Rovers ‘dare to dream after taking care of Caragh
Crossmolina’s Lorcan Loftus in a contest for possession with Caragh’s Dan Lynam. Picture: David Farrell Photography
Traditionally, semi-finals can tend to be nervy, tense affairs but Crossmolina Deel Rovers produced an awesome performance to advance to next Sunday’s All-Ireland club intermediate football championship final in Croke Park.
At no stage did the Kildare and Leinster champions put Brian Benson’s men in any sustained danger as the Deelsiders produced their best performance of the championship to date. From one to 15, it would be very hard to pick out a Crossmolina player who did not perform – but two men shone above all else, as Jordan Flynn and Conor Loftus used their inter-county experience to run the show from the throw-in.
Unlike the two All-Ireland club senior semi-finals, the game did not fall foul of the snow and icy weather as the pitch at Longford’s Pearse Park passed a morning inspection. While the playing field did not appear to resemble a playable playing surface even 30 minutes before throw-in, it looked worse than it actually was as both teams moved freely from the off.
From the moment referee Kieran Eannatta threw the leather in, Crossmolina Deel Rovers clearly held the physical advantages over their opponents and they began to dominate the early proceedings. A mark by James Maheady dropped short in what was Crossmolina’s first scoring effort on two minutes but the Mayo U20 forward opened the scoring four minutes later. Jordan Flynn started the move after winning the ball, laid it off to Matthew Gordetskyy and Maheady supplied the point.
Diarmuid Coggins doubled their advantage but Caragh were back level on 12 minutes through quickfire scores by John Gannon and Eoghan O’Haire, the latter coming from a quick free to see O’Haire finish off a well-worked move.
The turning point of the first-half would, however, arrive at the end of the first quarter. From a breaking ball, Niall Coggins raced through and laid it across the square. A scramble for the ball ensued and the referee deemed Matthew McNally to have touched the ball on the ground and signalled for a penalty. Conor Loftus stepped up to take it and he dispatched his effort well, sending Caragh goalkeeper Michael Behan the wrong way.
Loftus followed that up with a trademark score off the outside of his right boot before Jordan Flynn started and finished off a sweeping move for his first point. A couple of other Crossmolina efforts would go astray in the final 10 minutes of the half and Caragh would leave three between the teams at the break, 1-4 to 0-4, as Darragh Swords and Ronan Burke both bisected the posts, the latter’s point bouncing in front of goalkeeper JP Mulhern and over the bar to give the Kildare outfit some hope.
It was a hope, however, which was extinguished inside six blistering minutes of the restart. Conor Loftus was the conductor for the first of five unanswered points by the Mayo and Connacht champions, with Kevin Mulhern and Niall Coggins also involved to set up Fionán Duffy for his first point of the game. Loftus and Coggins were involved again for Flynn’s second and the Mayo star would add another one seconds later with an excellent score.
Caragh were chasing shadows at this stage and Duffy, a free, and Patrick Leddy made it 1-9 to 0-4 on 36 minutes as Crossmolina could begin to plan their trip to Croker.
Caragh looked to find a way back but the Deel rearguard snuffed out the main threats of Darragh Swords and Jake Corrigan.
Fionán Duffy got his third point of the half on 50 minutes yet Caragh continued to battle despite their hopes quickly fading away. Eoghan O’Haire and Jake Corrigan got their first points of the second-half on 53 and 54 minutes but they would be the Leinster side’s final scores as Crossmolina made a dash for the finishing line, with a point by wing-back and captain Mikie Loftus, who had made his long awaited return to the starting team, and a sumptuous point by Conor Loftus, which sealed a brilliant win.
Derry and Ulster champions Ballinderry, ironically All-Ireland club senior winners a year after Crossmolina had done likewise in 2001, now stand in the way of this next group of Deel Rovers men looking to become immortal.
