St Joseph’s hang on against Ballyroan-Abbey to reach Laois GAA SFC semi-finals

St Joseph’s became the final team through to the semi-finals of this year’s Laois Shopping Senior Football Championship after they had to fend off a late comeback to get the better of Ballyroan-Abbey on Sunday afternoon.

Mick Dempsey’s team led throughout the contest and were full value for their victory, but they just couldn’t manage to put Ballyroan-Abbey to bed, which allowed them to close the gap to one late before Brian Daly pointed an insurance score to seal a two-point victory.

St Joseph’s kicked into a strong wind for the first 30 minutes of this quarter-final and it was their number 11 Eoghan O’Flaherty that got the game’s first point. Ballyroan-Abbey, with the wind behind them, went ahead with their opening score as James McWey curled over a two-pointer. St Joseph’s were excellent against the wind and scored 2-2 unanswered to move into a great position midway through the half.

The points came from Oisin Hooney and O’Flaherty before the latter took his individual tally to 1-2 when he smashed the ball past Robert Eyres from close-range. A minute later, Mikie Dempsey played the ball to Mick Keogh and rather than trying to catch the ball, Keogh unleashed a volley straight into the top-corner. 

Shaun Murphy got Ballyroan-Abbey’s second score and their second two-pointer with Keogh adding a white flag to his green flag. Diarmuid Whelan replied with a free before McWey got his second two-pointer of the half to cut St Joseph’s lead to three points. Brian Daly pushed them five points up shortly after as he also raised an orange flag from a placed ball. Whelan looked to have gotten a two-pointer to end the half, but Aaron Cooney got a touch on the ball to reduce it to a single point. St Joseph’s led 2-6 to 0-8 at the break and were coming back out with the wind behind them.

The second period began with Shaun Fitzpatrick and Keogh trading scores. McWey scored his first single point of the contest before Daly split the posts with a second two-point free. McWey and Conor Brennan got those two points back for Ballyroan-Abbey as St Joseph’s still held a three-point advantage.

That lead would soon turn to six points as Tom Dunne, Eoin Johnson and Keogh raised white flags for the 2023 champions. Ballyroan-Abbey were then awarded a chance to cut the deficit to three points as Davin McEvoy played a great ball to McWey and he was subsequently fouled in the square. McEvoy stepped up and sent Cooney the wrong way from the spot. Enda McWey came off the bench to score as only two points separated the sides with a minute of regulation time left.

Daly’s third orange flag from placed balls and a point from substitute Robbie Murphy looked like it would be enough for St Joseph’s, but Ballyroan-Abbey got in for a second goal. Cathal Doyle came off the bench and won a high ball into the square before playing it to Conor McWey and he scored to leave two between the sides yet again.

Fitzpatrick clipped over his second point since being introduced at half-time and now all eyes were on Clifford Ward to see if there was time for Ballyroan-Abbey to get an equaliser. Cooney’s kick-out went straight out over the sideline and it looked as if Ballyroan-Abbey might get one last chance to get something out of the game. 

However, in their attempt to engineer a scoring chance, they broke the three-back rule, handing Daly a free directly in front of the posts, which he converted to seal a two-point victory. St Joseph’s will now face Courtwood in the semi-finals after their big win over Portlaoise on Saturday evening.

FINAL SCORE

St Joseph's 2-16

Ballyroan-Abbey 2-14

SCORERS– St Joseph’s: Brian Daly 0-7 (three two-point frees, 0-1 free), Eoghan O’Flaherty 1-3, Michael Keogh 1-2, Tom Dunne, Oisin Hooney, Eoin Johnson and Robbie Murphy 0-1 each. Ballyroan-Abbey: James McWey 0-6 (two two-point frees, 0-1 free), Davin McEvoy (penalty) and Conor McWey 1-0 each, Shaun Murphy (two-pointer), Diarmuid Whelan (0-1 free) and Shaun Fitzpatrick 0-2 each, Conor Brennan and Enda McWey 0-1 each.

ST JOSEPH’S: Aaron Cooney; Conor Kealy, Adam Campion, Jack Lacey; Tom Dunne, Danny Hickey, Ian Shanahan; Mikie Dempsey, Gearoid Lynch; Eoin Johnson, Eoghan O’Flaherty, Josh Lacey; Michael Keogh, Brian Daly, Oisin Hooney. Subs: Dylan Doyle for Hooney and Aidan Brennan for Kealy (Both 44 mins), Robbie Murphy for Josh Lacey (57 mins), Matty Campion for O’Flaherty (59 mins, inj).

BALLYROAN-ABBEY: Robbie Eyres; Eamonn Fitzpatrick, Conor Brennan, Aaron Carroll; Conor McWey, Aaron McEvoy, Conaire Gee; Killian Byrne, Shaun Murphy; Colm Walsh, Marty Scully, James McWey; Davin McEvoy, Odhran Delaney, Diarmuid Whelan. Subs: Shaun Fitzpatrick for Walsh (HT), Adam Jones for Eyres (37-42 mins, blood), Enda McWey for D McEvoy and Ciaran Byrne for Delaney (52 mins), Cathal Doyle for Murphy (58 mins).

Referee: Clifford Ward (Portarlington)