Eadestown get better of Straffan by one
EADESTOWN 2-14
STRAFFAN 1-16
Daire Walsh
THE Bolton brothers, Emmet and Cian, were to the fore in Naas on Sunday afternoon, as Eadestown squeezed past Straffan by the narrowest of margins in the Joe Fox Tool & Plant Hire IFC.
Straffan raced into the lead on nine minutes thanks to a point each from county star Rob Kelly (free) and centre-back Paul Moran.
Eadestown’s tactic of delivering direct ball into Cian Bolton was paying dividends, though, as corner-forward Stevie Smith converted a close-in free after the No. 14 had been fouled, and the Sky Blue side’s ace marksman had his second score of the contest on 11 minutes to restore the lead for the south Kildare outfit.
A fine Hugh Breen point did cancel out this lead just two minutes later, but a first point from inter-county stalwart Emmet Bolton, and a clinical finish to the Straffan net by Cian Bolton after 17 minutes (the first major of the tie), gave Eadestown a cushion on which to build.
Swapped scores between Rob Kelly and Cian Malone meant that Eadestown still held a four-point lead by the 20 minute mark, but three quick-fire points for Straffan from Paul Donovan, Kelly and Rory Byrne reduced the margin to the bare minimum.
Eadestown did respond with some expertly taken efforts from Barry Lawlor and the consistently dangerous Cian Bolton, but a stoppage time score from Straffan’s talismanic Moran ensured that there was only two points (1-7 to 0-8) separating the teams heading into the second period.
Straffan made a bright start upon the resumption with a point from play by Kelly.
Eadestown’s centre-back Alan Casey would repeat the trick of his opposite number Moran with a score at the end of a fine move, but two points from the influential Kelly, and one from the fist of Allen, drew the sides level.
A second goal from Cian Bolton on 53 minutes, via superb approach play by Emmet Bolton and Sullivan, looked like being enough to get Eadestown over the line.
In fact, it seemed like they were going to cruise to victory when points from Emmet Bolton (2) and Cian Bolton put them five to the good with one minute of normal time remaining, but Straffan were given a new lease of life on the stroke of full-time when Devane coolly converted a penalty past Eadestown custodian Dermott Mullan to bring the margin back down to two.
This, alongside an injury-time point by industrious midfielder Donovan, led to a few nervous moments in the Eadestown rearguard, though they had just enough in reserve to get past a spirited Straffan in the end.
EADESTOWN: Dermott Mullan; Paul Hyland, Willie Casey, Mark Prendergast; Eddie Conroy, Alan Casey (0-1), Jimmy Holmes; David Gillespie, Barry Lawlor (0-1); Sean Sullivan (0-1), Emmet Bolton (0-3), Cian Malone (0-1), Shane Perry, Cian Bolton (2-4), Stevie Smith (0-3, 1 free).
SUBS: Richie O’Neill for Perry (h-t), Tomas Ryan for Malone (56), Killian Dempsey for Sullivan (61).
STRAFFAN: Matt Duggan; Cian Gaynor, Sean McElwaine, Ciaran Ashe; Stephen Donovan, Paul Moran (0-2), Niall Devane; Rob Kelly (0-6, 5 frees), Paul Donovan (0-2); Maurice Hanafin, James Devane (1-1, 1-0 pen), Brendan Ashe (0-1); Hugh Breen (0-1), Austin Allen (0-1), Rory Byrne (0-2).
REFEREE: Dave Coady (Ballykelly).