Éire Óg edge Ardclough in rare Kildare Hurling Championship penalty shootout

Éire Óg Corra Choill 1-30

Ardclough 3-24 (aet, pens)

It took penalties to separate Éire Óg Corra Choill and Ardclough in their thrilling Kildare Senior Hurling Championship Preliminary Round clash. After Liam Dempsey slotted the first penalty for the eventual winners, Ardclough free-taker and top-scorer Sean Whelan saw his effort superbly parried away by Paul Dermody.

Tim Ryan and Maurice Sexton both dispatched their respective penalties for Ardclough before Dermody secured victory for Éire Óg with another fine save, denying Drew Costello. Dermody, who was exceptional throughout the game, did his part and so did the men taking the pressure pucks with Éire Óg dispatching all four penalties taken. Liam Dempsey, Paul Dolan, Jack Higgins, and Michael Clohessy made no mistake to secure their sides progression into a winner’s group.

60 minutes prior, Ardclough started brightest in this game and had the better of the opening half. Chiefly led by faultless shooting from Sean Whelan and scores from Eoghan Walsh, Ardclough were four clear with just three minutes left in the opening half after plenty of hard graft. Éire Óg then rattled off four points in as many minutes with a Sean Whelan free going the other direction enough to maintain Ardclough’s lead heading into the break at 0-13 to 0-12.

Éire Óg continued their surge after the break and, after equalising through Liam Dempsey, hit the net in style through Paul Dolan. The centre-forward was slipped through on goal and rifled his effort high into the roof of the net. It was a sliding doors moment with Paul Dermody having denied Ronan O’Malley a green flag a couple of minutes prior.

At the midpoint of the second half O’Malley would get his goal after a slick team move. Eoghan Walsh found Sean Whelan who handed off to O’Malley before he hit the top corner with a touch from Dermody helping it along.

Ardclough’s first green flag levelled things at 1-15 each and they needed another soon after with Éire Óg putting together a run of three others in response. They got it through Tim Ryan who received possession straight from the goalkeeper before taking off on a driving run and finding the net low into the corner.

After some further back and forth, Ardclough held a lead going into additional time with Maurice Sexton nailing a wonderful score from long-range to give them the advantage in the 57th minute.

Éire Óg got the crucial equaliser just past the hour mark with a Liam Dempsey free sending this game into extra-time.
This fixture had been, and continued to be, a slug fest with Ardclough hitting the opening two blows of extra-time through Walsh and Whelan.

Éire Óg once again put a superb run of scores together with five on the bounce. Two each from Paul Dolan and Michael Clohessy preceded another Liam Dempsey free to completely flip this tie on its head. The eventual winners carried a three-point advantage into half-time of extra-time and indeed right up until the last play of this game.

Sean Whelan stood over Ardclough's final roll of the dice and floated his free-kick into a packed house in front of goal. The ball bounced and clattered before squirting out to Ronan O’Malley off to the left hand side of the crowd and, with this game on the end of his stick, he blasted the ball into the back of the net. O’Malley’s second goal and his side's third was the last action of open play as Matthew Redmond’s final whistle was heard moments later.

Inseparable at 1-30 to 3-24, Éire Óg moved into the winner’s group after finishing as 4-2 winners in the shootout with Ardclough coming up short in cruel circumstances after a thrilling battle.

Scorers: Éire Óg Corra Choill, Liam Dempsey 0-15 (0-10 frees), Paul Dolan 1-3, Scott Cramer 0-5, Gary Johnson 0-3, Jack Higgins 0-2, Adam Delmer 0-1, Sean O'Neill 0-1.

Ardclough, Sean Whelan 0-12 (0-7 frees, 0-2 '65), Ronan O'Malley 2-0, Tim Ryan 1-2, Eoghan Walsh 0-4, Patrick O'Malley 0-1, Tony Spain 0-1, Kyle Kelly 0-1, Maurice Sexton 0-1, Cillian Burke 0-1, Sean Coulston 0-1.

EOCC: Paul Dermody; Conor Sullivan, Fionan Manders, Niall Cramer; Adam Delmer, James Dolan; Daniel Murray; Gary Johnson, Jack Higgins; Scott Cramer, Paul Dolan, Michael Clohessy; Sean O'Neill, Kevin Connor, Liam Dempsey.

ARDCLOUGH: Martin Fitzgerald; Sean Buggy, Aaron Casey, Tadhg McCarthy; Conor Kelly, Maurice Sexton, David Collins; Tony Spain, Patrick O'Malley; Ronan O'Malley, Cillian Burke, Sean Whelan; Tim Ryan, Eoghan Walsh, Kyle Kelly. Subs: Drew Costello for Tony Spain (40 minutes), Sean Coulston for Kyle Kelly (Half-time Extra-time), Michael Freyne for Patrick O'Malley (Half-time Extra-time).

REFEREE: Matthew Redmond

READ NEXT: Comment: Kildare County Board must answer the call for further hurling support