Athgarvan through to JFC semi-finals after penalty drama
Athgarvan's Alan Sourke Photo: Sean Brilly
Athgarvan are through to a Junior Championship semi-final against Grangenolvin after a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Castlemitchell this evening at Cedral St Conleths Park.
After James Harris’ last gasp equaliser sent the game to the dreaded shoot-out, it was Athgarvan who prevailed even though they missed their first kick. They scored their next seven after that, Cian Doyle with the winning kick after Ray Kavanagh had missed for Castlemitchell.
Athgarvan started on the front foot and scored the first three points inside the opening 13 minutes, two from Derek Craddock, but that start became more of a distant memory as the half wore on.
It took until the 15th minute for Evan Doogue to open the Castlemitchell account and their next two scores after that were goals.
Veteran Emmet Hyland punched home in the 17th minute after Paidi Kelly’s shot dropped short and then eight minutes, Castlemitchell cut through the defence with Jack McCabe but it was corner back Bryan Byrne forward to play the final pass to Ross Harris who went to fire past Sean O’Mullane.
McCabe was involved again in the 28th minute when he set up James Harris for a score to make it 2-2 to 0-3.
Athgarvan ended 15 scoreless minutes when the excellent Craddock set up Eoghan Dunne for his second point of the half.
Ray Kavanagh and a James Harris from a tight angle left Castlemitchell two goals ahead before Daniel Connolly had the final say before the break, leaving the half time score at 2-4 to 0-5.
Castlemitchell were close to a goal soon after the restart but Eoin Coffey’s shot whistled the wrong side of the post after good build up play involving McCabe and Ross Harris.
Athgarvan were handed a way back into the game in the 36th minute when Eoin Myers’ shot was fumbled by Jack Nolan and although the Castlemitchell goalkeeper regained control before the ball bounced, the umpire was quick to go for the green flag and to say it had crossed the line.
Euan Brown tagged on a point before Ray Kavanagh replied with the first two points of the half for Castlemitchell.
It had been a frustrating night for Athgarvan sharpshooter Jordan Nolan Mullally but he finally got his first score in the 53rd minute.
Sensing blood, Athgarvan pushed on and Cian Doyle scored a cracker from a tight angle on the left. When Eoin Myers landed a brilliant judged two pointer in the 59th minute, they looked set for victory but a close range James Harris free in the 62nd minute sent the game to extra time with the scores level at Athgarvan 1-10 Castlemitchell 2-7.
Craddock continued to inspire his team into extra time and his point was followed by pacy Alan Sourke fisting over.
Again, Castlemitchell seemed to heading out but again they showed all their battling qualities. Dean Hyland and Jack McCabe socred before James Harris strode forward to kick an inspirational two pointer to make it 2-11 to 1-13.
The sting and impact of that two pointer was lessened a little when Kevin Curran scored just before the half time whistle for Athgarvan.
Ross Harris scored early in the second half to push Castlemitchell two points ahead and the game stayed like that for six minutes as Athgarvan seemed to run out of ideas.
But they regained the lead in freak fashion when a poorly struck 20 metre free by Euan Brown somehow dropped under the crossbar and into the net.
That flukey goal looked like being the decisive moment but two minutes into injury time, James Harris engineered a chance after cleverly linking up with Jack McCabe and bravely landed an equalising point but it wasn’t to be their night.
Sean O’Mullane; Daniel Connolly 0-1, Calum Sourke, Eoin Connolly, Dani Vali, Mark Connolly, James Nolan; Eoin Myers 1-2 (1tp), Niall Murphy; Alan Sourke 0-1, David Butler, Eoghan Dunne 0-2, Derek Craddock 0-3, Cian Scanlon, Jordan Nolan-Mullally 0-1. Subs: Cian Doyle 0-1 for Butler, h/t; Euan Brown 1-1 for Scanlon, h/t; Cameron Hughes for Nolan, h/t; Rian Smithers for E Connolly, 37; Kevin Curran 0-1 for Vali, 49; Cian Scanlon for Dunne, 76; David Butler for Murphy, 76; Conor Kraus for Craddock, 79.
Jack Nolan; Bryan Byrne, JP Horgan, David Ryan, Oisin Boylan, James Harris 0-5 (1tp, 2fs), Eoin Coffey; Ross Harris 1-1, Shane Kavanagh; Paidi Kelly, Ray Kavanagh 0-3, James Corcoran, Emmet Hyland 1-0, Evan Doogue 0-1, Jack McCabe 0-1. Subs: Joe Maher for Corcoran, 42; Dean Hyland 0-1 for Kelly, 49; Liam Haughton for Horgan, 52; Luke Maher for Ryan, 60; Thomas Davis for Hyland 60+4; Oisin Groake for Nolan, start of e/t; Oisin Fennin for Coffey, 70; Paidi Kelly for J Maher, 79.
Jack O’Connell.
