Late rally sees Cooley Kickhams overcome Dublin champions

Leinster Intermediate Football Quarter Final

Cooley Kickhams 1-13 Naomh Barróg 0-11 (Dublin)

A second half goal from Patrick Johnson proved decisive as Cooley Kickhams booked their place in the Leinster Intermediate Club Football Championship Semi-finals following a gruelling tussle in Dowdallshill.

Unlike their opening Leinster victory over Ballymahon, the Dublin champions were a much tougher prospect, a mix of patient build up play and a lethal place kicker in Paul Tolan seeing Naomh Barróg  lead by three points going into the final ten minutes.

Despite not having the leadership of Colm Nally on the sideline, the men from the Penninsula bounced back strongly, a high-intensity finish seeing them totally outmatch their opponents, outscoring them 1-6 to 0-1 to turn the game on its head and record a hard fought five-point win.

This was a demanding Leinster tie and despite the pitch in St Bridget’s Park being in sublime condition, it was still a tough surface for the players to get their heads around. It led to endless frees, with referee Andrew Smith awarding 41 frees. Yet in general it rarely that felt dirty.

As you can imagine, given there were so many fouls, there was plenty of opportunities from placed balls, with the Dubliners in particular taking advantage. Paul Tolan had seven attempts in the first half, with his five efforts all going over the blackspot.

The Louth champions had their fair share of frees too, an early brace from Cian Connor giving them the lead on eight minutes. Tolan fired back with a rapid-fire brace of his own, yet in the opening exchanges it was Cooley that kept their noses in front.

Despite Smith being so keen to blow the whistle at any opportunity, Nally’s side didn’t rely on frees as much as the men from Dublin, with the likes of Michael Rafferty, Patrick Johnson and Enda O’Neill all hitting the target from open play.

Yet they could’ve been behind at halftime, as 12 fouls were used wisely by Naomh Barróg. It was only because of two late misses just before the break, again from the boot of Tolan, that they didn’t lead at the turnover. Instead, the teams were deadlocked at 0-6 apiece.

The Dubliners were very patient on the ball throughout this contest, stretching the Cooley defence, all while trying to keep the ball for as long as possible. They continued to draw fouls in this fashion, three more pinpoint efforts from their midfielder opening up the biggest lead of the match so far.

But it was becoming alarming that they weren’t able to or maybe just didn’t have the confidence to take on shots from open play. Ryan Alexnader was only man capable of taking these efforts on at this stage, ending their run of frees with a nice score on 44 minutes.

Unfortunately for the Kilbarrock men, this was to be their last score for 22 minutes, a timeframe in which Cooley upped their intensity levels and grabbed 1-6 without reply.

Suddenly the home team took control of the contest, winning endless turnovers as they essentially camped out in the Naomh Barróg half.

The vital goal came on 52 minutes, as following another turnover in midfield, Michael Carron would pick out an awaiting Patrick Johnson, who from close range rattled the net to dubious applause from the large group of Cooley supporters.

The visitors did have a lot more ball as the half wore on, but now trailing for the first time in 27 minutes, they were never able to get their noses back in front as Cooley continued to grab points when it mattered.

Down the stretch veteran Brian White once more contributed greatly with two late scores. Coupled with efforts from Fergal Malone, Johnson (2) and Connor, it was the Kickhams that marched on to the semi-finals.

Next up will be a test that is sure to require Cooley jumping up to another level once more, as they make the trip across the border to face the Meath Intermediate champions Dunshaughlin in two weeks’ time at a Meath venue.   

Cooley Kickhams: Neil Gallagher; Ronan McBride, Patrick Hanlon, Dean McGreehan; James O’Reilly, Fergal Malone (0-1), Gerry Malone; Richard Brennan, Darren Marks; Enda O’Neill (0-1), Patrick Johnson (1-4 0-2 marks), Peter Thornton; Cian Connor (0-3, 0-2 frees), Michael Rafferty (0-1), Michael Carron. Subs: Brian White (0-3, 0-2 frees) for Marks (38), Conor McGuinness for Hanlon (44), Gerard Hanlon for Carron (62) Aoghan McGuinness for O’Neill (64).

Naomg Barróg: Anthony Brady; Noel Hatton, Michael Tolan, Stephen Deering; Liam Durran (0-1), Ciaran Gallagher, Eoin Hart; Paul Tolan (0-7 frees), Finn Alexander; Sean McHugh, Ryan Alexander (0-3), Luke Nolan (0-1); Coor Gibson, Jack Lynch, Killian Foran. Subs: Sean O’Reilly for Lynch (50), Matthew Moffat for F Alexander (59), Colin McDonnell for Durran (59), Martin Rooney for Deering (62).  

Referee: Andrew Smith (Meath)