Devenish hit late flurry to edge out Teemore

Entering the final quarter of this championship encounter in Derrygonnelly on Saturday night Teemore looked to be firmly in the driving seat.

Five points up and seemingly in control, the Shamrocks appeared to be on their way to the semi-finals but at the end it was they who were to be the disappointed side as Devenish hit the final six points of the game to edge through.

The turning point in the tie arrived in the shape of a black card for Teemore goalkeeper Declan O’Reilly and although the Shamrocks landed the next point through Ryan Maguire, it was backs to the wall from this to the finish.

Devenish dominated the Teemore kick outs in the final stages and they made the pressure tell as they reeled Teemore in before goalkeeper Thomas Treacy stepped up to deliver the decisive blow with a long range free in added on time to snatch the win for the Garrison men.

Indeed, Teemore will be sick of the sight of Treacy who also banged over an added on time free when the sides met at the same stage last year to grab a draw for Devenish before they won the subsequent replay.

Devenish manager Malachy Cullen believes that they can go out and give the semi-final a real lash with the pressure now off.

“At the end of the day, winning was all that mattered on Saturday night,” he said. “It was important because it is our status secured for next year’s championship while our league status is also secured and we are not involved in any relegation play-offs. We have nothing to lose now and hopefully we can just go out and give it a real go in the semi-final,” he said.

Cullen was not feeling overly confident though in getting the result as Saturday’s game moved into the final 15 minutes.

“We had plenty of possession but we weren’t making any inroads and in fairness to Teemore they were defending well. You would have to feel for them because they didn’t deserve to lose but that’s sport and we’ll take it,” added the Devenish boss.

It was Devenish who had accounted for the opening point of the game through a Terry O’Flanagan free but both sides were guilty of wayward shooting in the early exchanges.

Teemore though became a lot more clinical as the half progressed and they got up and running in the tenth minute with the only goal of the game.

A good move saw Damian Lee find Eoin McManus and his delightful pass put Ryan Maguire in on goal with the corner forward producing a good finish to the net.

This settled Teemore and Liam Martin quickly added a point to put the goal between the sides, 1-01 to 0-01.

Devenish replied with a point from Chris O’Brien who rose well to fist the ball over the bar, but Teemore answered with a point from full back Paul Doherty before Martin tagged on a point from a free to put the Shamrocks four ahead.

At the other end the wide tally was rising for Devenish although Barry Mulrone did convert a free.

And it was point for point over the remainder of the half as Eoin McManus fired over two points for Teemore, one from a free and one from play, while Martin Doherty and Thomas Treacy with a free hit the Devenish scores to leave it 1-05 to 0-05 at the interval.

Devenish cut the gap back to two on the resumption as Ruairi Maguire raced in from the left to point but a more composed Teemore side looked to be in charge as they landed the next three points to move five clear.

McManus powered over two well struck 45s and the impressive Martin added a good effort from play to put the Shamrocks into a 1-08 to 0-06 lead. Devenish were struggling to make an impact in the final third but they did pull a point back when Mulrone intercepted the ball and Declan Rasdale then found Chris O’Brien who fisted over to make it 1-08 to 0-07.

The black card to O’Reilly though was to follow for checking the run of a Devenish player and the game was to swing in the Garrison side’s favour thereafter.

Teemore did register the next point through Ryan Maguire to extend their advantage to five but Devenish had been seeing more and more of the ball, even before the black card, the they went on to eat into the deficit.

Ruairi Maguire and Chris O’Brien accounted for the next two points to leave the goal dividing the sides and when JJ O’Brien then fired over with 57 minutes on the clock the momentum was firmly with Devenish.

With Teemore unable to get their hands on possession from the restarts the pressure increased and Treacy stroked over a free from distance to bring Devenish back to within a point.

With the game in added on time, Chris O’Brien tied things up with a point from play and the Garrison men were to bag the victory soon after when Treacy slotted over another long range free to leave it 0-13 to 1-09 at the finish.