCarthy. Sub: Stevie Smith 0-3 for C Bolton (BC).
