Oldcastle’s second half comeback stuns County Champs, St Peter’s, Dunboyne

Oldcastle 3-12 St Peter’s, Dunboyne 1-15
Dunboyne supporters were left in shock in Millbrook this morning (3 Feb.2019), after a superb comeback from underdogs Oldcastle in this Division 1 Rd.2 match. County Champions Dunboyne lived up to their billing in the first half, and had ten points on the scoreboard before Oldcastle registered their first. It looked dismal at half-time as Dunboyne led by 0-13 to Oldcastle’s 0-02, just a free apiece from Robbie Farrelly and Conor McHugh sparing Oldcastle blushes.

Whatever was said in the Oldcastle dressing room at half-time remains secret, but it worked. Rumour has it Lazarus himself gave a chat. A super point from Colin Hawdon in the opening minute finally gave Oldcastle supporters a reason to cheer. He followed it up in the next play with a cracking goal. Oldcastle were gaining confidence, and when Paddy Gilsenan won the next kick-out by plucking the ball from the air with ease before being fouled: Robbie Farrelly converted the free. A big Conor McHugh kick out to Paddy Gilsenan, upfield by way of Ger Reidy and on to Darren Hawdon provided the next score: Hawdon was fouled and Farrelly converted again.

Good defence play from Sean Maxwell and Cian McPartland prevented Dunboyne from getting back into the match, the ball travelled on to Ronan Maguire and Kyle Kavanagh, then to Stephen Tierney who took a fine point. Two more unanswered points from McHugh and Farrelly followed, before a blunder in the Dunboyne defence was pounced on by Colin Hawdon who made no mistake and smashed it to the back of the net for a great goal, finally putting Oldcastle in the lead! Amid an eruption of madness on the sideline and plenty of horn beeping, the lads stayed calm and kept the tempo up.

Dylan Garrigan was making some great runs, and his work got a nice ball up to Paddy Gilsenan for the next Oldcastle point. More points from Farrelly and Gilsenan kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely before Lee Healy took a great goal for Oldcastle. Dunboyne responded with one of their own but with the clock ticking down it was too little too late. More points from man of the match Paddy Gilsenan and Robbie Farrelly put it out of their reach, a consolation free at the end for Dunboyne was the final score.

Oldcastle: Conor McHugh (0-02), Sean Maxwell, Cian McPartland, Conor Hetherton, Darren Hawdon, Ger Reidy, Oran O’Reilly, Ross Cadden, Ronan Maguire, Robbie Farrelly (0-05), Paddy Rahill, Keith Connell, C.J. Healy, Paddy Gilsenan (0-03), Colin Hawdon (2-01).
Subs: Stephen Tierney (0-01), Lee Healy (1-00), Kyle Kavanagh, Dylan Garrigan, Louis Colleran, Cillian Hanlon, Cillian Connell, Ronan Taggart, Mossy Flood, Charlie Lynch.