Caragh battle back to surmount Ellistown in Division 3 decider
Caragh celebrate winning the SFL Division 3 final Photo: Sean Brilly
Caragh recovered from a slow start in Saturday afternoon’s Hanlon Concrete Ltd Senior Football League Division Three decider to battle their way back for a hard-fought victory in Manguard Park.
Goals from Kevin Campbell and Ronan Doorey seconds before and after the half-time whistle went a long way to helping see Michael Browne’s team over the line against an Ellistown side that accounted for the game’s opening five points.
Their first was registered by Conor Lindy just seconds into proceedings, but it came at the expense of Darragh Watson who was forced to pull up with, what looked like hamstring trouble, during the build-up to that opener.
Pat Martin fired over a second point before Tadhg Watson and Harry Donnelly both converted frees, the latter landing his from beyond the arc for the double.
Having struggled to gain any traction in midfield early on, Caragh suddenly clicked into gear and chalked up six unanswered points in as many minutes, compliments of Darragh Swords, Doorey, Dan Lynam, Eoghan O’Haire and Joe Barrett to overtake by the narrowest of margins.
And, given the chances they had on goal, they will have been disappointed not to have found themselves further ahead midway through the first half, Lynam seeing his attempt deflected wide before O’Haire mopped up a poor kick out and fed Campbell whose strike cannoned back off the crossbar.
Instead, it was Ellistown who were first to locate the back of the net on 19 minutes when Harry Donnelly broke on to Evan Donnelly’s long ball before firing to the top corner, as his side moved back in front by two.
Caragh almost responded in kind six minutes later when Kevin Connor off-loaded to Swords who was denied a major when Ellistown goalkeeper, Oran Donnelly got down superbly to push his effort around the post.
But Caragh kept on coming, as Barrett and Connor split the posts before Campbell latched on to Liam Blake’s pass and drilled it low and to the right of Donnelly for the goal they had been threatening and one that saw them head in at the half-time break 1-8 to 1-6 in front.
Michael Browne’s side landed another heavy blow just a minute into the second half when Swords’ attempt at a point drifted off course, but Doorey was on hand to gather the high ball and set himself up to rifle to the net.
Suddenly facing a five-point deficit, Ellistown managed to pull one back when Tadhg Watson struck over before then being denied a goal seconds later when Michael Behan got a hand to his strike to see it trickle past the far post.
It remained tit-for-tat throughout much of the second half, although Ellistown did reduce their arrears to just two when Watson converted a penalty awarded for a foul on Donnelly.
Yet three unanswered points in the space of two minutes from O’Haire, Doorey and Swords had Caragh back in control, the latter seeing his initial attempt come back off the base of the left upright before he tucked the rebound over.
Watson did pull one back for Ellistown, but Doorey responded in kind down the other end to help ensure it was Caragh who lifted the Division Three silverware.
Ronan Doorey (1-3), Kevin Campbell (1-1), Darragh Swords (0-3), Eoghan O’Haire (0-3) (0-1f), Dan Lynam (0-2), Joe Barrett (0-1), Kevin Connor (0-1), Paul Dockery (0-1).
Tadhg Watson (1-3) (0-2f), Harry Donnelly (1-2) (0-2f), Conor Lindy (0-1), Pat Martin (0-1), Evan Donnelly (0-1), Oisin O’Loughlin (0-1), Oisin Molloy (0-1).
Michael Behan, Billy Byrne, Matthew McNally, Alex Kehoe, Darragh Swords, Paul Dockery, Cathal McKennedy, Kevin Connor, Dan Lynam, Josh Gannon, Eoghan O’Haire, Kevin Campbell, Ronan Doorey, Liam Blake, Joe Barrett. SUBS: Billy Kelly for Barrett & Dan Murray for Gannon (both 45 mins), Mick O’Toole for Blake & Conor Sullivan for Kehoe (both 54 mins), Austin Nevin for Campbell (59 mins).
Oran Donnelly, Sean Lindy, Max Lennox, James Neilson, Oisin Molloy, Darragh Watson, Pat Martin, Conor Lindy, James Sutton, Ciaran Lindy, Evan Donnelly, Leo Lennox, Tadhg Watson, Conor O’Loughlin, Harry Donnelly. SUBS: Oisin O’Loughlin for Watson (2 mins), Andrew McLoughlin for Martin (HT), Callum Donnelly for O’Loughlin (37 mins) and Ciaran Gray for Ciaran Lindy (42 mins).
Fergus Devereux
