Louth GAA club | Stalemate between Nh Moninne and Knockbride in SHL
Noamh Moninne 2-20 Knockbridge 1-23
Recent games in the Louth GAA Senior Hurling Championship have failed to disappoint, none more so than last August's dramatic late win for Naomh Moninne in the final against St Fechins.
As holders of the Paddy Kelly Cup, the Dundalk side opened up this year's competition with a drama-filled draw against Knockbridge at a sun-drenched St Brigid's Park, Dowdallshill, last Thursday evening.
They went into this match as favourites but came up against a Knockbridge side who certainly had other ideas in a game where 12 different players contributed scores for the village outfit.
They recovered from a poor start where they conceded five points inside the opening six minutes, but went on to lead by three points at the interval.
Despite trailing to a second Moninne goal early in the second half, they soon regained the lead and indeed held that lead until captain Darren Geoghegan fired over a long-range free-kick to tie up matters at the final whistle.
The holders struck over quick fire points from the sticks of Fionn Cumiskey and Mark Gahan to open the scoring. Ricky McKeown responded with a point from a 20-metre free-kick for the village outfit.
Moninne added further points from top scorer Darren Geoghegan, Gahan and John Casey to lead by 4 with just six minutes played.
The sides exchanged the next two points before Knockbridge found their form, firing over six unanswered points, with all but one of them coming from open play.
Accounting for these points were James Costello, McKeown, David Kettle (2), Ryan Holland and defender Stephen Hoey, as they now led by 0-8 to 0-6 on 21 minutes.
That lead was short-lived as Moninne struck for the game's opening goal when a long delivery from midfielder Michael O Shea was flicked to the net from close range by the lively Sam Phelan.
McKeown and Geoghegan then exchanged pointed frees before close-range points from David Kettle and James Costello had their side in front by 0-11 to 1-7 on 26 minutes.
Phelan then fired over a good point from the left wing, with Kettle restoring the slender lead when he fired over following a terrific high catch.
John Casey and Phelan rounded off their sides' first-half scoring with good points from play in between, which the dangerous Sean Flynn pointed from close range when surely a goal was on his mind.
In time added on at the end of the half, a mix-up between a couple of Moninne defenders allowed Robbie Wallace to pounce and knock the sliotar past keeper Conor Whyte from close range.
This score had Knockbridge leading at the break, 1-13 to 1-10.
The Dundalk outfit introduced their match winner from last year's final and County regular Conor Murphy in place of his older brother Eoin for the start of the second half.
Darren Geoghegan wasted a couple of early opportunities before finding the target from a long-range free-kick awarded for a foul by Sean Flynn on Michael O Shea.
In their very next attack, Moninne were awarded a penalty which Ciaran McKelvey dispatched past keeper Ronan Byrne, 2-11 to 1-13.
A brace of points from Flynn and Costello saw the lead change hands again, but they were soon tied up again on 40 minutes courtesy of Darren Geoghegan's fourth point.
Aidan Carter's charges could not shake off a determined Knockbridge side, who restored a two-point advantage with scores from Stephen Hoey and Andrew Smyth (free).
Scores continued with regularity as Mark Gahan and Sam Phelan both found the range from the left wing, in between which Conor Quigley fired over a long-range point.
The Kilkerly man was introduced as a first-half substitute and was making his return to action following a long-term injury that saw him miss most of Louth's inter-county season.
The sides shared the next four points with Knockbridge still leading by the minimum 1-20 to 2-16 on 52 minutes.
They added further points from Sean Flynn and substitute Adam Plunkett in between, which Mark Gahan pointed out for the holders as he soloed through before firing over from the right of the post.
Darren Geoghegan was then adjudged to have fouled a Knockbridge defender as he cut in from the left, a decision that did not please Moninne supporters and saw referee Kevin Brady confronted by several players.
The referee stuck to his original decision and reacted to abuse from the sideline by moving the free up the entire length of the field up to the opposite 20 metre line with Shane Fennell firing over 1-23 to 2-17.
The black and amber men now needed to call on all their resilience if they were to get anything from this opening championship encounter.
Darren Geoghegan fired over two more frees from close range to leave the minimum between the teams as the game moved into injury time.
Both Michael O Shea and Ciaran McKelvey wasted good opportunities to tie up matters before their side was awarded a free kick inside their own half, five minutes into added time.
Geoghegan managed to hold his nerve to fire over the equaliser as the full-time whistle sounded on the resultant puck-out.
Moninne will be relieved to have got something out of the game as Knockbridge now look forward to a clash with St Fechins on Thursday, July 16 at the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda (7.30).
Naomh Moninne: Conor Whyte; Kyle Rafferty, Darren O Hanrahan, Sean Magill; Fionn Cumiskey (0-1), Mattie Fee, James Murphy; Darren Geoghegan (0-9, 8 frees), Michael O Shea; Ciaran McKelvey (1-0 pen), Thomas O Dwyer, John Casey (0-3); Mark Gahan (0-4), Eoin Murphy, Sam Phelan (1-3).
Subs: Conor Murphy for E Murphy (half time), Finn Carter for F Cumiskey (41).
Knockbridge: Ronan Byrne; Andrew Smyth (0-1 free), Ben Goss Kieran, Ronan Mulholland; Aidan Fitzpatrick (0-1 free), Daire McKiernan, Stephen Hoey (0-2); Sean Flynn (0-4), Cormac Lundon; James Costello (0-4), David Kettle (0-4), Robbie Wallace (1-0); Ryan Holland (0-1), Ricky McKeown (0-3 frees), Gareth Hall.
Subs: Conor Quigley (0-1) for R Mulholland (20), Adam Plunkett (0-1) for R McKeown (36), Shane Fennell (0-1 free) for R Holland (50), Kevin Plunkett for A Smyth (54).
Referee: Kevin Brady.