Published: Wednesday, 17th February, 2010 4:48pm

St Pat's earn replay with late goal

by Jimmy Geoghegan

St Patrick's CS, Navan 2-11, St Mary's, Edenderry 2-11, after extra-time

Conor Sheridan climbs highest to claim possession for St Patrick's CS, Navan during Saturday's Leinster Colleges SFC semi-final thriller against St Mary's, Edenderry.
Pic by==: 97

There have been times over the last decade or so when St Patrick's CS, Navan have been involved in some gripping football encounters.

This Leinster Colleges SFC semi-final clash at Mullingar proved to be one of those occasions. What drama, what edge-of-the-seat stuff was produced during 80 minutes of exciting action.

One of the most dramatic moments was conjured up with just a few minutes to go in extra-time when Darragh Maguire rifled the ball high to the net from about 18 metres out to earn the most dramatic of draws for his team.

There was a sense of justice at the final whistle that neither side ended up winning this intriguing clash as both teams demonstrated enough good quality football to earn their place in the final.

Each side contained a slew of talented footballers as well as a big contingent who made up for any lack of silken skills with full-blooded commitment to the cause.

This, combined with oceans of spirit, ensured that neither team were allowed to draw away and put significant daylight between themselves and their opponents.

The players ran, harried and battled right to the end using up every ounce of energy for their respective teams and the losers would surely have been heartbroken. Hardly the most appropriate of outcomes on Valentine's weekend!

It all made for a fine afternoon's entertainment for the 200 or 300 supporters who were steadily whipped up into a frenzy of excitement as the afternoon wore on.

St Pat's will look back on the game with mixed emotions. All too often they combined some sublime spells of play with below par periods of football when they allowed Edenderry too much latitude. Yet the Navan school produced enough of the good stuff to almost steal it.

It was 1-10 apiece at the end of normal time with Edenderry relying on a point from their marquee player Anton Sullivan to push the game into extra-time.

Sullivan turned out for Offaly against Fermanagh in the NFL the previous week. He grabbed Edenderry's second goal with a brilliant finish to push his team ahead, 2-11 to 1-11, in the first-half of extra-time.

The sides were level on five occasions during normal time. A goal from Lorcan Pender edged Edenderry 1-3 to 0-5 ahead at the break, but St Pat's put together some enterprising spells of play to edge themselves back in pole position coming near the end of the hour.

It was looking good for the Navan school when they grabbed their opening goal on 49 minutes. Simonstown's Conor Sheridan soared high to take possession from an Edenderry kick-out. Sheridan off-loaded to McEntee who played a neat pass to Shane Gillespie who slotted home superbly with a cool, left-footed finish.

Shane Barry split the posts immediately afterwards to put St Pat's 1-10 to 1-7 ahead. At that stage they looked comfortable.

Then they lost their way as Edenderry fired over three points in quick succession to force extra-time.

Sheridan and Barry fought a fascinating tussle at midfield with Edenderry's talented Sean Hurley and Philip Farrell. Neither combination managed to get the upperhand in a duel that mirrored how the game unfolded.

Despite facing difficult opponents Sheridan managed to top a fine display with two points.

Encouraging for St Pat's was that they had a good spread of scores with the industrious Ciaran Fitzsimons and Alan Forde among those who troubled the scoreboard keeper. Both made surging runs from deep that caused plenty of problems.

Apart from the concession of the two goals the St Pat's defence looked secure. They hunted down attackers in packs with Darragh Maguire, Brian Dillon and Liam Bourke among those to put in some excellent work.

Goalkeeper Ciaran Flynn also played his part in keeping his side in the game. Midway through the second-half of normal time some neat, skilful play helped Edenderry create openings in the St Pat's defence and Flynn had to make a superb double save from Sullivan and Pender.

A brave block by Bourke to deny Pender what looked like a certain goal early was also a pivotal moment.

St Pat's also had near misses most notably when Ross punched the ball against the bar late in normal time.

The Edenderry supporters were incensed with referee Barry Kelly at the end, but perhaps what irked them most of all was that Maguire's goal had denied them what looked like certain victory.

St Patrick's CS, Navan - C Flynn; N Coughlan, C McConnell, B Dillon; N Groome, D Maguire (1-0), L Bourke; C Sheridan (0-2), S Barry (0-1); C Fitzsimons (0-3), A Forde (0-1), P Fox; F Ross, S Gillespie (1-3, one free), F McEntee (0-1). Subs - C Wickham for Coughlan 20 mins, C Noonan for Fox 46m; extra-time - M O'Brien for McConnell, C McGrane for Ross, C McGuinness for Barry.

St Mary's, Edenderry - S Geoghegan; C Grehan, D Kelly, B Kenny; T Hickey, J Kavanagh, P Foy; S Hurley (0-4, one free), P Farrell; C McNamee (0-1), S Cullen (0-1), A Sullivan (1-1); S Doyle (0-3), E Farrell (0-1), L Pender (1-0). Sub - D Grehan for NcNamee 41 mins.

Referee - Barry Kelly (Westmeath).

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