Sallins come through toughest test yet to reach Leinster final
Colm Dalton was in magnificent for Sallins during their win over Clara
The final scoreline might suggest otherwise but Sallins were handed their stiffest test yet by a rugged Clara side before the Kildare champions roared down the final furlong to reach the AIB Leinster Intermediate Football Final, where they will meet Tubberclair of Westmeath in Newbridge in a fortnight.
The Offaly side, brilliantly led from midfield by former county stalwart Graham Guilfoyle, proved ravenous on breaking ball in the first half and two-pointers from exciting wing-back Conor Doyle, the dual player, and Josh Fleming from a free, helped them to a 0-9 to 0-8 advantage at the interval.
The outstanding Colm Dalton, playing the football of his young life this year, was doing his best to keep his side in the game, with three outstanding first half points while goalkeeper Matthew Farrelly denied the barnstorming Guilfoyle a 17th minute goal with an outstretched left leg as Sallins reached half-time trailing by a point, 0-8 to 0-9.
Manager Jonathan Daniels had indicated after the facile win over Kilbride in the last round that his side were training for scenarios such as going a few points behind, as they had coasted through all games in Kildare and Leinster with margins of ten points or more.
That training was brought into play after Clara breached their defence five minutes after the interval with Guilfoyle and Doyle combining to set up midfielder Edward Cullen to palm home at the far post and take their lead out to three points (1-9 to 0-9) with only the second goal Sallins have conceded in their ten championship outings to date. Game on.
If Dalton had seemed like a one-man resistance force for much of the game to that point, his colleagues stood up to the plate from that point onwards, none more so than brother James, wing-forward Cian Grimes and midfielder Daragh Mangan, who along with workhorse Paul Farrelly wrestled the midfield dominance away from Guilfoyle and Cullen.
Defensively too, Sallins were outstanding at times, a first half block by Seán Ó Domhnaill on former Offaly star Thomas Deehan a case in point, while a last-ditch tackle by Grimes on his opposite number Cormac Delaney was another. They’re not just a footballing side.
Sallins still trailed by a point at the three-quarter mark by a point (1-10 to 0-12) but once the older Dalton, James, fired to the net after a brilliant passing movement involving Mangan, brother Colm and Stephen Kelly, Sallins looked like winners.
They outscored their opponents by 1-6 to 0-2 from that point onwards in an outstanding final quarter when they simply overpowered their opponents, the Offaly Senior B champions.
The second goal came from Kelly after a purposeful run from Mangan, whose loss of possession had led to the Clara goal, set the corner forward up for a driven finish in the 55th minute.
We wondered how Sallins would react if things went against them after all those comfortable wins and we certainly got the answer as they joined Grangenolvin (Junior) and Athy (Senior) in a weekend of success for Kildare football teams. It is the second time in three years that Kildare will have teams in finals of all three grades in the province while Clane hurlers are also in the Junior final in the small ball code.
Matthew Farrelly; Ruairí Ó Domhnaill, Matthew Moynihan, Seán Ó Domhnaill; Luke Kelly 0-1, Eoin McConnon 0-1, Glen McEvoy; Daragh Mangan, Paul Farrelly; Cian Grimes 0-5 (4fs), Colm Dalton 0-4, Luke Killian 0-2; Stephen Kelly 1-2 (1f), Emmet Ralph, James Dalton 1-2. Subs: Alan Marshall for Ralph 39, Aaron Carney for Moynihan 53, Sean Conway for S Kelly 57, Kevin Foley for Grimes 60, Seán McDonnell 0-1 for J Dalton 60.
Adam Scanlon; Ryan Carroll, Christian McKeon, Daragh McKeon; Conor Doyle 0-2 (tp), Marcas Dalton 0-1, Carl Stewart 0-1; Edward Cullen 1-0, Graham Guilfoyle; Cormac Delaney 0-2 (1’45), Adam Kelly, Conor Egan; Barry Egan, Josh Fleming 0-3 (1tpf,1f), Thomas Deehan 0-2. Subs: Jack Reynolds 0-1 for B Egan 44, David Falsey for Deehan 50, Alan Gavin for Carroll 54, Myles Handy for C Egan (temp 54), Ben Loughran for Delaney 57.
James Foley (Carlow).
