Warriors Walterstown stun favourites in fantastic fashion

Blacks defy the odds to throw IFC race wide open

Walterstown .......................0-1-14 (16)

Castletown ........................1-1-10 (15)

Fittingly the curtain closed on a pulsating weekend of action across the Meath football championships with Walterstown producing the biggest upset of the weekend by eliminating IFC favourites Castletown in dramatic fashion at the quarter-final stage in Simonstown.

The rank outsiders of the eight going into the weekend produced a performance of true heart that their Keegan Cup winning teams of the early 1980’s would be proud of. They thoroughly deserved their win too and despite falling four points behind and losing a man to a black card before the break, Andy McGuinness’ side never deviated from their well crafted gameplan.

With Adam Quinn contributing half of their total, Conor Farrelly playing a captain’s role, Conor McEntee lording the middle of the field and Brendan McGuinness and Ciaran Cox producing defensive masterclasses, Walterstown were not to be denied.

On what was a perfect evening for football with no breeze, veteran Darren Finney pointed Castletown in front inside two minutes. Walterstown responded well to the early concession and reeled off three points in a row from Quinn, Fionnan O’Connor, and the excellent McEntee.

Killian Smyth registered Castletown’s second point before evergreen netminder Johnny Ginnitty was forced into a terrific save to deny Fionnan O’Connor what would have been a brilliant Walterstown goal. Ruairí O’Dowd did however reestablish to two-point lead for his side with a close range free.

The sides exchanged points with the lively Weldon and O’Dowd (free) trading blows to leave the men in black 0-5 to 0-3 to the good after 18 minutes. Sean Barry and Sean Kelly’s side then struck a key purple patch which yielded a half dozen of points in succession.

Three white flags in the space of two minutes from Finney, Mark Kelly and Sean McKeown nosed the north Meath team in front for the second time. Weldon then angled over the games first two-pointer following splendid link-up play from Conall Sheridan and the influential Kevin Ross.

A further effort from Smyth, which coincided with a black card for Conor Lenehan, threatened to see the game get away from Walterstown before the break. The underdogs regained some composure before the interval and were again foiled by another magnificent Ginnitty save, this time denying Lorcan O’Connor. Walterstown did manage to reduce the arrears to three at the end of the half with Quinn cushioning over off his weaker right leg leaving Castletown in front, 0-9 to 0-6, at the break.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Walterstown came out of the dressing rooms a side rejuvenated and signalled their intent with a two-pointer from Quinn in the 33rd minute.

Adam Brady equalised and with McEntee and Mark Foy dominating the middle, the platform was there to kick on and they duly obliged.

Further scores from the tireless Fionnan O’Connor, O’Dowd, and a brace of pointed frees from Quinn gave their side a four-point advantage at the end of the third quarter, 0-13 to 0-9.

Weldon ended Castletown’s drought 15 minutes into the second period, but Foy immediately cancelled that out with a point of his own from the left. Rian McConnell, who was well marshalled throughout, did reduce the gap to three by converting a free with 10 minutes remaining.

The big moment arrived five minutes later and inevitably it was Finney at the heart of it as he pitched a perfect ball over the defence, picking out the run of substitute Adam Matthews to fire to the net for the equalising score.

Buoyed by that, Castletown took the lead a minute later thanks to another from Weldon and seemed as though they had got out of jail late in the day.

There was no quit in Walterstown though and Quinn levelled in the 56th minute before raising the decibel levels with a sublime score entering stoppage time to put his side back in front.

It was all Castletown for the five minutes of stoppage time with the weary Walterstown defenders continuing to put their bodies on the line. McConnell was presented with two opportunities to both win it and draw it but, on both occasions, his frees fell short and Walterstown held firm to record a seismic win.

Walterstown: John Davis; Ciaran Cox, Jack Wilson, Oliver Maloney; Conor Farrelly, Brendan McGuinness, Senan Colgan; Mark Foy (0-1), Conor McEntee (0-1); Conor Lenehan, Fionnan O’Connor (0-2), Lorcan O’Connor; Adam Quinn (0-8 three frees, one two-pointer), Ruairí O’Dowd (0-3 frees), Adam Brady (0-1). Subs – Barry O’Connell for Brady 47m, David Donnellan for Colgan 56m, Aran McLoughlin for Lenehan 60m, Eoghan McCague for Cox 63m.

Castletown: Jonathan Ginnitty; Conall Sheridan, Evan Hoey, Killian Markey; Sean McKeown (0-1), Eoin Reid, Killian Price; Rian McConnell (0-1 free), William Bellew; Mark Kelly (0-1), Darren Finney (0-2), Killian Smyth (0-2); Kevin Ross, Darragh Weldon (0-5 one two-pointer), Declan Cribbin. Subs – Adam Matthews (1-0) for Cribbin 37m, Daragh Kelly for Kelly 45m, Daniel Moran for Sheridan 49m.

Referee: Ciarán Flynn (Dunsany).