FAUGHS & WHITEHALL PLAY OUT THRILLING DRAW IN GO AHEAD SENIOR 2 HURLING FINAL

GO AHEAD DUBLIN SENIOR TWO HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL 

FAUGHS 2-18 

WHITEHALL COLMCILLE 0-24 

By Daire Walsh 

James O’Brien struck a 64th-minute point at Parnell Park on Sunday to ensure Faughs finished on level terms with Whitehall Colmcille in the Go Ahead Dublin Senior Two Hurling Championship decider.

In the ascendancy for much of the second half, the Templeogue side subsequently found themselves one point adrift with the final whistle fast approaching. O’Brien held his nerve from distance, however, and these two sides will be forced to do battle once again in order to determine a winner of this second-tier competition for 2022.

Between them, Faughs sharpshooters O’Brien and Ciaran Brennan amassed a combined haul of 2-9 over the course of the action. Paddy Spellacy emerged with a superb tally of 0-13 for Whitehall, but with Dublin senior footballer Cormac Costello and Conor Sheedy contributing three points apiece, he was ably-assisted in the northside outfit’s attack.

Despite already being assured of a spot in next season’s Senior One Championship, both teams were eager to round off their memorable campaigns with a piece of silverware to show for their efforts.

Spellacy had converted a stoppage-time free to give Whitehall a dramatic semi-final victory at the expense of Ballinteer St John’s and he knocked over a brace of points to supplement a breakthrough score from Enda O’Donnell. Although Faughs took a while to settle, O’Brien and Brennan did get the Tymon Park outfit up and running with back-to-back strikes.

Sheedy posted a fourth Whitehall point off a sharp turn, before Faughs grabbed their first goal of the game on eight minutes. After a long delivery towards the square had been batted away, Brennan was ideally-placed to finish the ball into the net.

This was a set-back for Colmcilles, but Shane Noonan’s side quickly reinforced their authority with points from Spellacy (free) and Sheedy. Sean Foran also found the range in response to an excellent strike by opposition defender Ciaran Brady, only for Faughs to edge back into the ascendancy through the sticks of Carl O’Mahony and O’Brien.

There was still a lot of hurling to play of course and three points on the bounce courtesy of Spellacy had Whitehall in the driving seat once again. In stark contrast to his opposite number Spellacy, Faughs’ O’Mahony was being afforded little opportunity to showcase his dead-ball prowess.

That all changed on 28 minutes, when the dependable wing-forward split the uprights to cancel out an earlier score from Costello. David Croke and O’Brien had found the range just before that to ensure Faughs were on level terms with the half-time whistle on the horizon.

The sides remained inseparable after Spellacy and Brennan added points to their personal hauls, but Whitehall eventually created daylight on the scoreboard. Thanks to quickfire contributions from Niall O’Connor and Costello, they were 0-14 to 1-9 in front during the interval.

Despite being pegged back on the resumption by O’Mahony and Eamon Hennessy, the combined forces of Spellacy and Enda O’Donnell restored Whitehall’s two-point advantage. O’Brien and Spellacy continued to raise white flags as the action progressed, but Faughs’ chances of success gained a further boost on 38 minutes.

Colmcilles netminder Ronan Murray did well to keep out a fierce Liam Mostyn shot, only for Brennan to calmly strike home the rebound for his second major of the contest. Now one point ahead, Faughs doubled their lead with another single from the imperious Brennan.

Even though Sheedy, Spellacy and Costello kept the scoreboard ticking over for Whitehall, O’Mahony (’65’), centre half-back Conor O’Shea and substitute Niall Fitzgibbon did likewise to leave Faughs two points to the good on 52 minutes (2-16 to 0-20).

Whitehall had lost Foran to a straight red card, but with inter-county players across both codes within their ranks in the shape of Costello, Lee Gannon and Eoghan O’Donnell, their game intelligence helped them to deal with this blow. O’Brien did register his fifth point for Faughs, but Spellacy (two) and Sean Gannon were accurate at the far end of the ground to leave the teams level pegging heading into five minutes of injury-time.

Just like their aforementioned last-four showdown with Ballinteer, Spellacy pointed a free to offer Whitehall a slight edge on 63 minutes. Gavin Kenny was dismissed on a second yellow for fouling Eoghan O’Donnell in the lead-up to this score, but there was to be a final twist when it became a clash of 14 versus 14.

Given how well he had performed throughout, it seemed fitting that O’Brien would have the final say. He displayed great composure in dissecting posts for his sixth point of the tie and with no victor emerging from an engrossing spectacle, these sides will have to do it all again in a forthcoming replay.

Scorers – Faughs: Ciaran Brennan 2-3, James O’Brien 0-6, Carl O’Mahony 0-4 (2f, 1 ’65’), David Croke, Conor O’Shea, Ciaran Brady, Eamon Hennessy, Niall Fitzgibbon 0-1 each. Whitehall Colmcille: Paddy Spellacy 0-13 (11f, 1 ’65’), Conor Sheedy, Cormac Costello 0-3 each, Enda O’Donnell 0-2, Niall O’Connor, Sean Foran, Sean Gannon 0-1 each.

FAUGHS: Eddie Hogan; Sean McDonald, Gavin Kenny, Sean O’Brien; David Croke, Conor O’Shea, Ciaran Brady; Ciaran Nagle, Emmet McKenna; Jack McVeigh, James O’Brien, Carl O’Mahony; Eamon Hennessy, Liam Mostyn, Ciaran Brennan. Subs: Niall Fitzgibbon for Brady (34), Colm Foley for Hennessy (55), Jake Moore for Nagle (63).

WHITEHALL COLMCILLE: Ronan Murray; Sean Giles, Eddie Moran, Cian Murphy; Derry Noonan, Eoghan O’Donnell, Luke McCarthy; Daire Gray, Niall O’Connor; Sean Foran, Lee Gannon, Paddy Spellacy; Conor Sheedy, Cormac Costello, Enda O’Donnell. Subs: Dillon Constantine for Noonan (21), Sean Kellett for Murphy (40), Sean Gannon for O’Connor (44), Mikey Noonan for Sheedy (52).

Referee: Paul Faughnan (St Patrick’s, Palmerstown).