Eoin O Longaigh in fantastic form as Éire Óg Greystones cruise past Avondale in JBFC quarter-final

Eoin O Longaigh’s injury-time penalty put the icing on the cake for the Greystones side against an Avondale side that were made to rue a slow start to the game that saw them slip 0-6 to no score behind inside the opening quarter.

The torrential downpour that wreaked havoc on the fixture schedule towards the end of last week and into the weekend harkened the end of summer and progression into early autumn gloom.

And Ballinakill bore the hallmarks of that shift. The grounds people had done an admirable job in keeping the pitches up to scratch in time for throw-in, as the turf held while being soft underfoot.

However, as the frantic football unfolded on its surface, the field demonstrated the wet conditions to which it had been subjected for days leading up to Monday night.

Add in the stiff and chilly wind and you had the recipe for an unforgiving reminder of the time of year into which we are now entering. The conditions played a major role on the game itself, as both teams found themselves surrendering to the greasy surface.

It made for a game that operated in fits and starts. The opening score, for instance, did not arrive for seven minutes with Eoin O Longaigh giving Éire Óg the lead from a free, and after that, Greystones quickly tacked on another five in the ensuing nine minutes.

O Longaigh got one of those from another free, while others were tacked on by Kevin Booth, David Prendergast, after Craig Byrne had slipped in the mud and been turned over, Patrick Byrne, and a Sean O’Neil free.

Avondale finally got off the mark through a Callum Pursey free on 23 minutes but that would be their only score of the half, with O Longaigh restoring Eire Og’s six-point advantage from play before Eoin O’Neill came within inches of all-but putting the game to bed with a shot at goal that smacked the corner of the post.

In an attempt to drag themselves back into the game, Avondale introduced both Kevin Kinsella and Ryan Cahill at half-time, and while the storyline of the second half paraphrased that of the first half in so far as it took five minutes for the first score to arrive, it was Avondale who got it through another Callum Pursey free.

They were their own enemies at times, however. Karl Phelan, outstanding for large stretches of the game, spared their blushes with some last ditch defending only for Avondale to lose the ball shortly thereafter to Colin O’Shea, who popped the ball over the bar.

Éire Óg once again restored their seven-point advantage through Eoin O Longaigh, but Avondale rallied, adding the next two through a well-executed Ryan Cahill free and Diarmuid Phelan after Éire Óg’s subsequent kick-out was turned over.

The game slipped into a bit of a lull at this point, with another O Longaigh free being the only score between the 43rd and 56th minutes. However, when the contest ticked into its final five minutes, tempo stepped up a notch thanks to the game’s first goal.

A long kickpass was fired into the chest of Christopher Sillery. He did well to reverse a handpass into the onrushing Callum Pursey, who timed his run from deep to perfection to storm his way in on goal and slip the ball under Sean O’Neill to close the game back to 0-10 to 1-4.

Their hope was short-lived however, as Éire Óg pushed their lead out to four through O Longaigh once again before getting their goal deep in injury-time.

Cian Hynes was brought down after turning to face goal, forcing referee Liam Keenan Jnr no other option but to award the penalty, which was clinically dispatched by O Longaigh to end the day on 1-6 and send Éire Óg Greystones through to the Junior ‘B’ football semi-finals.

Éire Óg: Sean O’Neill (0-1f); Brian Waldron, Neil Browne, Liam Maguire; Eoin McTague, Michael Cannon, David Prendergast (0-1); Dominic O’Brien, Kevin Booth (0-1); Patrick Byrne (0-1), Eoin O Longaigh (1-6, 1 pen, 4f), Colin O’Shea (0-1); Eoin Howlin, Cian Hynes, Eoin O’Neill. Subs: Colm Condon for P. Byrne (38), Callum O’Connor for E. McTague (43), James Cranley for C. O’Shea (49), Craig Smullen for K. Booth (58), Billy Cuddihy for E. O’Neill (58).

Avondale: Michael O’Toole; Jack Bailey-Johnston, Karl Phelan, Diarmuid Phelan (0-1); Kieran Penn, Anthony Byrne, Harrison Penn; Conor Sheehan, Callum Pursey (1-2, 2f); Craig Byrne, James Quinn, Christopher Sillery; Daniel Owens, Seamus McGraynor, Caleb Fox. Subs: Kevin Kinsella for C. Sillery (HT), Ryan Cahill (0-1f) for C. Fox (HT), Caleb Fox for J. Quinn (49), Christopher Sillery for J. Bailey-Johnston (49).

Referee: Liam Keenan Jnr (Aughrim).