Shelmaliers get revenge on Castletown in Wexford senior football decider

To really put Shelmaliers victory in context, they were reduced to fourteen players inside two minutes and rallied to win by a single point.

Sun, 15 Oct, 2023 - 19:01

Brendan Furlong

Shelmaliers 1-12 Castletown 1-11

A year after losing the county decider to the same opposition, Shelmaliers bounced back doing it the hard way as their fourteen man outfit saw Paul Hearne kick a dramatic injury time point to stun Castletown in this nail-biting Wexford senior football championship final at Chadwicks Wexford Park on Sunday afternoon.

To really put Shelmaliers victory in context, they were reduced to fourteen players inside two minutes of the start when corner-back Andre O'Brien was red carded by referee Brendan Martin following an off the ball incident. They were dealt a further blow three minutes later with wing-forward Cian Doyle forced off with a leg injury.

Taking full advantage of the disarray in the Shels set-up, Castletown stormed into a 1-2 to 0-0 lead inside the opening five minutes, their goal arriving as early as the second minute when midfielder Rory Heffernan moved through the defence at ease to place his shot into the right top corner of the net, while Donnacha Holmes and Ben Brosnan (free) tagged on points.

Shelmaliers supporters must have been envisaging the worst, but they managed to re-focus, responding with points from Glen Malone (free) and Brian Malone.

While Shelmaliers were still asking questions, it was Castletown who used their numerical advantage to add further points through Holmes, Brendan Halpin and Brosnan free, to lead 1-6 to 0-3 after twenty minutes, with Glen Malone managing a pointed free in between.

Not unlike the semi-final, Shelmaliers finished the half strongly, adding points through Eoghan Nolan (two frees) and Ross Banville who saw his punched effort go over the bar when he should have found the net from a Paul Hearne cross. But they still must have been satisfied just trailing by three points - 1-6 to 0-6 - at the interval. Quite surprisingly, Shelmaliers bossed the opening ten minutes of the second half after Nolan and Brosnan had exchanged pointed frees.

After a Glen Malone pointed free reduced the deficit to two points - 1-7 to 0-8 - the game took on a dramatic turn in the 40th minute when a Paul Hearne low cross took a wicked deflection off a defender and found the corner of the net to move a revitalised Shelmaliers one point in front.

Eoghan Nolan kicked over a superb point before Brosnan responded with a pointed free, but it was Nolan who once again found the target with an excellent pointed free from out close to the sideline to help his side into a 1-11 to 1-8 lead.

Despite their troublesome start, Shelmaliers were now playing some superb football, but Castletown bounced back with three unanswered points through Jonathan Bealin and two Brosnan frees, to bring the sides level 1-11 apiece with four minutes remaining.

Shelmaliers brought on former Dublin star Eoghan O'Gara for the closing minutes and his presence brought extra pressure on the opposition defence. Following a spell of keep ball, Shelmaliers eventually created the opening for Paul Hearne to point his side, dramatically in front three minutes deep into additional time.

Castletown managed one late desperate attack forcing a thirty metre free out close to the sideline with Ben Brosnan's effort swinging tantalisingly wide of the post, leaving the over the water side take their second title in three years and avenging last year's final defeat.

Scorers for Shelmaliers: P Hearne (1-1), E Nolan (0-6, 5f), G Malone (0-3, 3fs), R Banville, B Malone (0-1 each).

Scorers for Castletown: R Heffernan (1-0), B Brownan (0-7, 5f), D Holmes (0-2), J Bealin, B Halpin (0-1 each).

Shelmaliers: C McCabe; A O'Brien, G Staples, C Roche; G Malone, S Donohoe, R Banville; A Cash, S Keane Carroll; A Murphy, E Nolan, C Doyle; P Hearne, B Malone, C Hearne.

Subs: D Campbell for Doyle (5), E O'Gara for Murphy (55).

Castletown: D Brooks; C Carty, D Gardiner, J Ahern; K Pierce, F Roche, J Gardiner; R Heffernan, L Coleman; J Bealin, J Higgins, D Holmes; B Brosnan, R Brooks, B Halpin.

Subs: J O'Shaughnessy for Holmes (45), G Kelly for Halpin (53), R Cody for Ahern (53), S Moloney for Roche (58), Halpin for Carty (60).

Referee: B Martin (Ballyhogue).