Crossmolina proved too strong for Caragh at a wintry Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in the AIB All-Ireland Club Intermediate football semi-final.
AIB All-Ireland Club Intermediate football semi-final
Crossmolina Deel Rovers 1-12 Caragh 0-6
By Ger McNally at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park
Crossmolina Deel Rovers booked a place back at Croke Park for the first time since 2003 with a comprehensive win over over Kildare side Caragh.
The Mayo club, who played in two All-Ireland senior finals at Croke Park in the early part of this century, were full value for their win with county stars Jordan Flynn and Conor Loftus to the fore.
The pitch in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park passed an early morning pitch inspection and the game went ahead, albeit with difficult underfoot conditions.
The Connacht champions were quickest to find their feet and opened the scoring through the busy James Maheady and then Diarmuid Coggins.
It took Caragh until the 12th minute to open their account when Josh Gannon fired over but that was then quickly followed by an effort from Eoghan O’Haire.
Their towering midfield partnership of Kevin Connor and Dan Lynam were doing their best against the rampaging Flynn before a big moment in the game arrived in the 15th minute.
After a goalmouth scramble, Caragh’s Matthew McNally was adjudged to have touched the ball on the ground inside the small square and a penalty was awarded. Goalkeeper Mikie Behan had saved a penalty in Caragh’s Leinster Final win but he was given no chance by Conor Loftus who sent his shot into the top right hand corner of the net.
Loftus and Flynn followed that with points and suddenly Crossmolina led by five, 1-4 to 0-2.
Caragh showed good spirit to score the last two points before the half time break but the decisive minutes came early in the second half.
In the opening 10 minutes after the restart, Crossmolina scored five unanswered points and then added the next point as well in the 50th minute.
Flynn scored two of those points, while Fionán Duffy also showed his quality with three points.
That scoring burst was enough to decide the game and although Caragh did score a couple of consolation points, it was left to Mikie and then Conor Loftus to score the points that rounded off a fine win and Crossmolina can look forward to another run out at Croke Park.
Scorers for Crossmolina Deel Rovers: C Loftus 1-2 (1-0 penalty), J Flynn 0-3, F Duffy 0-3 (0-1f), J Maheady 0-1, D Coggins 0-1, P Leddy 0-1, M Loftus 0-1.
Scorers for Caragh: E O'Haire 0-2 (1f), J Gannon 0-1, D Swords 0-1, R Burke 0-1, J Corrigan 0-1.
CROSSMOLINA DEEL ROVERS: JP Mulhern; Diarmuid Fox, Kevin Mulhern, Matthew Gordetskyy; Aaron Coggins, Conor Loftus, Lorcan Loftus; Mikie Loftus, Jordan Flynn; Diarmuid Coggins, James Maheady, Niall Coggins; Diarmuid Walsh, Patrick Leddy, Fionán Duffy. Subs: Stephen Duffy for Walsh, 50; Cillian Fergus for L Loftus, 52; Cathal Carolan for Leddy, 56; David Howley for Fionán Duffy, 59; Fearghal Duffy for Gordetsky, 60+3.
CARAGH: Michael Behan; Cathal McKennedy, Matthew McNally, Billy Byrne; Conor Sullivan, Ryan Burke, Paul Dockery; Kevin Connor, Dan Lynam; Josh Gannon, Darragh Swords, Dan Murray; Ronan Doorey, Jake Corrigan, Eoghan O'Haire. Subs: Fergal McKennedy for Josh Gannon, 51; Alex Kehoe for Byrne, 51; Billy Kelly for Sullivan, 51; Austin Nevin for Dockery, 54; Dan Campbell for Doorey, 54.
Referee: Kieran Eannetta (Tyrone)
