Super Santry takes centre stage as Ross leave it late

Carbery Rangers 1-10

Dohenys 2-6

TOM LYONS REPORTS

IT wasn’t quite a one-man show for Carbery Rangers but when a player kicks 1-7 from a total of 1-10 as his side wins by a single point, and he kicks the winning point, then it was very close to being one.

Ciarán Santry at full forward for the winners had one of those days when his every touch seemed to end in a flag and when one throws in a great work-rate in general play, there was no arguing that Santry was the key figure in this highly entertaining Clona Milk U21A football championship game in Rosscarbery on Saturday.

A strong diagonal breeze made life difficult for the players, especially the forwards, and when Dohenys trailed early on by 0-3 to 0-1 despite playing with the elements, it looked ominous. To their credit, they settled to kick three in a row to draw level. When Shane Barry finished to the Ross net after Adam O’Donovan’s shot had rebounded off the post in the 24th minute, the Dunmanway lads were really buzzing.

Carbery Rangers' Kelan Scannell closes in on Dohenys' Aaron Mannix.

It didn’t take Rangers long to respond to this challenge. Within a minute Santry had smashed a ground shot to the net after great work by Peadar O’Rourke. A free by Santry and Rangers were in front at the break, 1-5 to 1-4. Santry (two frees and one from play) and O’Rourke (two from play) were the Rangers’ scorers in the first half, while the strong Gavin Farr kicked three for Dohenys, two from frees, and Adam O’Donovan blazed a fourth just over the bar.

Leading by a point and with the wind to their backs in the second half, the Rangers’ supporters waited for their team to put this game away but they were in for a rude awakening as it was Dohenys who took up the running in the third quarter. Points from a Farr free and a mark from Paudie Crowley had the visitors in front by the 40th minute.

All square at the three-quarter mark, 1-6 each, Rangers regained the lead with another Santry free. Queue another Doheny miss when Farr set up Seán Murphy in front of the Ross goal but his shot zipped wide of the empty goal. Undaunted, back came the Dunmanway lads and when highly impressive midfielder Aaron Mannix was hauled down in the square in the 48th minute, up stepped Farr to blast the penalty to the net.

Two points behind with ten minutes remaining, Rangers got a grip at midfield at a vital time and went in search of scores to save the game. Santry pointed from play to cut the lead to one. In the 55th minute, Ben Lenihan kicked a superb equaliser with his left foot. One minute later – surprise, surprise – it was Santry with a lead point from a free.

Dohenys weren’t waving any white flags and they dominated the closing five minutes but just couldn’t find a way through the well-organised Rangers’ defence for an equalising point.

‘For the middle of November, that was a very good game of football,’ said a relieved Rangers’ manager John Hayes. ‘We were lucky to see Ciarán Santry in such good shooting form and his general play was excellent, too. We came back very well after they had scored the penalty. It’s a pity this U21 championship is so late in the year as it was always a great competition but has been pushed aside in recent years. They need to get the inter-county grades back to U18 and U21 and then to find a proper slot in the club calendar for this championship.’

Scorers

Carbery Rangers: Ciarán Santry 1-7 (5f); Peadar O’Rourke 0-2; Ben Linehan 0-1.

Dohenys: Gavin Farr 1-4 (1-0 pen, 3f); Shane Barry 1-0; Adam O’Donovan, Paudie Crowley (1 mark) 0-1 each.

Carbery Rangers: Aaron O’Brien; Killian Eady, Caolan Hayes, David O’Dwyer; Sam Linehan, Jack Kevane, Niall Keane; Michael Maguire, Kelan Scannell; Séamus O’Mahony, Peadar O’Rourke, Conor Twomey; Ben Linehan, Ciarán Santry, Evan Browne.

Subs: Colm Hayes for S O’Mahony (37), Eamonn Hodnett for J Kevane (40), Ronan Hayes for M Maguire (53).

Dohenys: Kevin Vassallo; Josh Burke, Ellis Farrell, Jack McCarthy; Odhran McCarthy, Jerry Collins, Caolan O’Driscoll; Aaron Mannix, Ian Bryan; Keith McCarthy, Shane Barry, Adam O’Donovan; Paudie Crowley, Gavin Barry, Seán Murphy.

Referee: Connie Murphy (Kilmeen).