Cormac Leonard Commercials Armagh SHC final Keady 0-11 Middletown 1-15
The Armagh senior hurling final had been a tense, tit-for-tat affair for 50 minutes, until substitute Conor Gormley broke loose from the Keady defence and finished low into the net to put Middletown four points ahead.
From that point on, Middletown kept their foot on the accelerator and finished out the decider with a 1-7 to 0-1 run which saw them run out as winners for the fifth year in succession.
Gormley was the goal-scoring hero, but Middletown had heroes all over the field including man-of-the-match Paul Gaffney, who was a magnet to the sliotar at the heart of his side’s defence.
Dean Gaffney was Mr Reliable from dead-ball situations, finishing the game with 0-8; goalkeeper Tiernan Woods was called into action to deny Marc Toal at the near post in what proved to be a crucial first-half save; whilst Sean Óg McGuinness was a constant thorn in Keady’s side down the right wing.
For Keady, they will live to rue hitting 14 wides and not taking more advantage of when they were on top. Declan Napier’s side were deservedly ahead at the break, 0-8 to 0-6, with industrious midfielder Shea Harvey and dangerman Conor Corvan in fine form.
However, they couldn’t add to their lead in the second half and were stifled time and again by Middletown’s wall of bodies across the defence.
In a game which had little scoring for the majority of the way through every turnover was celebrated like a score. And unfortunately for the Keady supporters, they had little to shout about in the last quarter of the game.
Despite having the better of the action, they could never push their lead out enough and once Middletown got their tails up with four unanswered points, with two each for Dean Gaffney and McGuinness, they never looked back.
With 10 minutes to go, the Keady full-back line were nowhere to be seen, as they allowed Gormley the freedom of the Athletic Grounds in behind them, and after he was played through by McGuinness, he was never going to miss, and he slotted the ball underneath Conor McAnallen and into the net.
Keady never scored after that and ran out of steam down the stretch, whilst Middletown closed out the win with three further points from Dean Gaffney (two) and Martin Moan.
MATCH STATS
Keady C McAnallen; O Fullerton, D Corvan, C Farrell; S Renaghan, B Shortt (0-1), J King; S Harvey (0-1), C Renaghan; J Shortt, C Corvan (00-6, 4f), F Donnelly; J Corvan, M Toal, T Galvin (0-2): Subs S Colton (0-1) for J Corvan (41), C Rafferty for Fullerton (45), O Keenan for Farrell (57), M Hughes for Donnelly (60)
Middletown F Woods; K McKernan, T Nevin, P Lappin; D Gaffney (0-8, 7f), P Gaffney, O Curry; Paddy McBride, Peader McBride; C Carvill (0-1), M Moan (0-1), S Toal; R Gaffney (0-1), B Toal, S Óg McGuinness (0-3, 1f); Subs R Grimes (0-1) for S Toal (34), N Curry for B Toal (41), C Gormley for (1-0) for Peadar McBride (44), J Toal for Lappin (60+1)
Referee Ruan McKinstry
