Wicklow Gardai through to All-Ireland final
All-Ireland Garda Interdivisional football championship semi-final.
Wicklow Garda 6-16; Carlow/Kilkenny Garda 1-2.
Wicklow Garda came out all guns blazing in their All-Ireland Garda Interdivisional football championship semi-final against a luckless Carlow/Kilkenny Division played in Tullow on Wednesday last.
This game was virtually over after fifteen minutes as the Wicklow men aided by the wind ran up a scoreline of 3-6 to 0-0.
Goals from wing-forwards Dave Condron, Seamus Grey and corner-back Eoin Mc Hugh effectively killed off the game as a contest.
The Wicklow power play was unrelenting as they built up a 4-10 to 0-0 lead before their opposition registered their first score, a goal on the stroke of half time.
Carlow/Kilkenny rallied with the wind for a period in the second half to no avail. The Wicklow attack continued to press with the same intensity.
Captain Shay Ryan led the team from the centre-forward berth contributing a total of 2-2 to the Wicklow cause.
They now progress into a first All-Ireland final where they will play the winners of the other semi-final, either the combined Galway East and West Divisions or the Dublin Metropolitan Region South Central Division.
The Dublin Division were winners in 2009. The final will be played on the 22nd February at a neutral venue to be decided.
This Wicklow team have accounted for the previous champions Laois/Offaly (2010), Kildare, Westmeath and Kerry, after a replay, in their previous encounters on what has been a long campaign.
Wicklow: Canice Dowling, Wayne Farrell, Paddy Phelan, Eoin Mc Hugh (1-0), Damian Fenlon (0-1), Niall Kennedy, Anthony Russell, Mark Donoghue, Darragh Mc Evoy (0-2), Dave Condron (1-3), Shay Ryan (2-2), JP Connolly (0-1), Seamus Veale (0-1), Eamonn Furlong (0-1), Seamus Grey (0-4). Subs: Paul O’Sullivan (2-1), Timmy Stokes, Seán Furlong, Aidan Whelan, Conrad Casey, Dave Mc Donald, Willie Fitzharris, Alan Harrington, Alan Kelly, John O’Neill, Kevin Donegan.
Venue: Tullow, Co. Carlow.
