Louth GAA: Gers survive late Fechin’s revival to reach knockout stage
Geraldines 0-14
St. Fechin’s 1-8
Last year's semi finalists Geraldines have reached the knockout stages at St. Fechin’s expense in a match that failed to spark despite the survival circumstances.
The losing Termonfeckin side exit the championship without as much as a whimper as they never looked like winning the game and were lucky the wasteful Geraldines left the door ajar for them throughout.
Despite being measured and managing the ball and the game expertly, Mícheál Magill’s side left four gilt edged goal chances behind them in the second period.
That lack of ruthlessness may be excused with the absence of Jim McEneaney, but for further down the line, the Haggardstown, Blackrock men will have to be much better in front of the posts.
Beanón Corrigan probably missed the best chance of all at the back post but the game suffered as Paul Clarke’s side were not put out of their misery sooner and had to wait for Kevin Brady’s full time whistle to do so.
The early exchanges illustrated that Clarke’s men were playing with more urgency and intent than the loss to the Dreadnots. Niall Devlin and Ryan Walsh had more turnovers and points at that juncture than the week previous combined.
In one of the pre match switches county man Bevan Duffy was moved off the wing to a more central role in the engine room and he instantly looked more comfortable there and drove through to blast home an early lead against the wind.
However the serenity that Geraldines are playing with this championship was seen in how they coped with the early setbacks. Seán McEneaney landed a ’45 and hit the post twice with the next two attempts but still no panic.
Shaun Callan dusted off his wayward shooting against the Dreadnots to kick four points over the hour. That highlighted the Gers resilience right there, his first levelled the game and from that the McGeough park men never trailed.
Monaghan native John McCrohan gave Geraldines a 0-9 to 1-4 half time lead but they would lose Cavan native Paul Smith to a nasty swelling around the eye for the second half. The midfielder was a huge loss but Magill’s side coped.
Gers landed the first three points of the second half and moved into a winning position from that point they countered and created goal chances but Fechins did make it somewhat nervy for the winners.
Walsh (brace) and substitute Joe Corrigan ate into the lead before going off injured.
That revival was picking pace but a huge call by referee Kevin Brady and his linesman Aidan Shevlin not to send James Craven to the sin bin thwarted that injection to grandstand finish.
Shevlin deemed Craven’s punishment of a black card issued by Brady for a foul on Eoghan Duffy too harsh and after a brief chat, Brady decided to go with his linesman and not reduce the Gers to 14 men for the last few minutes.
That call took away a possible different finish but you felt Geraldines in the form they are in would have overcome the obstacle anyway. The returning Shane O’Hanlon closed the game out with a fisted point.
GERALDINES: Seán McEneaney 0-1 ('45); Tiarnan Hand 0-1, Gareth Neacy 0-1, Jack Traynor; Dan Corcoran, James Craven, Fearghal McDonald; Michael Rogers 0-1, Paul Smith; Brian Cafferty 0-1, Shaun Callan 0-4, John McCrohan 0-1; Shane O’Hanlon 0-3 (1f), Beanón Corrigan, Ben Gartlan 0-1 (1m). SUBS: Tom Cunniffe for Smith (ht), Josh Arrowsmith for McCrohan (43), Conall Hoey for Corrigan (47), Conor Rafferty for Callan (54).
ST FECHIN’S: Niall McDonnell; Mark Holohan, David Lally, Cian Gorman; Danny Burnell, Jamie McDonnell, Seán Kerrisk; Bevan Duffy 1-0, Harry Haughney; John O’Connell, Paul Mathews, Aaron McGlew; Ryan Walsh 0-4 (2f), Ronan Holcroft, Niall Devlin 0-3 (3f). SUBS: Eoghan Duffy for McGlew (ht), Joe Corrigan 0-1 for O’Connell (40), Lee Grifferty for Corrigan (51), Colm O’Neill for Walsh (60).
REF: Kevin Brady (Dundalk Gaels).