New York beat Leitrim on penalties to claim historic first Championship win
AMERICAN DREAM: Players and supporters celebrate after New York's historic win over Leitrim in the Connacht GAA football senior Championship quarter-final at Gaelic Park. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
History was made in New York late Saturday night when Mikey Brosnan’s winning penalty sparked wild scenes of joy in The Bronx where a tense shootout victory sent New York through to their first ever Connacht senior football championship semi-final.
It was a stunning upset, made possible in part by Shane Carthy’s normal time equaliser, his fifth point of the game, making it 0-13 apiece and forcing extra-time.
Leitrim manager Andy Moran will rue the wastefulness of a handful of goal chances going astray but New York’s resolve, inspired by several near misses over the past decade, proved insurmountable for the visitors.
And no more so than the shootout itself.
Leitrim failed on all four of their kicks with two saved and two hitting a crossbar and a post. New York weren’t perfect either but sub Niall Madine drilled their third and fifth taker Brosnan scored the clincher.
Manager Johnny McGeeney will be forever remembered as the first manager to achieve this remarkable feat and the fact that a New York native player enjoyed the final kick of the game will be especially significant for his panel and the local County Board.
Captain Johnny Glynn and man of the match Gavin O’Brien personified the determination of the home side, driving the tempo at crucial times from midfield and the visibly cramping visitors simply ran out of steam in extra time, a period during which both sides added two more points each to make it 0-15 apiece at the death.
New York went in at the half a point to the good, and deservedly so, but Leitrim started stronger, pulling out a 0-3 to 0–0 lead after seven minutes with a pair of scores from Paul Keaney arriving either side of a Keith Beirne free won by Mark Plunkett.
The hosts stopped the rot and calmed the nerves in the eighth minute when midfielder O'Brien was taken down, paving the way for a Carthy point off his left.
Peter Fox added a second for New York when he slotted over brilliantly off his right foot soon after another brilliant mark from O’Brien. Then his midfield partner Glynn, struggling with a hamstring injury, won back scrappy possession to set up wing back Shane Brosnan’s leveller.
In the 13th minute, Beirne’s second free put Leitrim back in front and, a minute later, the full forward’s first from open play opened out a two-point advantage for which the visitors were good value.
Carthy set up Fox for a brilliant reply to narrow the lead but in the 20th minute, Beirne’s third free made it 0-6 to 0-4.
That would be Leitrim’s final score of the first-half as New York snuffed out a couple of goal chances, their goalkeeper Mick Cunningham denying Beirne twice.
New York counted their blessings and took over proceedings, Daniel O’Sullivan and Adrian Varley both scoring to help the hosts go in at the break a point up.
Leitrim recalibrated for the second-half and were spurred on in particular by the brilliant Jack Heslin whose surging runs cut the New York backline apart.
Beirne kept up his free scoring but Leitrim couldn’t pull away and New York were energised by superb half-time sub Connell Ahearne whose two marks in quick succession added his name to the scoresheet with 15 minutes to go.
Evan Sweeney was introduced to the fray for Leitrim and he scored a pair of points with his first two possessions, causing a fresh round of concern for McGeeney and his backroom team.
New York had to come from behind twice in the dying minutes, sub Jack Reilly and the aforementioned Carthy saving New York and causing the exhausted visitors to dig deep for the restart.
Extra-time was a cagey affair and Sweeney and Ahearne again swapped scores. Then another from Ahearne put New York ahead at half-time of extra-time. Fittingly, the final score of the game was yet another Beirne free but it wasn’t enough to settle the nerves of his team mates as the dreaded shootout became a reality.
N O’Donnell; P Maguire, M Diffley, C Reynolds; C Farrell, S Quinn, J Rooney; P Dolan, D Wrynn; J Heslin, M Plunkett, P Keaney; A Flynn, K Beirne, T Prior.
A Reynolds for C Reynolds (21) ; B McNulty for Farrell (HT); E Sweeney for Prior (57); D Flynn for Keaney (60); O McLoughlin for Heslin (65); D Kelleher for Rooney (ET); C McGloin for Flynn (73); Keaney returned for Wrynn (82).
M Cunningham (Down); J Boyle (New York), A Campbell (Tipperary), E Kerin (Galway); B Maher (Tipperary), R Wharton (Kerry), S Brosnan (New York); J Glynn (Galway), G O'Brien (Kerry); M Ellis (Cork), A Varley (Galway), S Carthy (New York); M Brosnan (New York), P Fox (Tyrone), D O'Sullivan (Kildare).
C Ahearne for M Brosnan (HT); K Butler for Varley (52); M Queenan for Maher (52); J Reilly for Fox (70), N Madine for O’Sullivan (70); L Kelly for S Brosnan (75); T Mathers for Glynn (78); M Brosnan returns for Carthy (84), P Boyle for Wharton (86);
D Coldrick (Meath).
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