Late Celbridge point denies Clane

Heartbreak for Clane here in Cedral St Conleth’s Park as a late point from Aaron Bowne sees Alan Costello’s side go through, and with Johnstownbridge defeating Allenwood by ten points it means Clane lose out, a drawn would have put Sean Mealiffe side through but that is the joys of it all.

The rain poured down, heavy mist, throughout the opening half and it certainly made life very difficult for both teams, with a lot of slipping and sliding and handling errors throughout.

The sides were level at 0-2 apiece after twelve minutes before Clane opened a three point lead with two Brian McLoughlin points and one from Sam McCormack.

Kevin Flynn and Luke Murray reduced the lead to one and while Brian McLoughlin free, had two in it again, a Fergal Conway point and when James Dolan got on the end of the four man move to find the net Celbridge, who lined out without Mick O’Grady, led 1-6 to 0-6 on 26 minutes.

Clane hit back with points from Sam McCormack and a Shane McCormack free to leave the half-time score reading Celbridge 1-6 Clane 0-8.

Brian McLoughlin opened on the resumption for Clane but Celbridge quickly added three points to go clear.

That was pushed out to four on 41 minutes with an Aaron Browne point.

The next four points were shared before Clane added two; Celbridge replied to go two clear again before a Shane O’Sullivan two-pointer, for a breach, was converted from outside the arc to level on sixty minutes.

It looked like Clane had the draw that would see them through but an excellent point from the boot of Aaron Brown had Celbridge in front by one as the final whistle arrived.

Heartbreak for Clane, as Celbridge top the group with Johnstownbridge taking the second spot.

Scorers, Celbridge: James Dolan 1-1, Aaron Browne 0-5 (1 two–pointer, 1 free), Davy Hughes 0-3, Kevin Flynn 0-1, Kevin O’Callaghan 0-1, Fergal Conway 0-1, Luke Murray 0-1, Peter McAteer 0-1, Killian Browne 0-1.

Clane: Shane O’Sullivan 0-4 (2 frees, 1 two-pointer free), Brian McLoughlin 0-4 (2 frees), Daniel Colbert 0-3 (two-pointer, 1free), Sam McCormack 0-3, Adam Fitzpatrick 0-1, Sean Tighe 0-1, Eoghan Maguire 0-1.

CELBRIDGE: Shane McNamara; Eoghan Light, Dean O’Donoghue, Hugh McGrillen; Kevin Flynn, Peter McAteer, Tony Archbold; Kevin O’Callaghan, Paddy Wall; Mick Konstantin, Fergal Conway, Killian Browne; James Dolan, Aaron Browne, Luke Murray. Subs: Cian Bolger for Paddy Wall (half-time); Davy Hughes for Luke Murray (half-time); Cian Powell for Hugh McGrillen (49 minutes); Liam O’Flynn for Mick Konstantin (54 minutes); Darragh Colton for Killian Browne (59 minutes).

CLANE: Cian Burke; Harry O’Neill, Shane McCormack, Hugh Prendergast cpt; Calum Doran, Cian O’Donoghue, Cian Shanahan; Daragh Mullahy, Daniel Colbert; Rhys Vaughan, Adam Fitzpatrick, Eoin Twohig; Sam McCormack, Brian McLoughlin, Shane O’Sullivan. Subs: Eoghan Maguire forCallym Doran (40 minutes); Sean Tighe for Eoin Twohig (47 minutes); Killian O’Sullivan for Shane McCormack (56 minutes); Oisin Tighe for Daniel Colbert (59 minutes).

REFEREE: Frank Delaney.