Football

Slaughtneil left to rue Cassidy dismissal in heartbreaking defeat

AIB All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship final: Slaughtneil 1-7 Dr Crokes 1-9

WHEN the players are all retired and hanging over fences at Emmet Park and beyond, it’s this one that they’ll talk about in Slaughtneil.

Two years ago, they were outclassed by Corofin. They’d admit as much. But yesterday in a wet and windy Croke Park, they were utterly undone by losing Padraig Cassidy to a red card right on the stroke of half-time.

Had the Derry and Ulster champions kept 15 players on the field, it’s very possible they would have at least salvaged a replay. But we’ll never know.

It wasn’t just that they lost a man, but it was the man they lost. Cassidy was outstanding in the first half, taking the ball at pace time and again and scything at the heart of the Kerry men.

He was Slaughtneil’s goalscorer on 13 minutes, taking Cormac O’Doherty’s pop pass into his stride and careering clear of the entire rearguard to round Shane Murphy and slot home on his left foot.

That put Mickey Moran’s side 1-2 to 0-3 ahead. When Christopher Bradley followed it up with a fine effort from the right wing and Paul Bradley added a free, the dream was starting to look like reality.

But in an instant, the gap was whittled away thanks in part to Colm Cooper’s low finish, but mostly to the powerful run and sharp thinking of Daithi Casey as he tore a hole in the middle of the Slaughtneil defence having turned Paul McNeill near halfway.

It was the first goal the Derry side had conceded in the entire run after 559 minutes of normal playing time.

Casey was the biggest threat in the opening period with that directness, while Brian Looney was another surprise hero of the hour.

The middle of the defence was a concern when Crokes did get a run at them but it was seldom and it was well contained on the whole, if not without a hint of desperation at times.

But it will frustrate Slaughtneil that they enjoyed such mastery over Kieran O’Leary and Colm Cooper (for 50 minutes, until he came out as a late playmaker), with the outstanding Karl McKaigue on the former and the brilliant Brendan Rogers on the latter.

What they did struggle to contain was Johnny Buckley early on. His dominance on kickouts was enough to persuade a move to put Chrissy McKaigue across, and his efforts from there were stifled by defensive duties.

He also wasn’t helped by the fact that he was fouled almost every time he touched the ball. Dr Crokes conceded twice as many frees, 28-14, as Slaughtneil and they were cute about where and how they did it.

That referee Maurice Deegan failed to penalise the deliberate nature of the repeated half-foul was a source of great annoyance to the Oak Leaf representatives.

When Cooper got his goal after 20 minutes, Pat O’Shea’s side took control of the end of the first half and between Casey and Looney, they edged into the lead for the first time, 1-6 to 1-5, in stoppage time.

Then came Cassidy’s red card, when he struck out at Kieran O’Leary after he’d been fouled. The second the linesman, who was right beside it, raised his flag, you knew it signalled bad news for the young midfielder.

It was such an uphill battle from there, but as always those in maroon and white dug in and tried to find a way. Cormac O’Doherty’s workrate and tackling was an example but it was such dog work for them to create anything in attack playing a running game.

Shane McGuigan had a shout for a penalty turned away minutes after the restart when he latched on to Meehaul McGrath’s pass and went down under Shane Murphy’s challenge, but Maurice Deegan gave a free out in the end.

A Paul Bradley free levelled the game but one from Daithi Casey after a foul by Keelan Feeney quickly re-established a lead that Dr Crokes wouldn’t surrender again.

Patsy Bradley winning a kickout when he was four-against-one lifted Slaughtneil for a spell of dominance but nothing came of it and when Michéal Burns made it 1-8 to 1-6 from a tight angle, the size of the challenge was now truly apparent.

Cooper, who added the All-Ireland club medal to complete his collection, put three in it from a free and although Paul Bradley again gave hope six minutes from time, it was to be an exhausting and demoralising end to Slaughtneil’s challenge.

With the spare man, Crokes displayed the ultimate in game management. They kept the ball for four full minutes towards the end, happy to go backwards as long as white shirts were chasing.

Slaughtneil couldn’t muster the energy for a turnover and when they finally got the ball back after Cooper wided a free, time was gone.

The black-and-amber jerseys mobbed each other as the final whistle sounded, with Johnny Buckley raising the cup for the second time in their history while Slaughtneil looked on, starting to live with the regret of what might have been.

MATCH STATS

Slaughtneil: A McMullan; F McEldowney (0-1), B Rogers, K McKaigue; P McNeill, C McKaigue, K Feeney; Patsy Bradley, P Cassidy (1-0); Shane McGuigan (0-1), Paul Bradley (0-3frees), M McGrath; C Bradley (0-2), Sé McGuigan, C O’Doherty

Subs: B Cassidy for O’Doherty (47), R Bradley for McGrath (52), B McGuigan for Feeney (52), G Bradley for Sé McGuigan (53)

Blood replacement: S Cassidy for Patsy Bradley (54-57)

Yellow cards: C O’Doherty (26), Shane McGuigan (32)

Red card: P Cassidy (30+2)

Dr Crokes: S Murphy; J Payne, M Moloney, L Quinn; D O’Leary, G White, F Fitzgerald; A O’Donovan, A O’Sullivan; J Buckley, G O’Shea, B Looney (0-1); C Cooper (1-2, 0-2frees), D Casey (0-3, 0-2frees), K O’Leary

Subs: M Burns (0-1) for O’Sullivan (38), J Kiely for O’Shea (38), S Doolan for O’Leary (48), T Brosnan for Looney (57), E Brosnan for Casey (62), F Fitzgerald (32), C Brady for O’Leary (62)

Yellow cards: J Payne (26), J Kiely (46)

Referee: M Deegan (Laois)