Athy edge out Maynooth after incredible high scoring affair
Athy's Ryan Bowden wins the ball ahead of Maynooth's Paul Maguire
This game was a complete throwback, a game more akin to modern hurling than the big ball equivalent. No defensive shields, no sweepers, end to end passing movements. You couldn’t get a bigger contrast with the previous night’s Newbridge derby. Defending was anathema.
Some of the statistics were remarkable. There were 44 scores, barely a handful of wides, the substitute benches weighed in with 1-11 between them. Crucially, Athy’s accounted for 1-7 of that.
They will need to go back to the drawing board defensively, but they’ll be happy to have eventually reeled in a Maynooth side who scored the game’s first three goals and only fell behind seven minutes from the end when Athy’s quick-thinking from a close-range free caught them off guard and substitute Cathal Kennedy finished to the net.
They saw it out from there despite Maynooth’s best efforts.
The sides exchanged five points inside the opening eleven minutes before Maynooth broke through for their first goal, Ciarán Flanagan sending Fionn Ó Giolláin through unhindered to fire past James Roycroft.
Athy hit back from that with two points, including one from raiding full-back and former Tyrone All-Ireland winner Cathal McCarron but on fifteen minutes Maynooth got in too easily through a porous Athy defence for their second goal.
On this occasion Paddy Mahoney’s quick free was gathered by Chris Canning and after he and Roycroft collided the full-forward recovered his footing quickest to bundle the ball home.
It remained end-to-end in the run in to half-time with some of Athy’s forward play a joy to watch, even if they continued to look far too open at the other end. With Niall Kelly and Kevin Feely chipping away with frees they got back to within three points by half-time despite a wonderful point from dual-star Cathal McCabe for the Maynooth men.
Half-time: Maynooth 2-10 Athy 0-13.
There was no let-up in the second half. Athy fired over three of the first four points to narrow the gap to the minimum, but they were sucker-punched once more when Roycroft’s kick-out went straight to Seán Higgins who transferred to Mahoney and he in turn offloaded to wing-back Matthew Eustace who finished low to the net. That made it 3-12 to 0-17.
Still Athy came back and narrowed the gap to two points before chiselling the game’s crucial score seven minutes from the end. Winning a 13-metre free, James Eaton took it quickly to Pádraig Spillane who offloaded to substitute Kennedy to finish to the net.
When they added two more points they looked like they’d coast home but Maynooth hit back with three of their own to leave just one point between them heading into injury time.
Eaton, though, converted a free from outside the ’45 and although Seán Hever replied with a close range one immediately afterwards, Cian Keaveney rounded off the scoring with a left-footed beauty.
There was still time for a footnote as Maynooth’s Cathal Quinn was handed a straight red card by referee Henry Barrett.
