Horeswood 2-18 Crossabeg 1-4

                Only one thing was on everyone’s mind as they left Taghmon after witnessing the Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Rackard League Boys Roinn B football final last Wednesday. What exactly did the Horeswood mentors say to their young charges at halftime to spark such a complete and flawless second half performance? Maybe someone within the parish will leak this information in the coming weeks so that the rest of the county will know these wise words for future use.

The game began with some lively play and free flowing exchanges. In the space of a few minutes, Crossabeg had opened the scoring with a free from wing forward Cian Kinlough and Horeswood were unlucky not get an early goal when they rattled the crossbar. Crossabeg went two points up through a Brody Murphy solo and score before Brody turned provider and set up Cian Kinlough for a third Crossabeg point in the 11^th minute.

As the half developed, Crossabeg seemed much more confident in their style of play and their centre back Michael Cullen was dominating the centre of defence. Horeswood on the other hand were finding scores hard to come by and saw a series of wides go over the endline in quick succession. Speedy Horeswood defender Jim Wallace was having a great battle with skilful Crossabeg attacker Cian Kinlough. It did not look good for the Ross boys however when Crossabeg full forward James Dixon set up teammate Conor Doyle for a great goal that brought the scores to 1-3 to 0-0.

Horewood urgently needed to find inspiration from somewhere and it came from none other than their centre back and captain Jack Kehoe who made a rampaging run up the field to score a tremendous point seven minutes before halftime. This sparked the start of a savage comeback that saw the lead swiftly reduced to one point after two Joe O’Sullivan scores, a Matthew Foley point and another inspirational Jack Kehoe score before halftime.

The second half turned out to be a completely different game. Horeswood immediately levelled from the restart with a Barry Walsh Howlin score and then went on a crippling seven minute scoring spree that saw them charge ahead into the lead for the first time in the game. Jack Kehoe, Jason Murphy and Matthew Foley scored a point apiece and Barry Walsh Howlin got a crucial goal with a clinical soccer style finish to put six points between the teams. This newfound gap continued to widen further with more scores from Matthew Foley, Joe O’Sullivan and Conor Foley. The tenacious attitude of the Horeswood forwards saw them constantly win Crossabeg kickouts to create many of these scoring opportunities.

The game was put well and truly beyond Crossabeg’s reach when the impressive Neil Ennis finished into the net after a great team move by the Horeswood boys. Barry Walsh Howlin, Neil Ennis and Joe O’Sullivan got the final scores to seal a remarkable turn of events that saw Horewood complete a twenty four point turnaround from the 18^th minute of the game when they were six points down. Such a turnaround suggests a serious amount of talent in the Horeswood team and on the day it was just unfortunate for Crossabeg that they encountered a team in unstoppable form.

~Seán Óg Whelan

Horeswood: Ryan Rowe, Daryl Walsh, John Chapman, Conor Foley, Alex Molloy, Jack Kehoe, Jim Wallace, Danny Nolan, Jason Murphy, Kyran Mylett, Dean Roberts, Joe O’Sullivan, Matthew Foley, Barry Walsh Howlin, Neil Ennis, Nigel Dunne Sheriff, Jack White, Ryan Mylett, Kevin Wall, James Murphy, Alan Kehoe, Aaron Rowe

Crossabeg: Aaron Cummins, Josh Waldron, Cathal Byrne, Mark White, Peter Duffy O Leary, Michael Cullen, Cian MacAogain, Brody Murphy, Mark Byrne, Cian Kinlough, Joe Kelly, Patrick Redmond, Sean Walsh, James Dixon, Conor Doyle, Conor Bernard, Shane  Cullen, Cian Buttle, Jack Forde, Maurice Logue, Ciaran Ryan, Nick Scallan, Chonaill Devlin, Alan White, Adam Leahy, Shane Walker, Will Sidney, Micheal O’Connor, Eoghan Cullen, Adam O’Brien, Liam Molloy, Mikey Hynes,