Adamstown 5-6 Ferns 2-6

It was a game of four halves in St. Patrick’s Park on Wednesday last as it took extra-time to separate Adamstown and Ferns in this very entertaining Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Rackard League Roinn B Boys’ Football decider.

The match wasn’t long on when it gave spectators a flavour of the drama that was to come; the first ten minutes producing three goals. Ferns Sean O’Rourke pounced on a Crag Bradley save to get the first before Adamstown corner forward Tadgh McDonald finished into the top corner to equalize. George Warren then restored the Ferns lead with a cool finish of his own and the half continued in this rich vein of scores and attacking play much to the delight of the sideline. The pick of the scores in the opening half came from Adamstown’s Martin Clooney, Adam O’Gorman and Paddy Whitty while Ferns also got some neat scores of their own through Brian Stafford, Padraig Kinsella and Corey Dunbar to bring the scores at 2-3 to 1-4 for the interval.

The second half saw both teams up the ante to an even higher level of competitiveness. Adamstown scored an early free through Paddy Whitty and were unlucky not to have a goal when an early effort was disallowed for square ball. All was not lost however, as they went on to turn the game on its head with a Kevin Dunleavy shot that somehow slipped through several pairs of legs into the back of the net. A good save by Craig Bradley ensured that Ferns’ only attempt rattled the crossbar instead of the net.

With plenty of time remaining and their star attacker Corey Dunbar back on the field, Ferns were patient as they worked hard for the two vital scores to put them back in it. It was Corey Dunbar who twice won his own free and put it over to level affairs with the clock ticking. This strong Ferns finish left both sets of supporters scratching their heads as they struggled to predict and eventual winner with extra time now beckoning.

Adamstown again started the new half well with two early goal chances that they couldn’t quite put away. It was Ferns who got ahead through a Byron Jordan effort from distance but Paddy Whitty put over another free for his team to level affairs once more. At this stage, Paddy and his midfield partner Gramham O’Reilly were starting to hit fifth gear and the beginning of the final period saw some daylight start to emerge between the teams after over an hour’s worth of top quality football.

The killer goals came from three unexpected sources. Gramham O’Reilly kicked a huge 45 that slipped through a crowd of flailing arms into the back of the net, defender turned attacker David O’Gorman slid in to finish a great Adamstown team move and the hard working and patient full forward Peter Aspel got the goal that he deserved when he finished from close range in the final moments of the game.

There was no such luck for the Ferns team who had a late chance through Padraig Kinsella. Adamstown took the opportunity of a bigger lead to use a blanket defence to finish the game out. Based on the four periods of play, one felt that Adamstown would have improved further again had there been a fifth period of play and they were full value for their hard earned win.

Adamstown: Craig Bradley, Tom Roche, James Dillion, Thomas Jackman, David O’Gorman, Conor Whelan, Kevin Dunleavy, Paddy Whitty, Gramham O’Reilly, Diarmuid Murphy, Craig Wall, Tadgh McDonald, Adam O’Gorman, Peter Aspel, Martin Clooney, Colin Stephenson, Jack Vieira, Sean Woods, Matthew Healy

Ferns, Evan Murphy, Conor O’Toole, Michael Fortune, James Kinsella, Joe Byrne, Paraic Hayen, Adam Quinn, Martin Byrne, Barry Murphy, George Warren, Padraig Kinsella, Corey Dunbar, Brian Stafford, Sean O’Rourke, Byron Jordan, Liam Byrne, Bob Byrne, Craig Murphy, Cian Breslin, Fionn Murphy, Craig Cullen, Joshua KInsella, James O’Sullivan, Jack Byrne, DJ Gaughan