Saint Saviours Return To Senior Ranks after Narrow County Final Win

It is a 200 mile plus round trip from Templenoe in County Kerry, the home of Kerry great Pat Spillane to Fraher Field, and if anyone made the trip this afternoon to see their first round opponents in the Munster Club Intermediate Club Football Championship in two weeks time will in a way have considered it to be somewhat of a wasted journey even if there is some splendid scenery along the way, and have gone home with few fears that they should advance to a Munster Semi Final and an away meeting with the Cork Champions the following weekend.

To say that this year’s County Final was a dull affair would be an understatement, but for Saint Saviours they won’t mind how poor a game was played between two sides that we know can play some good football, as they have won back their place in the senior championship after they were relegated three seasons ago.

For Modeligo the defeat today means that it is two defeats in twelve months at the same stage of the competition which at times can be hard to take and more over because we all know had they won here, or even twelve months ago when they lost out to Kilmacthomas they would have added to the senior football championship.

Many of us neutrals went into this game expecting a big performance from Darragh Corcoran. However to put so much pressure on young shoulders is often dangerous, and while he did not have the same impact as he did in the East Waterford Divisional Championship, maybe because Modeligo did not allow him to have the same impact, maybe the pressure got to him, but again the Ballybeg based club wont won’t mind this evening. He played a big part in getting them back into the senior championship, the only city club to be involved next year, but this maybe allowed others to have their day in the limelight today.

Gareth Duffy was not named to start on the programme, but all that are following this year’s championship had a fair idea that he would be playing and even that it was Joseph Phelan the Saint Saviours number ten would be the player to miss out. The 30 year old member of the Defence Forces produced a Man of the Match performance hitting half of his sides scores in this game all from play, while at the opposite end of the field Kevin Boland pushed him hard all the way, and it was only after Duffy kicked the winner in stoppage time at the end of the hour that the assembled members of the written press who pick the Man of the Match agreed to give it to the Saint Saviours number 17.

Modeligo will not need any telling that it could be a said that this is a game that they very much lost. They depended very much on the oldest and youngest of the Troy brothers Shane and Michael when it came to scoring for the West Waterford club. Between then they split equally six of their side’s seven points in this game.

They over the course of the sixty plus minutes in this game produced the greater number of scoring chances in this game, but time and time again, they tried to literally walk the ball close in front of the Saint Saviours goal instead of kicking from distance, and in over working the ball they more often than not found that before they could get a shot at goal the chances were smothered by a strong Saint Saviours defence.

The city side looked as if they were off to a flying start in this game when Darragh Corcoran split the posts with just fourteen seconds of the game played, but it was Modeligo that proved to be the better of the two sides for the remainder of the opening quarter of this game as John Devine pointed on three minutes and Michael Troy edged the Western Club in front six minutes later, and while Saint Saviours drew level just short of the midway point of the opening half with an excellent score from Shaun Corcoran from out on the bank side of the field while attacking the town goal, in truth by this point Modeligo could and should have been in front by a few points, but they were found guilty on more than one occasion of trying to walk the ball into a position close to their opponents goal rather than kick from out the field, only to be denied by some good defending on a number of occasions by the Saint Saviours defence.

The new county champions however proved to be the better of the two sides in the second quarter and were full value for their three point lead at the break,

Michael Troy edged Modeligo back in front on 19 minutes but this proved to be his sides last score of the opening half.

Man of the Match Duffy hit the first of his scores with five minutes of the first half remaining and two minutes later Darragh Corcoran gave his side the lead when he put over a free which looked from the stand to be rather dubious and the feeling was that it should have gone in the opposite direction.

And the Ballybeg based club would finish the half strong, going to the dressing rooms with a 0-6 to 0-3 advantage showing on the score board thanks to a brace of points both off the boot of Gareth Duffy within two minutes of each other before the game went into stoppage time.

Scores in the second half were hard won. After an early exchange of scores between Michael Troy and Brian Power, Modeligo moved closer on the score board to Saint Saviours when Shane Troy put over his first score of the game on 39 minutes.

And it was the same player that hit the games next two scores, both frees struck on 54 and 56 minutes to tie the scoring as the city side began to show signs of indiscipline at the back and getting punished for doing so.

With the hour up and four added minutes signalled to be played at the end of the hour for stoppages it looked as if the County Board would have an unexpected extra pay day as the two sides would have to return to the same venue this coming weekend to do it all over again, but as we have seen no game is over till the final whistle is blown and often in added time there is plenty of time for someone to make a name for themselves.

In the first minute of added time it was Gareth Duffy that proved to be the match winner for Saint Saviours as he gave his side a deserved lead and to inflict on Modeligo a second county final defeat at the same grade inside twelve months of each other.

Saint Saviours: Anthony Kiely; Darren Boland, Kevin Boland, Peter Crowley; Jack Flavin, Jack Brophy, Michael Merrigan; Keylan Cassidy, Kieran Murphy; Gareth Duffy, Shaun Corcoran, Kiefer Dowling; Brian Power, Darragh Corcoran, Brian Quinn.

Subs: Joseph Phelan for Kiefer Dowling (37), Martin Holohan for Michael Merrigan (46), David Griffin for Brian Power (54), Kyle Kennedy for Brian Quinn (54).

Scorers: Gareth Duffy 0-4, Darragh Corcoran 0-2 (1f), Shaun Corcoran, Brian Power 0-1 each.

Modeligo: Thomas Walsh; Robbie Buckley, Brian McCarthy, John McGrath; Sean Hennessy, Sean O’Donovan, Keith Hickey; Rian Reddy, Mick Devine; John Devine, Patrick O’Donovan, Niall Browne; Michael Troy, Shane Troy, Gavin Dalton.

Subs: Patrick Walsh for Patrick O’Donovan (HT), Bernard Wright for Gavin Dalton (41), Cian O’Byrne for Niall Browne (42), Jamie Troy for Michael Troy (54). 

Scorers: Michael Troy, Shane Troy (3f), 0-3 each, John Devine 0-1

Referee: Alan Kissane.