Rory Noonan
Minor championship
Charleville 5-19
Kiltha Og 2-14
After extra-time
IT took extra-time to separate these two sides in a highly entertaining Rebel Og MHC second round clash at CIT last night.
Early on it looked like Charleville were going to run away with it as they build up a seven point lead and were well in control.
The Kiltha Og defence were finding it difficult to deal with James O’Brien, Jack Barry and in particular John Madigan.
Madigan is a tall and powerful player and it was no great surprise to see him end up their top scorer. With that early lead and their domination of play it was very much one sided. But then Kiltha Og came to life and when they did, it turned into a rip-roaring contest.
Suddenly the likes of Jamie Stack, Niall Motherway, Liam Martin and Shane Hegarty were dominating and by half-time they had turned a seven point deficit into a two point lead.
The second-half was close throughout, but it looked like Charleville were going to hang on for the win when Cian Haines goaled in injury-time to take it to extra-time.
But the effort of catching Charleville caught up with Kiltha Og and they were outscored 2-8 to no score to see Charleville advance.
However all is not lost for Kiltha Og as they got a bye in round one and so have another chance to get back in the championship and if they play like they did for the end of the first and the second-half then they are more than capable of giving most sides a tough time.
Madigan, Barry and Darren Casey put Charleville in front and with five minutes gone Madigan got their first goal to make it 1-3 to 0-1, Hegarty scoring for Kiltha Og. He added a point, with James Fitzgerald also scoring before Paudie Harney got Kiltha Og’s second point. Bill Ahern added a third and with 18 minutes gone it was 0-3 to 1-6.
Then Kiltha Og took over, hitting eight points without reply, as Harney, Stack, Hegarty, Ahern and McCarthy all scored to see them lead, 0-11 to 1-6 at half-time.
O’Brien pointed for Charleville and Barry got their second goal, after 35 minutes, to put them back in front.
Five minutes later they added their third, Tim Keane goaling with his first touch after coming on as a sub, as the second-half followed a similar pattern to the first.
Keane and O’Brien added points before Ahern pulled a point back for Kiltha Og.
With six minutes to go Kiltha Og got the goal they needed to bring them back into contention when McCarthy scored after being set up by Hegarty, to make it 1-13 to 3-9.
Madigan and Ahern exchanged points and as it entered injury-time Charleville led by 3-11 to 1-14. But one last attack for Kiltha Og saw Stack and McCarthy combine to set up Cian Haines for a goal to take it to extra-time.
Charleville were determined not to let it slip again and Madigan got their fourth goal as they led 4-16 to 2-14 at half-time in extra-time.
He added a fifth goal in the second-half of extra-time, as they kept their opponents scoreless to run out deserving winners of a superb game.
Scorers for Charleville: J Madigan 3-4, T Keane 1-3, J Barry 1-2, J O’Brien 0-6 (2f), D Butler 0-2, J Fitzgerald (0-1 65), D Fitzgibbon 0-1 each.
Kiltha Og: S McCarthy 1-1, C Haines 1-0, S Hegarty 0-5, B Ahern 0-4 (1f, 0-1 65), P Harney, J Stack (1f) 0-2 each.
CHARLEVILLE: J Moloney; D Hedderman, A Dennehy, D Lee; J Fitzgerald, J Buckley, D Butler; C Casey, G Kelleher; P O’Reilly, J O’Brien, J Barry; D Fitzgibbon, J Madigan, D Casey. Subs: D O’Connor for C Cacey, B O’Connell for J Barry, T Keane for P O’Reilly, G Mullins for D Fitzgibbon.
KILTHA OG: B Ahearne; P Cullinane, K Ahearne, L Martin; C Barry, N Motherway, J Lawton; J Stack, B Ahern; S McCarthy, J McCarthy, P Harney; C Haines, S Hegarty, S O’Gorman. Sub: R Denny for S O’Gorman.
Ref: David Daly, Brian Dillons.
