Cormac Leonard Commercials Armagh SHC final
Keady 0-13 Middletown 1-12
A QUICKFIRE 1-1 in the dying minutes of injury-time helped Middletown make history as they became the first-ever hurling team in the Orchard county to win six county hurling titles on the trot.
The men in black and white have dominated the Armagh club scene over the past decade, but for most of Sunday’s showdown with arch-rivals Keady they were on the back foot.
They kept on Keady’s coat-tails until the chance to go ahead fell to the opportunist Cahal Carvill.
A long ball into the square landed at the full-forward’s feet and Carvill drove the ball to the net to put his side in front for the first time in an hour.
Martin Maguire made sure of it with the final point and although Middletown hearts were in their mouths with a goalmouth scramble in the dying seconds, they held on to their title and made history.
“We were kind of afraid to talk about three, four, five in-a-row, but this year was different,” said full-back Tiarnan Nevin.
“We mentioned six in-a-row, and we thought, why not go on and push on and become the best hurling team that’s been in Armagh?
“That’s what we did, we sight our sights on becoming the best hurling team there’s ever been in Armagh and I think we’ve landed that.”
As expected, it was tight and tense, particularly in the early stages when both sides were still feeling each other out.
Neither team could really pull away and it was score for score during the opening exchanges.
Sean Óg McGuinness claimed Middletown’s first four points (all frees), but they were matched by Fionntan Donnelly, Conor Corvan (two frees) and Marc Toal before further scores from Corvan and Toal nudged Keady ahead.
Tomas Galvin hit his first while Shea Harvey split the posts to widen the gap to four.
McGuinness, who was soon removed with an ankle injury, traded scores with Conor Renaghan, while two long-range Nathan Curry frees kept Middletown in touch.
Keady grabbed the final score of the opening half and that came through sharp-shooter Corvan who raised another white flag from a dead-ball effort.
That gave Gerard Gribben’s side a three-point cushion heading into the break at 0-10 to 0-7.
It didn’t take long for Middletown to get back on level terms as two frees from Curry, along with their first score from play through Carvill, left it 0-10 apiece.
A huge, inspirational Barry Shortt score edged Keady back in front once more, while Corvan grew his personal tally.
Toal added a third to put Keady three ahead with just five minutes of normal time remaining. Ryan Gaffney, Middletown’s third different free-taker on the day, raised a white flag before Carvill and Maguire pierced daggers into the Keady hearts with their late heroics.
“I don’t know how to describe that feeling,” added Nevin.
“I thought we were going to have to pull something special out of the bag and get the win and, to be honest, a little bit of luck helped. But we were in that position to put the goal away and we did.
“It’s unbelievable.”
Keady C McAnallen; C Rafferty, D Corvan, P Hughes; B Shortt (0-1), B Molloy, J Corvan; S Harvey (0-1), C Renaghan (0-1); C Corvan (0-5, 0-4 frees), T Galvin (0-1), F Donnelly (0-1); S Colton, M Toal (0-3), N Dale
Subs D Harvey for P Hughes, R Fullerton for S Colton, M Hughes for F Donnelly, S Renaghan for N Dale
Middletown F Woods; S Toal, T Nevin, O Curry; K McKernan, P Gaffney, P Hughes; Paddy McBride, P Lappin; B Toal, N Curry (0-4 frees), R Grimes; S McGuinness (0-5 frees), C Carvill (1-1), R Gaffney (0-1 free)
Subs C McArdle for S McGuinness, M Maguire (0-1) for N Curry, M Moan for B Toal, C Gormley for P Hughes, Peadar McBride for R Grimes
Referee Mairtin McGann
