Castlerea’s late, late show

Roscommon Herald Intermediate Championship Castlerea St. Kevin’s 1-15 St. Michael’s       2-9 Castlerea St. Kevin’s proved that their opening round win against Boyle last week was no fluke with a hard-earned win over St. Michael’s in O’Rourke Park last Saturday evening. This win has propelled them into the quarter-final and left the other two teams in the group – Boyle and St. Michael’s – left to fight it out for the coveted runner-up spot.   Few would have thought prior to the campaign that this Castlerea team would have been capable of progressing from their group although it must be acknowledged that this train of thought was attributed to the strength of the opposition they had to face and not any Castlerea faults or flaws.   But two incredible wins in the space of seven days has brought a new optimism surrounding this Castlerea team in the wake of their latest victory and has seen them become serious contenders for this Intermediate title.   The game itself was evenly contested throughout and indeed was ultimately decided on a penalty in the 3rd minute of injury-time which Castlerea centre-forward Giles McDonagh dispatched with ease to hand them this win and cement their side’s place in the next round.   There had been very little between the sides up to this point. The teams had been level at 0-7 apiece at the interval before two second-half goal from St. Michael’s made them firm favourites approaching full-time.   Two pointed frees from McDonagh hauled Castlerea back into the game before the same player scored the all-important penalty deep into injury-time to break St. Michael’s hearts and secure Castlerea’s place in the quarter-final. Castlerea St. Kevins: Jason O’Reilly; G. McElhone, B. Egan, D. Flannery; N. Curran, M. Bermingham, E. Creaton; D. Creaton, P. O’Connor (0-1); N. Ward (0-1), G. McDonagh (1-8), D. Fitzpatrick (0-1); N. Flynn (0-4), R. Curran, J. Mannion. Sub used: P. Lavin. St. Michaels: R. Donnelly; M. King, C. King, Darragh Cox; D. McGuinness, B. Doherty, Diarmuid Cox; B. Reynolds (1-0), D. Guckian; A. O’Hara (0-1), R. Cox (0-2), K. Conlisk (1-0); D. McGonigle (0-2), R. Martin (0-3), F. Dowd. Subs used: K. McDermott (1-0). Referee: M. Parker.