Sash pushed all the way by Maynooth
Sarsfields midfielder Gavin Anderson tries to break through the tackles of two Maynooth defenders Photo: Sean Brilly
A six-point win was enough for Sarsfields to top Group B of the Joe Mallon Motors Senior Football Championship – but don’t let that final scoreline fool you, this game was much closer than that final score suggests.
Indeed, this game was very much in the melting pot until Callum Bolton pushed Sarsfields four points clear in the fourth minute of injury-time, before Conor O’Donovan sealed the deal with a goal a minute later.
Up to that point, Maynooth, who knew a draw would be good enough for them to finish top of the group and take the first seed place going into the draw, had been very difficult opponents.
Led by the magnificent Paddy Mahoney, who finished with 1-10, they were always in the game but might reflect back on one moment in the second minute of injury time. Two points down and needing a draw, they won a free kick that was inside the 45 but out near the right sideline. It would have been a tough kick for sure but once Mahoney, who hadn’t put a foot wrong all game, took it quickly and it came to nothing it was surely a shot that they would have liked to take on.
Overall though, it was a game that emphasised the quality that Maynooth possess and if Athy are any way short of their best in the quarter-finals then Ross Glavin’s side are good enough to capitalise.
Mahoney scored eight points in the first half, including three two-pointers, but despite that, Sarsfields went into the dressing room holding a two point lead, 2-8 to 0-12.
The goals were key for the Sash. Barry Coffey scored the first from a ninth minute penalty after Matty Byrne was dragged down inside the square after a flowing move.
The second arrived late in the half with Ryan Kearney and Daragh Conlon linking up in the build-up and getting the ball inside to Gavin Anderson. Although the speed of the move had cut the Maynooth defence wide open, there was still plenty for Anderson to do but he gave former Kildare stopper Mark Donnellan no chance with a powerful shot into the top corner of the net.
That put Sarsfields three up, Mahoney’s third two-pointer of the half cut that lead back to one but it was left to the best player on the pitch in the first half, Shea Ryan to have the final score before the break.
Two-pointers early in the second half by Coffey and Cian Costigan helped Sarsfields get a grip on the game and they were six points ahead in the final quarter.
Cillian Geraghty pulled back a point not long after his introduction and then Maynooth won a penalty of their own in the 51st minute when Liam McDonald was fouled as he was shooting. Mahoney made no mistake with the kick, and then converted from a free in the 56th after a 3-up breach and it was very much game on with just a point between the teams.
Coffey converted a free to settle Sarsfields nerves. They could have settled the game when the rampaging Cathal White saw a shot saved in the second minute of injury-time and then from the rebound saw his effort blocked on the line by a defender.
They may have lived to regret that had Maynooth elected to shoot from the free kick they won shortly after but in the end, O’Donovan’s goal made sure of the win and Sarsfields can now look forward to a Newbridge derby in the last eight against Moorefield.
Cathal Moore 0-2fs; Colm Harnett, Cian Hughes, Alan Scully, Daragh Conlon 0-1, Shea Ryan 0-1, Cathal White 0-2; Matty Byrne, Gavin Anderson 1-0; Callum Bolton 0-2, Ryan Kearney, Cian Costigan 0-3 (1tp), Ben McCormack, Barry Coffey 1-4 (1-0pen, 1tp, 2fs), Conor O’Donovan 1-2.
TJ Donohoe for McCormack, 39; David Higgins for Harnett, 39; David Shalvey for Conlon, 46; Daragh Ryan for Costigan, 46; Kieran Dwyer for Kearney, 55; Karl Hartley for Shalvey, b/s 61-64.
Mark Donnellan; Cathal Quinn, Sean Mahon, Alex Tilly, Conor O’Grady, Niall O’Sullivan 0-1f, Callum McCabe 0-1; Ciaran Flanagan, Matthew Diamond 0-2 (1f); Niall Cullen, Sean Hever 0-1, Paddy Ryan 0-1, Paddy Mahoney 1-10 (1-0pen, 2tp, 1tpf, 2fs), Kevin Donovan, Liam McDonald.
Paul Maguire for Diamond, b/s 2-7; Paul Maguire for Donovan, 38; Cillian Geraghty 0-1 for Ryan, 44; Cathal Flynn for Quin, 57; Ruadhan Ó Giolláin for Cullen, 59; Aaron Mahoney for O’Sullivan, 60+5.
Henry Barrett.
