Colm Hulton scored a spectacular winning goal for Carlow against Leitrim.
Allianz Football League Division 4
LAOIS 0-11 TIPPERARY 1-7
Tipperary came agonisingly close to blowing the race for Division Four of the Allianz League wide open, as they pushed Laois to the hilt at FBD Semple Stadium, only to concede three points in a row in the closing minutes and lose out by one.
Tipp will have more than a few regrets when they reflect on this defeat in the coming days, most notably their failure to score in the final quarter and Killian Roche’s penalty save to deny Seán O’Connor earlier in the second half.
The home side did get out to the better start thanks to a goal from O’Connor and a Paddy Creedon point, but their attacking sharpness again dried up and Laois outscored them by 0-6 to 0-1 for the remainder of the half, with Peter McGarry hitting the post in a bid to score a second goal for Tipp.
With Laois depleted for ten minutes due to an Evan O’Carroll black card, Tipp overcame the failure to convert that penalty to lead by 1-7 to 0-8, but once the Crettyard attacker came back on, he got on the scoresheet, as did Kieran Lillis and Paul Kingston, to make it four wins from four for the midlanders.
CARLOW 2-14 LEITRIM 1-16
One week after Leitrim struck with a late, late goal to edge out Wexford by a point, they suffered the same fate at the hands of Carlow in Netwatch Cullen Park. It looked as if Jack Gilheany’s point was going to send Andy Moran’s side up the road with smiles on their faces, but a spectacular, memorable goal from Colm Hulton instead gave the home side the points.
A dour and tight first half, that ended 0-6 to 0-4 with Carlow in front, gave no indication of the thrilling roller-coaster that was about to take off.
Six of the ten first half points came from frees, but that trend changed immediately after half-time, as Ryan O’Rourke, Barry McNulty and Conor Crowley all fired good scores from play.
There was goalmouth action too, with Leitrim goalie Nevin O’Donnell making a sublime save to deny Crowley, but the goals weren’t long in coming.
Jamie Clarke took advantage of a quick turnover to put Carlow in control with a goal, but a smart finish from O’Rourke put the tie back in the melting pot, and points from Paul Keaney and Gilheany looked like they had done the job for the Connacht County.
The drama was only getting started.
LONGFORD 3-12 LONDON 1-10
Not for the first time this year, London played far better than the final scoreline suggested, but still came away without their first win of this year’s league. It was Longford who looked jet-lagged in the opening exchanges when a couple of Patrick Dolan points put London in front, and it was still a nip and tuck game up until just before the half hour mark, when Dessie Reynolds was in the right place at the right time to pounce on a rebound and fire in the game’s first goal.
A superb team move, ending in a Keelin McGann goal, saw Longford take control of the game early in the second half but London still had some good moments, including a Liam Gallagher goal and a nice point from Ciaran Diver.
However Longford always looked to have that extra bit of sharpness close to goal and they rounded off their second win in succession with a green flag from Daniel Mimnagh and late points from Cathal McCabe and Dylan Farrell.
WEXFORD 0-21 WATERFORD 1-7
Wexford produced an emphatic second half display on Saturday to maintain their promotion push. John Hegarty’s men outscored their opponents 0-16 to 1-2 in the final 35 minutes of action as they moved through the gears to secure a victory that ensures Wexford can look up instead of over their shoulders for the time being.
The opening half was a tight affair with the sides level five times during the opening half. Sean Nolan kicked two neat scores for Wexford during that run while Stephen Curry fired over for Waterford as he came close to a three pointer.
The latters effort tied the game at 0-5 apiece but a Graeme Cullen score helped Wexford by the minimum at the change of ends. Wexford emerged a different side in the final period as they kicked seven points in a row during the first 17 minutes of the second half to effectively end Waterford’s hopes. Ben Brosnan and Glenn Malone combined for nine points on a day 10 players found the target for the winners.
All Wexford were missing was a goal with Malone seeing an effort fizz just over. Waterford grabbed a 74th minute goal but it only served as a consolation with Wexford securing the spoils.
