AIB All-Ireland Club SFC Semi-Final

Errigal Ciarán 2-18 Dr Crokes 1-18

A huge crowd travelled to Kildare to view this All Ireland Club senior semi final played at the newly refurbished Cedral St. Conleth’s Park .

This was a game to remember with both sides going at it hammer and tongs and very little separating the sides throughout.

Errigal led 8-7 at the break but found themselves one behind with time almost up, Not for the first time this season they were rescued by a monster point from Peter Óg Mc Cartan to take the game to extra time.

The win secured Errigal’s place in the final becoming the first Tyrone club ever to do so. The scenes at the end as the crowds swarmed the pitch illustrated perfectly the contrasting emotions that followers of GAA games all over the country are more then a little familiar with but both clubs deserve great credit for the manner in which the game was played.

The Canavan brothers fired over some superb first half points with Ruairi in particular looking sharp and on form. Crokes struggled to contain the bothers as time and again they found space when there was none and caused mayhem while in possession or running at the Kerry defence.

The Killarney side opened the scoring in the second half but they were powerless to prevent Darragh Canavan finding the net ten minutes into the second half. Crokes were rocked back on their heels but they showed considerable composure to draw the game with ten minutes remaining.

Michael Burns kept the score board ticking for the Kerry champions as they took the lead as the game entered injury time. The Kerry men hit the front with time running out and it looked like they were going to do enough to make it through to the final. However Peter Og Mc Cartan landed a superb score that tied the game and took the contest to extra time.

Errigal were the better side during extra time but it took a superb diving save from goalkeeper Mc Anenly in added time to prevent a certain goal for Dr Crokes. Two minutes into the second period of extra time superb goal from Joe Oguz put clear daylight between the teams as Errigal dug deep in search of the win. Crokes refused to throw in the towel and hit the net to make it a three point game.

However  but after one or two close calls during which the Errigal defence held strong and referee Brendan Crawley sounded the  final whistle to send the Errigal contingent into raptures.

Final score:  Errigal Ciaran 2-18, Dr. Crokes 1-18