O’Neill’s army skin the Cats
Glenanne won the Galtrim Cup for third time in four years as they overcame Kilkenny in thrilling fashion, the game eventually being decided in the 9th round of penalty strokes.
David O’Malley hogged the limelight as he saved five penalties in total. The 21-year-old – who played outfield for the entire season before returning in between the pipes for one match only – saved Kilkenny’s 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th effort, all of which would have won the cats the tie had they gone in. And when he kept out their 9th effort from Adam Lynas it was all over.
Glens had raced out of the blocks, scoring after 40 seconds. Matt Lucas made inroads along the baseline and found Stephen Callaghan on the penalty spot and although the Kilkenny goalkeeper made a fine save low to his right, Brian O’Malley picked up the trash and roofed into the net.
The lead was doubled in the 7th minute when a second phase short corner was deflected home from the penalty spot by Glenanne captain Cillian O’Neill. Further chances came and went as The Cats – playing on home turf in Kilkenny College – could not live with the passing game of their visitors.
However, the hosts did gradually grow into the game and pulled a goal back with their first corner, a low dragflick which took advantage of O’Malley’s rustiness in the goal.
They had chances before the break to draw level but O’Malley palmed away one second phase short corner while Lucas got back well to clean up the pads of the former near the break.
The match was more even in the second half, although the pattern of play remained the same – Glenanne pushing forward in numbers and Kilkenny trying to utilise their pace on the break. However, those breaks were becoming more frequent and of higher quality
A second dragflick was gloved away by O’Malley, while a good chance for Eamonn Walsh went wide but it wasn’t long before the scores were tied up.
Again it was a counter attack and Glens did not help themselves as their two central defenders Aidan Burns and Kevin O’Malley collided to give Walsh a free run at goal. He did not connect properly with his reverse-stick shot, but with O’Malley already committed to a low save, the ball spun into the net anyway.
Glens had the better chances to get a winner in normal time but, as it did for the entire game, their short corner offence let them down. The ball was not injected properly on several occasions and even on the occasions when the ball came out right, the execution was poor.
Lucas had two pops from the right hand side when a square ball back to Kev O’Malley at the penalty spot was the best option, while Sam O’Connor twice failed to get shots off before he was blocked down. In the end, Glens scored 1 corner (from second phase at that) out of 12.
They did nearly knick it from play in the end, Colin Neville’s fine crash ball looked set to find Ryan O’Malley at the back post but the goalkeeper got a vital touch en route.
Then, with seconds remaining disaster nearly struck as O’Connor was dispossessed near his own circle, but the shot was tame and O’Malley cleared.
And so to penalty strokes. Kilkenny scored their first three, O’Malley guessing the wrong way each time. Glens only scored one of their first three, Ryan O’Malley and O’Connor missing with Callaghan scoring on the high stick side.
That left ‘The boys in Green’ on the precipice of defeat but O’Malley saved the next two and Lucas and O’Neill both scored.
Sudden death meant a reversal of order so O’Neill ended up going consecutively. He went the same side but the wrong side of post, giving the home side another chance to win it.
O’Malley got down to his right hand side to save but Lucas missed straight after giving Kilkenny another chance to win it. This time O’Malley saved low on his glove side.
O’Connor showed good courage to roof his second effort but Tristan Lynas showed nerves of steel to bring the competition into a 9th round.
However, Callaghan made no mistake – changing sides but staying high – and O’Malley had a chance to win it. The ball got stuck under his body but eventually he got off it to see it lying two inches in front of the goal-line. Time to celebrate!
Glenanne team: David O’Malley, Sam O’Connor, Kevin O’Malley, Aidan Burns, Paul Byrne, Matt Lucas, Cillian O’Neill, Brian O’Malley, Ryan O’Malley, Stephen Callaghan, Tadgh Murphy. Subs: Colin Neville, Rhys Coleman. Special Mention: Darragh McGinley (our real goalkeeper, who was unavailable last night)
