All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship semi-final: Errigal Ciaran 2-18 Dr Crokes 1-18 (after extra-time)
YOU don’t get anything for winning semi-finals but what a victory this was for Errigal Ciaran.
After falling at the penultimate hurdle twice in the past, the Ballygawley battlers became the first Tyrone club to reach a senior All-Ireland decider and boy did they earn their place in Sunday’s final against Dublin and Leinster champions Cuala at Croke Park.
With their intoxicating mix of top-drawer skill, flair, pace, determination, bench strength and a little bit of good old-fashioned brute force and ignorance, they out-lasted a dogged Dr Crokes team that – despite the brilliance of the Canavan brothers Ruairi and Darragh - stubbornly stayed on their tails right to the end of an epic semi-final.
Indeed, the Kerry and Munster champions came within seconds of nicking it at the death before Peter Og McCartan denied them deep in injury-time
The deadlock remained until the second period of extra-time when Errigal finally broke Crokes’ heart. A subtle tactical switch made the difference. The Canavans had been superb, but this was a team effort and manager Enda McGinley pulled them both out to the left wing leaving space down the centre. Midfielder Joe Oguz broke into it and blasted a screamer into the net from the edge of the square.
Even then it wasn’t over, but Errigal survived and now look forward to their day of destiny.
“Getting to the final is a huge achievement that we’ll take huge pride in,” said manager McGinley.
“It will certainly be tinged with disappointment if we don’t go on and win it and that will certainly be the ambition of the group. We’ll take pride in what we’re doing and, if we don’t win the final, it will be a gutting end to the year.
“But we’ll still take pride in what we’ve done and we’ll regroup and try again next year.
“It has been a long run and we’ve certainly no intention of just turning up and thinking: ‘We’ve got to Croke Park, that’s our job done for the year…’ We’ll turn up at Croke Park and give it our best shot to try and win it.”
Disappointed Dr Crokes assistant-manager Denis Coleman highlighted the McCartan point - “an unbelievable score” - that forced extra-time.
“There were 15 seconds to go in injury-time and we were up a point and they pulled out that score,” he said.
“But look, we never stopped, we never said: ‘We’re done here’. They just kept going and going and you couldn’t be prouder of them.
“They did everything they were asked to do - sometimes, you just don’t win.”
If football was always played like it was in Newbridge on Saturday evening, there’d never have been a thought of changing the rules.
Darragh Canavan set the tone. Dr Crokes refuse to play with a sweeper and he left Gavin White on his backside as he cut in from left, swapped passes with Thomas Canavan and stroked over the opener.
Crokes got the next three scores. Referee Brendan Cawley awarded the Kerry men several debatable frees while ignoring what seemed clear fouls on the Ulstermen and, after Cian McMahon had equalised, Tony Brosnan clipped over a couple of frees, the first after a mystery infraction by McCartan.
However, with the Canavan brothers taking turns to display their innate finishing skills, Errigal led 0-8 to 0-7 at the break.
The light faded and a thick fog drifted in as the sides took turns to land blows in the second half.
Crokes led by a point when some marvellous telepathy from the Canavans turned the game Errigal’s way. Ruairi flighted a brilliant free 30 yards into the path of Darragh who broke off the shoulder of the last defender.
He took the ball in his stride and placed it into the net and Errigal led 1-9 to 0-10 with 11 minutes gone in the second half.
Darragh was soon back in his own half to help break up a Crokes counter but this is a hard running, determined Kerry side and they kept coming. They got the rub off the green when it came to decisions and a series of Brosnan scores kept it nip-and-tuck as the finishing line approached.
Fatigue crept into Errigal legs. Goalkeeper McAnenly dived brilliantly to tip an Evan Looney shot over the bar and then Ruairi Canavan broke into space and pulled the trigger in front of the posts.
The packed stand waited for the umpire’s flag to go up but he stretched his arms out as the ball went wide.
Ben McDonnell, superb in the second half, missed too and Crokes almost made Errigal pay.
They attacked up the right and former Kerry forward Burns found a pocket of space to shoot. The ball scraped over the bar and Errigal were facing the real prospect of another semi-final defeat.
But they refused to lose. Working like demons they won the ball back and, with just seconds left, Peter Harte picked out McCartan – Errigal’s hero in the Ulster final against Kilcoo. Once again he proved to have ice in his veins as he kicked a brilliant equaliser.
With cramp setting in for several including Darragh Canavan and Cormac Quinn, Errigal limped back to their dressingroom having cheated the hangman. But they weren’t out of jail yet.
At half-time of extra-time the deadlocked remained and then the Tyrone men seized the game in the second period.
It was clever thinking from the Errigal bench to pull the Canavan brothers way out to left wing and Oguz ran onto substitute Eoin Kelly’s ball and drilled a finish he must have dreamt about into the top corner.
With Ciaran Quinn, Harte and Aidan McCrory among those standing tall in defence, Errigal kept Crokes at bay and landed points from Ruairi Canavan, Ben McDonnell and
Mark Kavanagh to extend their lead to six.
Surely there was no way back for Crokes but nobody told them that.
Keating bundled the ball in the Errigal net and it was ‘game on’ once more. Ball after ball dropped into the square and men in blue, white and yellow threw themselves into blocks to protect their goals.
McAnenly and Ciaran Quinn booted desperate clearances in the murky gloaming as Crokes kept hammering at the door. One more ball into the square… It broke and McCartan grabbed it as referee Cawley finally blew the long whistle.
First relief, then joy as the Errigal faithful poured onto the pitch to celebrate with their heroes.
What a performance and what a victory in a game that would have been worthy of a final.
But it was only a semi and you get nothing for winning them. Croke Park awaits.
Errigal Ciaran: D McAnenly; Cormac Quinn, A McCrory, Ciaran Quinn; T Colhoun, N Kelly, P Og McCartan (0-1); B McDonnell (0-1), J Oguz (1-1); P Harte, R Canavan (0-7, 0-3 frees), C McGinley; T Canavan, D Canavan (1-6), O Robinson
Subs: M Kavanagh (0-1) for T Canavan (43), P McGirr (0-1) for Robinson (53), R McRory for Colhoun (62), Robinson for Harte (69), E Kelly for McCartan (70), D Morrow for Cormac Quinn (70), McCartan for McGinley (78)
Yellow card: R Canavan (30)
Dr Crokes: S Murphy; E Looney, F Fitzgerald, M Lynch; C Keating (1-0), G White, B Looney (0-2); M O’Shea (0-1), M Cox; M Burns (0-5, 0-1 free), G O’Shea, T Doyle; T Brosnan (0-8, 0-7 frees), D Shaw (0-1), C McMahon (0-1)
Subs: C O’Leary for Doyle (38), D Casey for McMahon (46), J Payne for Keating (48), D Naughton for Cox (52), A Hennigan for Shaw (60), Cox for B Looney (73), Shaw for G O’Shea (75)
Yellow card: E Looney (28)
Referee: B Cawley (Kildare)
