Nationalist Premier Division
New Oak Boys 1
St. Pat’s Boys 1
When Crettyard were beaten 2-0 by New Oak in Killeen a few weeks back, there was the sense that whilst there was pressure on New Oak to get 10 points out of 12, that it would still be an uphill battle for Crettyard to get the win, but on Wednesday night, an 80th minute goal from Dinny Farrell proved crucial as it denied New Oak a fourth league title in a row and it saw Crettyard crowned champions for the first time since 2017. Going into the game, New Oak knew they needed to win to keep the league trophy at New Oak for the sixth year in a row and anything less gave the title to Crettyard. It’s been an odd season, in the fact that New Oak are unbeaten this season but still lost the league whereas Crettyard have lost a match but are league champions, such is the beauty of a league season. In the end, former Crettyard manager Patrick Brennan delivered a title for his old club as he masterminded a 1-1 draw for St. Pat’s, the only side this season to not be beaten by New Oak in the league. The result meant that for the first time since 2018 the Nationalist Premier Division trophy was heading somewhere other than New Oak.
The early exchanges were tight with neither side really able to get a foothold on the game. A couple of early Pat’s frees went nowhere. With 12 minutes gone, Jamie Murphy went close to putting New Oak ahead as he hit a header from the left across the face of the box and just wide on the far side. Two minutes later, a Farrell free from the left was cleared. Midway through the half a Dean Kelly free from the left on the edge of the box was hit off the wall. On the half hour mark, a Liam Byrne free was hit straight at Craig Kearney in the New Oak goal. A minute later, a New Oak effort from the left was chipped over Craig Doyle in the Pat’s goal but it was hit wide. With five minutes to go in the half, Lee Walker crossed from the right and found Dean Kelly at the far post who hit the ball into the bottom right hand corner to give New Oak the lead. On the stroke of half-time, Kelly had a header saved. In injury time, Scott Roycroft went close with an effort from the left wide on the near side. Jordan Harmon hit a corner from the right which saw Walker head at the far post but his effort was deflected wide.
New Oak went closest after the break as a Kelly corner from the left was headed over at the back post by Owen McCormack. Ten minutes in, a Byrne free was hit into Doyle. On the hour mark, a Kelly corner from the left was headed wide at the back post by McCormack. Four minutes later, a Dean Kelly free for St. Pat’s from the left was palmed away by Kearney. Kelly went close for New Oak hitting a free from the right left but it was cleared. He had another free from the right go wide on the far side with nobody on the end of it. A Doyle free from the left was hit wide on the far side. With 15 minutes to go, Roy Byrne went close, eventually running into Doyle. Cian Dowling went close with an effort from distance down the left but hit it wide. With ten minutes to go, a Roycroft free was palmed away by Kearney and Farrell gathered it down the left and slotted in to level the game. Four minutes later, Walker went on a good run down the left and hit an effort just over the bar. A Kelly corner from the left fell to Cian Cleary on the edge of the box but he hit his effort over the bar. David O’Shea hit an effort wide on the left. Dylan Keightley went close in the final minute but his cross from the right was saved as he took too long to get it in. The resulting corner from the right from Harmon was cleared. In stoppage time, a Kelly free from the left was hit wide on the far side. Another Kelly free from the left was cleared as far as Harmon whose effort was caught by Doyle. Pat’s held on to see Crettyard crowned champions.
New Oak Boys: Craig Kearney, Dylan Keightley, Cian Dowling, David O’Shea, Owen McCormack, Cian Cleary, Jordan Harmon, Dean Kelly, Jamie Murphy, Roy Byrne, Lee Walker. Subs: Josh Brady, Luke Ramsbottom, Kyle Foley, Pa Kavanagh, Daryl Coleman, Jack Feehan, Daniel Hayden.
St. Pat’s Boys: Craig Doyle, Liam Byrne, Dean Kelly, Harry Lloyd, Conor Harte, Jan Flejszar, Scott Roycroft, Dinny Farrell, Lubomir Lesko, Chris Gaul, Tobi Jimoh. Subs: Sebastian Millere-Khanal, Alex Downes, Jamie Malone, Rilwan Timmy Mohammed, Stan Hannard, Sean Sanni, Ian O’Meara.
Crettyard are the Nationalist Premier Division champions
Photo: Michael O’Rourke
Speaking after the match, Crettyard captain Jack Brady, who had been watching along nervously, said he was over the moon to finally get across the line.
“I can’t describe it. I’m lost for words. Absolutely chuffed. I didn’t think it was going to happen because New Oak never give up, you just always expect them to pull it out the bag. It’s the hope that kills you, you’re hoping that they slip up, but you’re almost expecting them to win every single game because that’s what they’ve done the last four years and you just think they’re going to pull it out the bag. Thankfully for us they didn’t. Absolutely over the moon. The Crettyard lads absolutely worked their socks off all year round and it’s absolutely brilliant. Full credit to the squad of lads, the attitude was spot on this year, we said from pre-season, I know last year was a bad year, we got to cup finals and lost a semi-final all to New Oak but we still believed that we had the squad to win the league. Last year didn’t go our way but we came into pre-season and Cris Maher and Ronan Quinlan said if you work your socks off all pre-season, and work hard all season, we’ll win the league, we’ll be the fittest team in Carlow. We knew we were good enough to compete.”
For a lot of this Crettyard squad it is their first league title and Brady said it means a lot because the priority in Crettyard is always the league.
“It’s my first league title in Carlow. The only thing I ever wanted when I joined Crettyard was to win the league. We hadn’t won a league in a couple of years and that was my personal goal, to try to win a league in Crettyard. It’s brilliant. I know everyone in the club will be over the moon. The league is everything in Crettyard, as much as the Premier Cups and Carlow Cups are great, it’s the league that Crettyard wants every single year. It’s what the club prides itself on, winning the league every single year. It kills everyone in Crettyard not winning it, not even competing for it last year killed everyone. Hopefully now we’ll be back competing for leagues over the next few years.”
By Harry Shorthose
