Moore is Clonmullion's hero after dramatic Lumsden Cup final
The celebrations begin for Clonmullion Photo: Michael Anderson
The Lumsden Cup final rarely fails to deliver in terms of drama and excitement but the storyline of this game stretches the limits of what is believable.
Not only did Clonmullion lose one goalkeeper to injury, they lost two and yet it was the third man between the posts, Corey Moore, who ended up the hero with a decisive and match winning save in the penalty shootout as they won their third Lumsden Cup in four years.
The loss of Lawless so early in the game should have been a body blow to Clonmullion but firstly Nathan Germaine and then Moore produced heroics to help the Athy side to another famous win.
It was a heartbreaking defeat for Clane that ends their dreams of a treble. The club put in a huge effort in hosting the final and their team certainly showed up and delivered an excellent performance but they were beaten by the slenderest of margins. They started the game with three 18-year-olds and only two players over the age of 22 and are still chasing trophies in two other competitions, including the Senior Division league title, so when the disappointment of this defeat dies down their future looks very bright indeed.
It was a game of stunning goals, with three of the four scored coming from outside the area.
Liam Deane opened the scoring for Clane with a close range header in the 42nd minute but that lead didn’t last long. After Cody Mulhall had been fouled, Clonmullion captain Nathan Robinson, who was later named the man of the match, curled a delightful 25 yard free kick past John Ball in the Clane goal.
If that goal was good, the next was quite simply spectacular. Clane half cleared a Clonmullion corner to the edge of their box in the 71st minute but Mark Wolfe swivelled and struck an unbelievable dipping shot that kissed the underside of the bar before nestling in the net.
Once again though, the lead didn’t last long and two minutes later it was Clane’s turn to show what they could do from distance. Liam Deane scored his second goal of the game with a 25 yard shot that was so precise that it may very well have found the bottom corner of the net even if Clonmullion had all three goalkeepers between the posts at the same time.
Clonmullion could have won it in normal time when Clane failed to deal with Garry Comerford’s long throw and Cody Mulhall crashed his header off the crossbar from no more than six yards out.
Clane’s hopes getting a late winning goal were hit in the 87th minute when Dean Comiskey, one of their better players on the day, picked up a second yellow card for needlessly stopping Comerford from taking a free kick in the centre of the field when there was no danger.
No further goals meant extra time and although Benny Lawlor shot narrowly over near the end of the first half, it was ten-man Clane who came closest to finding a winning goal in the extra 20 minutes.
Mark Kelly could have hardly have hit his 25 yard free kick in the 102nd minute any sweeter. It dipped over the wall and viciously curled towards the goal but struck the very inside of the post and Aidan Ralph could only smash the rebound well over the bar.
So, penalties were needed and the first 11 all found the net with the minimum of fuss. Somebody has to miss in the shoot-out and unfortunately for Clane it was Rasdi Nsimba who put his kick a little too close to the goalkeeper but Moore still needed to guess the right way and he did that and kept the shot out to spark massive celebrations and secure another title for his team and add another remarkable chapter in the storied history of the Lumsden Cup final.
Michael Lawless (Nathan Germaine 6, Corey Moore, 56); Jay Connell (Dom Redmond, 97), Mark Hughes, Jamie Boyne, Lee Day; Chris Chanders, Garry Comerford, Nathan Robinson, Mark Wolfe (Lee Foley, 76); Benny Lawlor, Cody Mulhall. Unused subs: Johnny Fennall, Stephen Donovan, Ricky Moriarty.
John Ball; Stephen Leavy; Jack Kelly, Sean Sheridan, Mark Kelly; Sean Connolly, Cathal Geoghan, Andrew Hyland (Nathan Carr, 61), James Ralph (Rasdi Nsimba, 100); Dean Comiskey, Liam Deane (Aidan Ralph, 90). Unused subs: Emmet O’Donoghue, Ben Kirwin, Adam Mazur.
Danny Whelan.
Derek Stafford, Eddie Sullivan.
Alan Sherlock.
