Caragh's Croke Park dreams ended by classy Crossmolina
Caragh's Kevin Connor wins a high ball Photo: Sean Brilly
The All Ireland Semi Final stage of the AIB Intermediate Football Championship has proven to be a glass ceiling for Kildare teams over the years, with none of our six previous provincial champions able to make the next step.
And so it transpired once more at a freezing Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in Longford on Saturday afternoon as Caragh were comprehensively outplayed by an impressive Crossmolina Deel Rovers.
The Mayo and Connacht champions looked good on paper beforehand, and they proved even better on the frosty grass with county senior star Jordan Flynn akin to a ‘cheat code’ at this level.
Flynn weighed in with three points, but that haul gives little indication of his dominance over proceedings. Add in Conor Loftus the former Mayo star pivoting the team from centre-back, while scoring 1-2, and Crossmolina had two players of a calibre Caragh couldn’t match, despite the best efforts of midfield duo Kevin Connor and Dan Lynam in particular.
A fourteenth minute penalty converted with aplomb by Loftus opened up a three-point lead which they held to the interval, but they really kicked for home on the restart, registering five outstanding points in six minutes without reply and there was no coming back from that from Caragh.
The Kildare champions struggled to find their well-marked inside forward line with Jake Corrigan and Ronan Doorey getting no room to show off their talents and it was mainly the barn-storming play of Lynam, returning from injury, that kept them in touch in the opening half.
James Maheady, another star performer for Deel Rovers, opened their account and Darragh Coggins added another before Caragh came alive with two points in under sixty seconds from Josh Gannon and Eoghan O’Haire after twelve minutes.
But a turnover in defence allowed Niall Coggins possession on the endline and when he fisted low across goal in an attempt to link up with Patrick Leddy, either or both of Matthew McNally and Paul Dockery were deemed to have touched the ball on the ground in the small square in their attempts to intervene. Loftus made no mistake with the spot-kick to the top left corner.
The same player came forward for a glorious point off the outside of his boot before the rampaging Flynn robbed Conor Sullivan to score a fine long-range point. With the gap at five, Caragh needed to react before half-time and they did.
Darragh Swords found a rare amount of space almost 40 metres out to split the posts and a sortie forward from Ryan Burke ended in the final point of the half as his ball into the goalmouth hopped off the hard ground and over the bar.
That left only three in it, but Crossmolina took complete control of possession with a powerful burst that yielded points from Fionán Duffy (two), Flynn (two) and Leddy to put them in a commanding lead.
Try as they might, Caragh could make little headway, and Duffy ended a fourteen minute spell without a score to stretch the Mayo side’s lead to nine points with ten minutes remaining.
An O’Haire free and a snapshot from Corrigan, freeing himself from the defensive shackles for the only time in the game, were scant reward for Caragh’s efforts and it was Crossmolina who put a gloss on the scoreboard with late points from Mikie Loftus and Conor Loftus. Lynam’s black card in injury time was merely a footnote as a glorious voyage for the Kildare club ran aground.
JP Mulhern; Diarmuid Fox, Kevin Mulhern, Matthew Gordetsky; Aaron Coggins, Conor Loftus 1-2 (1-0 pen), Lorcan Loftus; Mikie Loftus 0-1, Jordan Flynn 0-3; Darragh Coggins 0-1, James Maheady 0-1, Niall Coggins; Diarmuid Walsh, Patrick Leddy 0-1, Fionán Duffy 0-3 (1f). SUBS: Stephen Duffy for Walsh 50, Cillian Fergus for L Loftus 53, Cathal Carolan for Leddy 56, David Howley for Fionán Duffy 59, Fearghal Duffy for Gordetsky.
Michael Behan; Cathal McKennedy, Matthew McNally, Billy Byrne; Conor Sullivan, Ryan Burke 0-1, Paul Dockery; Kevin Connor, Dan Lynam; Josh Gannon 0-1, Darragh Swords 0-1, Dan Murray; Ronan Doorey, Eoghan O’Haire 0-2 (1f), Jake Corrigan 0-1. SUBS: Alex Kehoe for Byrne 51, Kevin Campbell for Gannon 51, Billy Kelly for Sullivan 51, Austin Nevin for Dockery 54, Fergal McKennedy for Doorey 54.
Kieran Eannetta (Tyrone).
