Heraty hauls Westport through

Heraty hauls Westport through

Quarter-Final
Rice College 2-9
Westport
Old Bawn CS 1-11
Tallaght

EDWIN MCGREAL
LONGFORD

RELIEF was the pre-dominant emotion for Rice College when the final whistle sounded after this exciting All-Ireland quarter-final Pearse Park, Longford last Saturday.
The best team won, of that there is absolutely no doubt, but Rice College came within a hair’s breadth of losing this game. Had they done so, a huge sense of regret would have stayed with the Westport players for a long time to come.
This was a match they should have had in the bag a long way before the end but the Mayo standard-bearers had to rely on a winning point from Shane Heraty 40 seconds from time. This came after Westport had let their opponents come right back into contention and actually take the lead with minutes to go.
Damien Keane put the Westport school five up midway through the second half but they should have been at least twice that in front, having kicked 12 wides by this stage. Still, they looked to be in control and you expected them to coast to victory.
Maybe they expected that themselves and they began to lose their grip on matters. Declan Gallagher let his man, Seán Reilly, go to receive a quick free from Paul Hudson to point well.
All over the field Westport’s key men were second best at the wrong time and the warning signs were there. Hudson pointed off his left foot and a free from the same player left just two in it with eight minutes to go.
Rice College couldn’t reverse the tide and the danger of the situation was there for all to see on 55 minutes. Dean Nolan slipped past Kevin Keane and while his shot was well saved by Shane Nevin, the ball squirmed under his body and Liam Murtagh was on hand to slot home.
One minute later Old Bawn were again allowed to work a short free as Hudson found Seán Hendrick in too much space 30 yards out and he pointed. Rice College looked like their number was up.
But they battled back and that, combined with some defensive naivety from Old Bawn, saw Westport strike a crucial goal with two minutes remaining. Pat Mulchrone’s long ball into Lewis Cawley saw the diminutive forward brilliantly get a touch on the high ball to knock it into the path of Shane Heraty. Rice College suddenly had the overlap and Heraty flicked it over Conor Byrne to Damien Keane who calmly rounded the ‘keeper and smashed it to the net.
Still it wasn’t over. Hudson superbly converted a free from 35 metres with just over a minute left to level it but to Rice College’s credit they went straight up field and struck the winner. Lee Keegan fed Cawley who slipped the ball to Heraty once more. Heraty took the ball off balance but stayed on his feet and coolly pointed from 25 yards.
There would be four more minutes of action but Rice College had finally learned how to close out the game. They held onto the ball basketball style and didn’t offer their opponents another chance. But it shouldn’t have taken them so long to seal the deal.
The first period saw the Connacht champions effect dominance all over the field but fail miserably to reflect it on the scoreboard. Chris Galvin got the Dublin school off the mark, cancelled out soon after by a Seán Duffy point.
Rice College could have had a major on 13 minutes when Declan Gallagher set up Dean Gavin but his well-struck effort was superbly saved by Brian Sheridan and Gavin’s fisted rebound only hit the side-netting.
Hudson and Declan Gallagher exchanged points and Damien Keane put the Westport side in front on 27 minutes but they had spurned far too many chances by this stage. Eight wides were kicked and Rice College were wondering what was going wrong.
They got their first goal from the resultant kick-out however  and what a goal it was. Seán Duffy superbly fielded the kick-out 65 metres out and bounded through the crowd of bodies in the middle. He sent Dean Gavin through and he bore in on goal before slipping the ball to the overlapping Jason Doherty who slammed it to the net from close range.
But instead of providing a tonic for Westport, they conceded two points before the break to almost undo the benefit. Mark Lambert and Chris Galvin were both on target and despite Westport being on top defensively (where corner-backs Stephen Ryder and Pat Mulchrone excelled) and further forward, they only led by 1-3 to 0-4 at the break.
After the break fine points from Declan Gallagher and Jason Doherty were cancelled out by scores from Paul Hudson and Mark Lambert. Westport looked home and hosed though when three points from Damien Keane, the middle of which was a goal chance which clipped the bar, left them five up. The fun was only starting though.

BEFORE the game there was a minute’s silence in memory of Arthur Moulin, Rosmindle, Westport and originally of France, a transition year student of Rice College who died last week. Each Rice College player also wore a black armband as a mark of respect.

Rice College
S Nevin; S Ryder, Kevin Keane (Fahy), P Mulchrone; J McHale, T McGing, C Ryder; S Duffy (0-1), L Keegan; D Gallagher (0-2, 1f), J Doherty (1-1), D Gavin; L Cawley, C Moran, D Keane (1-4, 1f). Subs: S Heraty (0-1) for Gavin; Kevin Keane (Newport) for Gallagher (50mins); D Gavin for Moran (56mins).
Old Bawn
B Sheridan; C Byrne, L Murtagh (1-0), G Halpin; J Quinn, D Flood, S Reilly (0-1); S Hendrick (0-1), C Galvin (0-2); C Keegan, S Morris, P Hudson (0-5, 3fs); M Lambert (0-2), J Curley, D Nolan.
Referee: M Higgins (Fermanagh).