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Palatine, Eire Og and the Conlon Cup will form a great partnership at 3.45 on Sunday afternoon at Dr Cullen Park, when they meet in the Michael Lyng Motors Carlow senior football championship final, in a repeat of last years county final.

Reigning senior football champions Eire Og were pushed all the way by challengers Mount Leinster Rangers, in the semi final at Dr Cullen Park and had to rely on all their experience before they advanced by four points to the final in a lively encounter. Rangers got off to an excellent start and a were 1-1 up after three minutes before Bryan Carbery scored the town’s men opening score. Eoin Doyle with the point and Gary Doyle with the goal after good work from Andy Hickey. With play moving swiftly up and down field the exchanges were hard and robust and the sides were level at the break Eire Og 0-7, Mount Leinster Rangers 1-4. Three goals in the last half, two for Eire Og and one from Mount Leinster Rangers ensured a lively second half.

Brian “Skeach” Kelly will more than likely line out for his beloved Palatine as they try to dethrone reigning champions, Éire Óg, in next Sunday’s county senior football final. Nothing unusual in that you might think. Sure hasn’t he been playing senior football for Pal for the best part of a decade and a half. Well three months ago, Skeagh was in no position to take to any football field. In actual fact his very life was under threat! Following a clash of heads in the Palatine’s clash with Kildavin/Clonegal he was left with quite a bruise on the side of his head. He went to hospital immediately after the game as a precaution but was discharged that evening and told to take it easy for a few days. That he did and was ready and willing to return to the training field. However he was still complaining of headaches and blurred vision. He thought nothing of it but the Pal management team were not happy to let him return. That first night back he was practising a few frees before training when Mick Lillis Pal’s trainer told him he was unhappy to let him resume. The club arranged an MRI scan in Dublin to make sure everything was alright and it was from there that things began to get interesting! He returned home but almost immediately was summoned back to Beaumont hospital where he was informed that he had a life-threatening clot on his brain. As he said himself, he still didn’t realise how serious the situation was. He felt fine. It was only when he asked a member of the medical team attending him to rate the severity of his condition on a scale of one to ten that it really became clear to him. She told him it was at least nine and a half! At that moment all thoughts of playing in this year’s county final disappeared from his mind! The doctors told him that if he had taken part in that training session and received even minimal physical contact, it could have been enough to have killed him. If the clot had moved as much as one milimetre it would have been fatal. He was immediately put on clot busting drugs in the hope of avoiding surgery and thankfully these were successful. Still he was not to go near a football field for at least the rest of the year, if not for ever. But once he was on the road to recovery like any GAA player, the lure of the game was too much. He was back for the latter part of the championship and apart from the unusual sight of him sporting a rugby scrum cap, everything is back to normal and he will be looking for his second county medal on Sunday. That possibility was far from his thoughts three months ago when, as he put it, “they were thinking of opening my skull!” Brian’s story may be an aside but it is just one of those things that add to the occasion of any county final. Every club has its own stories. Reasons why they just cannot afford to let this opportunity slip. I’m sure Éire Óg have their own. As I said here last week, it’s one of the things that makes a county final unique. 

The Michael Lyng Motors Carlow senior football championship final, between the top two teams Palatine and Eire Og ended level 1-10 a piece on Sunday last. The game provided the passion, the spills and thrills, and all that is good in a hard-fought sporting encounter at Dr Cullen Park.

Michael Lyng Motors SFC Replay

Eire Óg will meet Colmcilles of Longford this Sunday in Dr Cullen Park at 2.30pm.

Fresh from their county title win seven days previously, Eire Óg senior footballers advanced to the quarter final of the AIB Leinster club championship. They defeated Kiltegan at Dr Cullen Park on Sunday in a highly entertaining game.

Éire Óg senior footballers are still in the Leinster championship when they drew level with Colmcille of Longford after extra time in Dr Cullen Park on Sunday.

Éire Óg played one of their “get out of jail free” cards last Sunday as they managed to scrape a draw from their encounter with Longford champions Colmcille. When this game is analysed as no doubt it has by the Teach Asca management they will surely look to the paltry scoring return of just 2-4. That's only six scores over an hour and forty or so minutes of football when extra time plus injury time is taken into account. Indeed going the entire second half without registering a score is almost unheard of for the Carlow champions. Finding themselves down three points early in the game it was 18 minutes before Éire Óg got themselves in on the scoring act. As in the county final replay that first score was a goal as ace poacher Eric McCormack added to his tally for the year. Two further scores, a point from Brian Carbery and Mark Kelly's goal provided a nice four point cushion at the half time break. Having weathered that early storm the home side would have been fancied to push on and finish the job in the second half but the Longford men had other ideas. In completely dominating the second half they almost caused the shock of the round by dumping the strongly fancied Carlow men out of the competition. At this stage of the game it was left to the home sides defence to keep them in the game. While forwards often take the plaudits, this time Éire Óg have their magnificent defence to thank for giving them another chance to progress to the semi final. With Colmcille dominating midfield they came in waves at Éire Óg. On two occasions they seemed sure to score what probably would have been a match winning goal but both efforts were saved magnificently by goal keeper Michael Hennessy. Having brought the game to extra time they were then dealt the blow of Shane Myers sending off. Without their regular full back they had to dig even deeper to live to fight another day. That they did is a testimony to the renowned never say die spirit and inner belief that the club has built up over the years. When Colmcille twice took the lead in extra time Eric McCormack showed his worth by holding his nerve to knock over the equalising frees. I always say that there's no such thing as an easy free but when your clubs continued involvement in the competition is at stake you could say there is just a little extra pressure. Well having got the draw out of the game they now must travel to Longford for the replay. For a team with Éire Óg's experience this will not worry them unduly. As has been well documented they have an outstanding record in replays. Hopefully the conditions will lend themselves more to good football unlike what we had last Sunday. Even though they will be away from home I still feel that Éire Óg will be favourites for this one and justifiably so. The forward line will be anxious to put more scores on the board this time round. A similar scoring return next weekend might not be enough. Simon Rea's injury is a blow but Éire Óg are well known for having strength in depth. Cormac Mullins came on the last day to score an important point at the start of extra time and could start in the replay. Experience could be the key to the result on Sunday and Éire Óg have this in spades. This I feel should be enough to see them progress.