Veterans rise to help Stewartstown past Clifden in extra-time

Tyrone club trailed to their youthful opponents for much of the contest but showed nous to secure a final shodown with Fossa of Kerry

TIGHT AFFAIR: Corner back Jason Park proved to be Stewartstown's unlikely saviour. File pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

All-Ireland Junior Club semi-final: Stewartstown Harps 1-14 Clifden 1-9 (AET) 

Veterans Gareth Devlin, Anton Coyle and Greg Kelly came up with big plays in extra-time to settle a thrilling junior club championship semi-final at Dr. Hyde Park, as Stewartstown Harps eventually found a way past Naomh Feichín of Clifden despite trailing for the vast majority of the contest.

The Tyrone club enjoyed the lion’s share of possession throughout the game and looked physically stronger than their youthful Connemara opponents, but they struggled to turn their chances into scores, and trailed at half-time thanks to a really well-taken goal by John O’Brien after 20 minutes.

1-2 to 0-4 was a narrow interval lead, but with a strong wind at their backs for the second half, Clifden looked poised to advance to next Sunday’s Croke Park decider, all the more so after Ger Gibbons sent over a string of excellent frees.

Dylan McElhatton, Gareth Devlin and Macauley Quinn all failed to convert goal chances for Stewartstown while their wide count mounted too, but corner back Jason Park proved to be the unlikely hero as his score sent the game into overtime.

A wonderful pass from Anton Coyle into Gareth Devlin set up what looked like a match-winning goal for the Harps in the first half of stoppage time as they led by 1-11 to 1-9 with the wind to come for the closing ten minutes, but a black card for Jason Campbell at the start of stoppage time threatened to derail their chances.

Darragh Kennedy came up trumps for Clifden with a powerful run that won a penalty with five minutes to play, but Greg Kelly saved Gibbons’ spot kick, and three late points from Devlin and Coyle confirmed the Tyrone club’s win which secures a showdown with Fossa next weekend.

Scorers for Stewartstown Harps: G Devlin 1-6 (0-4f); G O’Neill, T Rush, D McElhatton, S Talbot, J Park, M Quinn, T Lowe (m), A Coyle (f) 0-1 each.

Scorers for Clifden: G Gibbons 0-9 (0-8f), J O’Brien 1-0.

Stewartstown Harps: G Kelly; J Park, D Devlin, C Quinn; K Robinson, M Rooney, G O’Neill; S Talbot, M Quinn; T Rush, C Devlin, D McElhatton; D Lowe, G Devlin, T Lowe. Subs: C O’Neill for C Devlin (46), A Coyle for T Lowe (57), J Campbell for McElhatton (60), T Lowe (15th man for ET), D Coyle for O’Neill (80), McElhatton for Robinson (80).

Clifden: I Staunton; G King, J Mannion, N Murray; R King, M O’Toole, S Black; C Joyce, S Sweeney; C Coneys, G Gibbons, H O’Toole; E Conneely, J O’Brien, E Moran. Subs: D Kennedy for Conneely (h-t), D Joyce for O’Brien (42), C Connolly for G King (47), E Mahon for Moran (57), Conneely for Joyce (66), C O’Donnell for H O’Toole (77), T Madden for Coneys (80).

Referee: J Hayes (Limerick).