Old Parish reach first County Final since 1976

1976.

This was a year which saw former Taoiseach John A. Costello die at the age of 84 in early January, the Taoiseach of the day, Liam Cosgrave and his wife were meet in the White House by the then President of the United States of America Gerald Ford and his wife Betty on March 18 and a few days later the Sallins Train Robbery occurred in County Kildare, with a large amount of money stolen from a CIE train.

In mid May, Tim Severin in a boat called Brendan set out from Dingle across the Atlantic to America tracing a route of a sixth century monk by the same name.

In the last week of September a band was formed in Dublin that would go on to become known all around the world. The name of the Band was U2.

In October, President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh resigned following the famous ‘Thundering Disgrace’ remark from Paddy Donegan who was the then Minister for Defence. 41 days later, Patrick Hillery is inaugurated as the sixth President of Ireland.

In December, the first Mosque is established in Ireland by the Islamic Foundation of Ireland.

Former Dublin footballer Jason Sherlock, Republic of Ireland International Shay Given, former International soccer player Steve Finnan, former international rugby player Denis Hickie, TV host Daithi O Sé, actor Colin Farrell, Singers Shane Lynch and Steven Gately, former Galway hurler Ollie Canning and Journalist were all born.

The Olympic Games that year were head at Montreal in Canada, but most sovereign African nations boycotted the Games when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would not support, as had other international sporting organisations, the banning from competition of those countries whose athletes had participated in sporting events in South Africa as long as apartheid continued.

Kevin Heffernan’s Dublin beat Kerry in the All-Ireland Football final on a score of 3-8 to 0-10 and in hurling, Cork beat Wexford in a high scoring game, the final score was 2-21 to 4-11.

A little closer to home, John Mitchell’s beat Dunhill in the County Senior Football final with six points to spare at the end of the hour and in hurling, Portlaw trounced Tallow on a 7-12 to 1-5 score line in the Senior Hurling final.

O yes, something else happened, Cappoquin won the County Intermediate Championship, a competition they would not win again until 2014, and Old Parish won the Western Junior Football Championship, a competition they won again for the first time in thirty-eight years last weekend.

Last weekend’s game was in fact a replay. Just over a week earlier at Fraher Field the two sides had fought out a 1-9 to 1-9 draw.

Colligan went into the drawn game as favourites as they did in the replay having won last years final before loosing to Mount Sion in the final, but Old Parish were to ‘Shock’ them.

But was it a Shock? I know I for one had a feeling that Old Parish would win. They had appeared in the final in recent years, they had some experienced players, adding to their panel this year, bringing Declan Ryan a member of last years Midleton team that won the Cork Senior Hurling Championship into their set up and they also had John Phelan from South Tipperary who had worked with The Nire for a long number of years involved in the club and he had put in the region of one hundred training sessions and games in with the club this year.

In the drawn game, Colligan had a tonic start, with Johnny Wall kicking a brace of early points and Mark Flynn hit one to give them an early lead.

But the lead was cancelled out on twelve minutes when Graham Guiry having been set up by Ray Terry and Brendan Hogan beat Dean McKenna in the Colligan goals.

Points from Declan Ryan and Cormac Nugent had Old Parish in front and things were starting to look rosey for ‘The Shock’s’.

On 21 minutes Colligan introduced former Inter County footballer Sean Dempsey into the team and he made an immediate impact hitting a point for the 2013 champions.

Prior to the break, both sides would score once more, Ray Terry hitting a point for Old Parish and Ray Bannon for Colligan which gave Old Parish a 1-3 to 0-5 lead at the turn around.

Old Parish began the second half extending their lead to three after Cormac Curran and Shane Power had white flags waved.

Johnny Wall pulled a point back for Colligan on thirty seven minutes and three minutes later they were in front for the second time in the game when inter county hurler Colin Dunford having been set up by Ray Bannon beat Aidan Power to give his side a 1-6 to 1-5 lead.

The 2013 champions were now expected to press on and while they did hit the next score through Johnny Wall, they were not able to pull away any further on Old Parish.

Declan Ryan from a free and Bryan French hit points to draw the sides level at 1-7 a piece with the name about to enter its final quarter.

Colin Dunford and Declan Ryan swapped scores on forty-six and forty eight minutes, before Johnny Wall edged Colligan back in front with ten minutes to spare.

Both sides missed chances over the next six minutes before Declan Ryan levelled matters once more at 1-9 a piece and when Colligan broke forward with the hour played it looked as though they would win the game, but instead of popping the ball safely over the cross bar, a goal was went for but Aidan Power made a fantastic save to keep his side in the game and send the game to a replay.

Last Sunday, Colligan won the toss and elected to play with what advantage the wind can be at times, at their backs. But the wind does not always win games. In fact I have yet to see a GAA trophy with the wind engraved on it as the winner.

It can be an advantage to playing with it but when you play a carful and clever style of football when playing against it, it might not prove to be a disadvantage.

Old Parish in this game started very brightly. Ray Terry set up Cormac Nugent for the first score of the game on forty-two seconds which was followed by a Michael French score followed by a brace of scores from Declan Ryan to give Old Parish a 0-4 to 0-0 lead with just over four minutes played.

Johnny Wall hit Colligan’s first score of the game from a free on seven minutes. Soon afterwards Aidan Power the hero from the drawn game with a late great save to send the game to a replay, made another excellent stop this time from Alan Walsh.

Sean Browne halved Old Parish’s lead on nine minutes, but this was to prove to be his sides last score of the half despite playing with the wind.

In fact Old Parish were to hit one further score in the final twenty minutes of the first half, but it was not from the want of trying.

Graham Guiry missed chances to have green flags waved on nineteen and twenty-six minutes, but the Shocks would make no mistake a minute from time when Graham Guiry played Padraig Healy into the Colligan square with a clever flick and when the Old Parish man was pulled down, Thomas Walsh had no hesitation in awarding the side in red and white shirts a penalty and from twelve metres Cormac Nugent made no mistake to give his side a 1-4 to 0-2 advantage at the break.

Having scored a goal a minute from the end of the first half, Old Parish began the second half by adding a second goal inside a minute of the restart, the Veteran Ray Terry again playing a key roll in finding Graham Guiry who beat Dean McKenna to give his side a 2-4 to 0-2 lead.

Colligan however would hit a purple patch after this hitting the next three scores, Johnny Wall hitting a brace of scores and Gavin Whelan hit one to leave the 2013 champions trailing 2-4 to 0-5 with the game heading for the final quarter.

However, by this stage it could have been a lot worse for Colligan and it would have been but for a time intervention by John Flynn to deny Graham Guiry a second goal of the game.

Declan Ryan put Old Parish six points up with nine minutes to play, and a minute later the same player found Bryan French from a sideline kick and the youngster made no mistake in putting the ball over the Colligan crossbar.

If Colligan held any hopes of staging a late fight back in this game, they were ended seven minutes from time when Brendan Hogan an Shane Power combined to set up Graham Guiry for his second goal of the game which put Old Parish 3-6 to 0-5 in front.

John Morrissey and Mark Flynn would hit points for Colligan before the hour mark was up but in added time Declan Ryan from a free put Old Parish nine points or three clear goals (3-7 to 0-7) back in front.

The game however would end on a sour note as following a Melee involving a number of players, John Morrissey and Shane Power were sent off on straight reds meaning Old Parish will now have to select without Shane Power in the County Final in just over a weeks time, when they take on Kill at Walsh Park.

Old Parish: Aidan Power; Andy Walsh, Patrick Conway, Dan Murphy; Stephen Conway, Michel French, Ian Curran; Cormac Nugent, Shane Power; Tomás Curran, Declan Ryan, Declan Power; Ray Terry, Graham Guiry, Padraig Healy. Subs: Brendan Hogan for Tomás Curran, Bryan French for Declan Power, Patrick Keating for Ian Curran, Diarmuid Curran for Ray Terry, Sean Wade for Padraig Healy, Raymond Power for Graham Guiry.

Scorers: Graham Guiry 2-0, Declan Ryan 0-4 (3f), Cormac Nugent 1-1 (1-0 Pen), Michael French, Bryan French 0-1 each.

Colligan: Dean McKenna; Sean Browne, John Morrissey, John Flynn; Ross Browne, Peter Moloney, Ray Bannon; Mark Flynn, Darren Dunford; PJ Coffey, Alan Walsh, Gavin Whelan; John Wall, Sean Dempsey, Colin Dunford. Sub: Michael McGrath for Sean Dempsey.

Scorers: Johnny Wall 0-3 (3f), Sean Browne, Gavin Whelan, John Morrissey, Mark Flynn 0-1 each.

Referee: Thomas Walsh (Modeligo).