St Michael’s defy the odds again

Underdogs for the fourth game in succession, St Michael’s once again proved the doubters wrong with a terrific win over north Meath rivals Oldcastle in front of a packed crowd in Ballinlough on Saturday to seal their IFC last four ticket.

Having finished rock bottom of A FL Div 2 with just one victory, this has been a remarkable turnaround from Ciarán Conlon’s side who were full value for their win. Sure, they rode their luck at times, went long stretches without a score but their never-say-die attitude and battling qualities pulled them through.

Oldcastle will rue a plethora of missed goalscoring opportunities and 11 wides, but when three points up after 41 minutes they only posted a further two points and simply did not kill the game off when it was at their mercy.

The Carlanstown/Kilbeg side started with real purpose racing into a four-point lead. A two-point free from Gearóid O’Malley along with an effort from Shane McDonnell and another free from O’Malley gave Michael’s the early advantage. Having been denied moments previous by Graham Dooner from a Lee Healy shot, Healy fed Colin Hawdon who blasted beyond the St Michael’s netminder to give Oldcastle a foothold after 10 minutes.

The Michael’s response was emphatic with a goal of their own five minutes later with Matthew Halpin finishing low under Conor McHugh following some neat play by Kuba Bidzinski in the build-up. McDonnell and Bidzinski immediately added points to hand their side a 1-6 to 1-0 advantage at the end of the opening quarter.

Oldcastle dominated the next 15 minutes outscoring their opponents 0-7 to 0-0 in the run-in to half time. Scores from Rory Crawley, Steven Lawless, Colin Hawdon, a two-point free from Oran Mulvanny and a brace from the impressive Paul Hennessy put Joe Sheridan’s team in front for the first time, 1-7 to 1-6 at the interval.

Following their barren second quarter, St Michael’s mustered the first two points of the second half, both arriving from the trusty left boot of O’Malley to give them the lead again. It was short-lived though as Hawdon restored parity before Lee Healy blasted to the net a minute later on 41 minutes after a piercing run through the heart of the St Michael’s defence to give the side in blue a three-point lead.

Healy almost had a second goal two minutes later, but his attempt whizzed wide of the post and Michael’s once again responded well with white flags from McDonnell and O’Malley (free) bringing them back within a solitary point entering the final 15 minutes.

A Pearse Sheridan free extended the Oldcastle lead to two but a further couple of frees from O’Malley and another from the superb McDonnell gave St Michael’s the lead with three minutes remaining. Substitute Paddy Rahill equalised with a monster score entering stoppage time but late scores from the timeless Ciarán Lynch and O’Malley sealed a famous win and a semi-final berth for St Michael’s.

St Michael’s - Graham Dooner; Harry Dunne, Brian O’Reilly, Cathal Walsh; Dan Murphy, Ciarán O’Reilly, Jack Griffin; Matthew Halpin (1-0), Cian Sheridan; Gearóid O’Malley (0-9 one two-point free, five frees), Shane McDonnell (0-4), Kuba Bidzinski (0-1); Declan Reilly, David Lynch, Cian McFadden. Subs – Paddy Tobin for Reilly 44m, Robbie Briody for Murphy 47m, Ciarán Lynch (0-1 free) for Sheridan 52m, Brian Reilly for Reilly 65m.

Oldcastle - Conor McHugh; Thomas Sheridan, Dylan Garrigan, Oran O’Reilly; Rory Crawley (0-1), Jason Scully, Steven Lawless (0-1); Paul Hennessey (0-2), Oran Mulvanny (0-2 two-pointer); James Cooke, Pearse Sheridan (0-1 free), Lee Healy (1-0); Shane Boylan, Colin Hawdon (1-2), Pat Crawley. Subs – CJ Healy for Boylan half time, Ryan Halpin for R Crawley 36m, Conor Delaney for P Crawley 43m, Garrett O’Reilly for L Healy 56m, Paddy Rahill (0-1) for P Sheridan 58m.

Referee: Stephen Cregan (Dunshaughlin).