Navan O'Mahonys 3-15 Rathmolyon 3-15

If dramatic endings are your thing, this Intermediate Hurling Championship encounter in Dunderry would have given Game of Thrones a run for its money. With several late scores and almost 15 minutes of injury time, both sides looked on the cusp of victory several times in the dying minutes.

Navan O’Mahony’s opened the scoring with a pointed free from talisman John Foley in the opening minute. This good start was soon to be outlived when a Rathmolyon free seconds later went at crossbar height into the square and ended up in the back of the net, giving The Village an early lead. 

They followed this up with two points from play before Foley settled things with another free from a placed ball. A third free from Foley gave O’Mahony’s their last score of the quarter, trailing 1-03 to 0-03 at the water break.

The water break seemed to serve O’Mahony’s well with three points in quick succession, from Brian Dunne, Foley and Darragh Connell to equalise the game for the first time since the outset. A goal from play broke this momentum and put the Village outfit in the lead again. Several points from both sides ensued before the break, with Seán Smyth and Jack Walsh getting their name on the scorecard for the Brews Hill side. The scoreline at the interval read 2-07 to 0-09 in favour of Rathmolyon.

In almost identical fashion to the start of the second quarter, the third quarter started with a surge from O’Mahony’s with two points in quick succession from Paddy Dillon and Walsh. Again, a goal from Rathmolyon once again swung things in favour of the Village.

The game looked dead and buried from a Navan O’Mahony’s perspective twenty minutes into the second half when they trailed by 8 points. A small glimmer of hope appeared when substitute David Quirke struck a low ball, giving little chance to the Rathmolyon netminder. With five points the deficit, the Navan side were back in the game and pushed on scoring three points from play before Foley found the net, pushing O’Mahony’s ahead for the first time since the first score of the game. 

Rathmolyon responded well and led by two points when Walsh stood over a free in injury time. Jeers arose from the Rathmolyon sideline when the ball seemed to be drifting wide but these were soon silenced when it hit the post, fell to Quirke who made no mistake in raising a green flag. The lead swapped sides twice more in the dying minutes of the game, with both sets of supporters encouraging the referee to blow it up at different times. 

The final score of 3-15 apiece would have looked impossible only twenty minutes earlier, but the Brews Hill side never gave up and fought to the end, splitting the two points on offer.

Navan O’Mahony’s: Shane Flannery, James Murphy, Kevin O’Rourke, Sam Formosa, Ben McEntagart, Dermot McKenna, Seán Smyth (0-02), Evan Brady, Paddy Dillon (0-01), Jack Walsh(0-06), John Foley (1-05), Darragh Connell (0-01), Brian Dunne (0-01), Cormac Keyes, Gavin Fox. Subs: David Quirke (2-0) for Fox, Paddy Skehan for Dunne, Colin O’Rourke for Keyes, Mark Usher for Dillon

Tweet

Most Read Stories