Corca Duibhne’s double delight
The Dingle students had been left frustrated by the sight of 13 red jerseys operating inside their own half of the field. The Roscommon CBS wall, composed and disciplined for the most part, prevented the trademark bursts of Tom Ó Súilleabháin, Brian Ó Beaglaioch and Marc Ó Conchúir, prevented the open style of football that had returned the champions to a second successive Hogan Cup decider.
Forced to stray from their game-plan, Corca Duibhne’s first-half performance amounted to an endless string of lateral hand-passes. Back and forth across the 40 they went. More often than not, a Dingle player would reach his wits end and shoot from too ambitious an angle. Nine first-half wides. Picture painted.
The lateral hand-passing continued at the change of ends, their patience in dealing with the blanket defence marginally improving. Clever build-up play, even if painfully mundane from the neutral’s perspective, saw Ciarán Ó Móráin’s charges outscore the Connacht champions 0-4 to 0-2 to establish a 1-7 to 1-5 lead turning the bend for home. On 51 minutes, a floated Ryan Horan pass put Conor Shanagher in the clear. As the Roscommon CBS fans rose in expectation of a goal, the full-forward pulled his effort wide. The turning point, surely.
But, in the ensuing play, Horan fed Noel Gately and his attempted effort was punched to the net by Shanagher. The underdogs, eight minutes out, led for the first time. Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhe had been patient in dealing with the blanket defence, enterprise was now required to dismantle it. Cathal Ó Bambaire then levelled matters, latching onto Seamus Ó Muircheartaigh’s free. On 58 minutes, Corca Duibhne laid siege to the Roscommon goal. The ball was worked through the hands of Gearóid hIcí Ó Brosnacháin, Seán Ó Gairbhia, Brian Ó Beaglaioch and Tom Ó Súilleabháin who spotted the slightest gap and threaded possession through to Ó Conchúir. Foul.
Ó Muircheartaigh con- verted the resulting free to return Corca Duibhne in front and there followed a familiar tale of Dingle spirit and imagination: Gearóid hIcí Ó Brosnacháin, Conchúir Ó Géibheannaigh and Ó Muircheartaigh (free) landing the insurance scores.
Prior to Shanagher’s goal, Corca Duibhne had registered eight scores. In the final six minutes, they kicked five points. “We wanted to see football win out and we eventually cracked them open,” reflected Tom Ó Súilleabháin.
“It was frustrating to play against and we had a lot of wides. You just have to show your patience around the middle. We couldn’t really go on the runs today that we are so fond of. Mark [Ó Conchúir] and Sean [Ó Gaibhia] showed a lot of patience around the middle. Eventually, we got through.”
The wing-back, lining out in the white and red for the last time, is the sole member of the winning team to have featured throughout the four-in-a-row of Corn Uí Mhuirí titles and back-to-back Hogan Cup wins. Did we mention the All-Ireland minor medal captured along the way. “It feels like a dream. The whole thing has been this amazing rollercoaster. It is unbelievable.”
Ó Beaglaioch and Ó Géibheannaigh pushed the favourites into an early advantage and they moved four clear when Ó Géibheannaigh cut inside Adam Whyte and offloaded to Seán Ó Gairbhia, the centre-forward firing to the roof of the net.
Roscommon responded through corner-forward Noel Gately and Richard Hughes (free), drawing level with a well-worked goal on 28 minutes. Marc Ó Conchúir was dispossessed at midfield, Gately gave quick ball to Shanagher who duly obliged.
C Ó Géibheannaigh (0-5, 0-3 frees); S Ó Gairbhia (1-1); S Ó Muircheartaigh (0-2, 0-2 frees); B Ó Beaglaioch, G h Ó Brosnacháin, M Ó Gormáin, C Ó Bambaire (0-1 each).
C Shanagher (2-0); R Hughes (0-3, 0-2 frees); N Gately (0-2, 0-1 free).
L De Bhailís (Daingean Uí Chúis); C Ó Súilleabháin (Daingean Uí Chúis), T Ó Súilleabháin (Daingean Uí Chúis), C Ó Murchú (An Ghaeltacht); A Ó Conchúir (Daingean Uí Chúis), B Ó Beaglaioch (An Ghaeltacht), T Ó Súilleabháin (Daingean Uí Chúis); M Ó Conchúir (Daingean Uí Chúis), P Mac An tSíthigh (An Ghaeltacht); M Ó Gormáin (An Ghaeltacht), S Ó Gairbhia (An Ghaeltacht), PJ Mac Láimh (An Ghaeltacht); C Ó Géibheannaigh (Daingean Uí Chúis), S Ó Muircheartaigh (An Ghaeltacht), C Ó Bambaire (Daingean Uí Chúis).
G h Ó Brosnacháin (Daingean Uí Chúis) for Mac Láimh (HT), R Ó Mainnín (Liospóil) for Mac An tSíthigh (54).
J Fetherstone (Roscommon Gaels); S Casey (Oran), E Concar (Oran), A Whyte (Fuerty/St Ciaran’s); B Mullen (Fuerty/St Ciaran’s), A Duignan (Ros Gaels), R Hughes (Ros Gaels); G Keenan (Oran), D Cunniffe (St Croan’s); A Lyons (Fuerty/St Croan’s), J Casey (Oran), B Cleary (Ros Gaels); N Gately (Creggs/St Ciaran’s),C Shanagher (Kilbride), K Whyte (Oran).
R Horan (Ros Gaels) for Concar (HT), J Brennan (Fuerty/St Ciaran’s) for Cleary (42), J McDonald (Ros Gaels) for Cunniffe (48), D Foley (St Faithleach’s) for Lyons (54).
A Nolan (Wicklow).
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