Football league Div 1B: Curraha defy all the odds
Curraha travelled to Walterstown GFC on Tuesday evening the 20th of June, for their meeting with Walterstown in the final round of the 2023 Séamus Connolly Catering A League Division 1B. Curraha knew they had to win to give them a chance of surviving in Division 1B for 2024. Syddan were hosting Oldcastle and Curraha needed Syddan to do them a favour and beat Oldcastle. Curraha also needed Rathkenny to beat Dunderry. If this was to happen, it would leave Curraha, Rathkenny and Oldcastle all on 6 points and it would come down to score difference to see who would stay up and who would be relegated to Division 2A for 2024.
Walterstown had already secured their safety for next year but still would have liked to finish the league with a win on home soil. Liam O'Brien got the game underway just after 8 pm and straight away there were hard hits going in from both sides. Walterstown were the first to score and it came from Brian O'Connell when he scored a fine 45 on the stroke of 3 minutes. Curraha got their first score of the game thanks to Ruairí O'Sullivan after Niall McLarnon caught a terrific ball in the midfield area which he played to O'Sullivan who slotted the ball over the bar. Diarmuid Moriarty gave Curraha the lead after he won the ball and skinned by his man, he then kicked a fine score off his right foot from a tight angle on the stroke of 6 minutes. Walterstown had a fine purple patch and it started with a great score by Adam Quinn followed by 2 fine points coming from Mark Foy and Adam Treanor to give Walterstown a 2 point lead with 10 minutes gone in the first half. Diarmuid Moriarty brought the lead back to the minimum with a point from play with 11 minutes gone. Brian O'Connell restored Walterstown's lead to 2 points with a point from a free. Curraha then took the lead when a superb team move involving many of the Curraha player's the ball ended up at Moriarty's feet who with his strength got by his marker and slotted the ball to the near side of the Walterstown goalie with 15 minutes gone in the first half. Walterstown responded very well when Mark Foy kicked an excellent point for Walterstown to draw the game for the second time. Curraha then out of nowhere got their second goal with Moriarty again involved. Moriarty won the ball and got by his man and instead of pulling the trigger he cleverly passed across to Gavin Coyle who palmed it to the net to give Curraha a 3 point advantage. Walterstown responded with a point by Lorcan O'Connor with 7 minutes remaining in the half. Curraha were using Moriarty as the target man and Sean Ronan, the Curraha half back, delivered a fine ball into the Curraha forward line. The Walterstown man thought he had gathered possession but Moriarty managed to dispossess the man and he drilled the ball to the back of the net past the Walterstown goalie to give Curraha their third goal of the game. Walterstown, still to their credit, didn't lose faith and finished the half the strongest with two fine points coming from Brian O'Connell and Adam Quinn. This left the halftime score:
Curraha 3.03 Walterstown 0.09
The second half got underway with Curraha shooting into the clubhouse end, but it was Walterstown who again got the first score of the second half as they did in the first thanks to Ciaran Cox. After the half back made a long run up the pitch he slotted it straight over the black spot to leave only 2 between the sides. When Curraha badly needed a score it was Moriarty who led by example and won a great free and converted much to the delight of the small travelling support. It had started a lovely sunny evening in Walterstown but midway through the second half the rain started to fall and many players from both sides were slipping with the greasy surface now on the pitch. Players were also losing possession due to them not wearing gloves. We had to wait till the 15th minute of the second half for the next score of the game and Moriarty again was called into action when he somehow got to slide along the ground and caught the long direct footpass in and he won himself a free which he converted to extend the Curraha lead to 4 points. Curraha had chances to extend their lead further but weren't able to convert them with Brian Joyce coming the closest after his fine effort hit the post, indeed Sean Ronan was unlucky not to get a fourth goal for Curraha. With some great team play by all the players from Curraha they managed the game brilliantly to run down the clock. Walterstown did finish the game with the last score thanks to Brian O'Connell with a fine point from a free as the game ticked into injury time.
Final score read:
Curraha 3.05 Walterstown 0.11
The Curraha players didn't celebrate as they waited to hear the result in the other two matches. As the two results came in there was overjoy from the Curraha players and management to hear Rathkenny had beaten Dunderry and Oldcastle were beaten by Syddan which secured safety in Division 1B of the league for Curraha for 2023. The players had come up short in many games this year due to low numbers of players due to injuries and county involvement, but credit to the lads for digging out a couple of big results to secure safety. Next up is the Fairyhouse Steel Meath Senior Championship round 1 fixture against Na Fianna in Kilcloon on the 30th of July at 7pm.
Hon The Ha!!!!!
Curraha team
Liam Hogan, Johnny Cahalan, Matthew Webb, Seamus Hogan, Padraig O'Hanrahan, Brian Joyce, Sean Ronan, Niall McLarnon, Diarmuid Moriarty 2.04(0.02F) Ronan Flynn, Andrew Coyle, Ruairí O'Sullivan(0.01), Ciarán O'Hanrahan, Gavin Coyle(1.00) Daniel Doran.
Referee: Liam O'Brien
CREDIT TO IVAN KEOGH FOR THE MATCH REPORT
