Ramor United 1-13
Castlerahan 1-13

Stephen Monaghan's injury-time free denied Castlerahan a late dramatic victory in the senior championship tonight as Ramor United rescued a draw from Kingspan Breffni Park.

In the soaking wet conditions, both teams, whom many neutrals consider to be genuine contenders in the race for the Oliver Plunkett Cup, served up an entertaining clash which saw Ramor pull well in front early on with a magnificent goal from midfielder Anton O'Reilly before Castlerahan got themselves back into contention through the scores of Enda Flanagan and Padraig McGahern by the half way stage, trailing by only two (1-7 to 0-8).

Kevin McDonnell introduced Sean Brady and Cian Mackey in the second-half, having already brought on Ronan Flanagan before half-time, and the trio certainly boosted the trailers' prospects as Enda O'Connell brought them level with just under 10 minutes to go.

In that time, Ramor looked to have gained the upper hand with points from Simon Cadden and the superb Monaghan (0-5), but Fergal Flanagan intervened with an injury-time goal that aimed to steal the win for Castlerahan before Monaghan levelled it with the last kick of the game.

Adrian Cole had Ramor off the mark after a minute of this game and it didn't take long for their opponents to square things up with a free from Enda Flanagan.
From there, the Virginia men threatened to take over with Jack Brady (free), O'Reilly, Monaghan and Cole making the most of a profitable spell which reaped four points in as many minutes.

Oisin O'Connell and McGahern (free) hit back with some sorely needed scores for Castlerahan, but by this stage Ramor's momentum was flowing well and they'd stun their opponents in the 12th minute with a brilliantly struck goal from O'Reilly which ranged 20 metres.

Frees from Flanagan and McGahern helped reduce the arrears to three but efforts from Monaghan (free) and Paul Quealy outweighed a gem from McGahern and the sight of Ronan Flanagan taking his place on the field in the 25th minute must have been a welcome one for the Ballyjamesduff contingent.

The Cavan senior had immediate involvement after replacing Daniel Lynch, as his brother Enda punished some indiscipline at the back from Gary Farrelly's charges with his third free which sailed over for the white flag.

Despite their dominance, Ramor could have been going in at the break on level pegging had Aaron Farrelly not did brilliantly to keep them from hitting the net, with the rebound of a scramble in the square landing out to Paul Smith and the All-Ireland JFC winner looped over his shot, leaving the deficit at two for the interval.

Some slick play from Quealy put Adam O'Connell through for the opening score of the second-half but Castlerahan could well have levelled again were it not for a superb block  from the aforementioned O'Connell that denied Smith from getting his shot on goal away at the last second. They'd have to settle for a fourth Flanagan free in the meantime and the Cavan U21 ace would soon earn another one in a suitable position for McGahern to pop over a reduce the deficit to one with 20 minutes remaining.

Quealy would be at the heart of some good play again for the leaders, setting up Damien Barkey to end a 15-minute scoring drought for his side and Monaghan soon had the advantage stretched to three again when he was put through by corner-forward Cole.

Castlerahan had another goal chance when Enda Flanagan raced on to possession and ripped through Ramor's centre but he smashed over his effort with the chance on.

The next five minutes belonged to the maroon and whites and it reaped two scores for them via Ronan Flanagan and Enda O'Connell which left the game on a knife edge heading for the closing stages at 1-10 to 0-13.

Cadden swung over a gem to settle Ramor's nerves and when Monaghan sailed over his fourth of the night Ramor looked to be home and dry with two minutes to go.

However, McDonnell's team never threw in the towel and launched in towards full-forward Fergal Flanagan, who got himself in between marker Stefan Connolly and Aaron Farrelly to flick over the goalkeeper's head for three points.

It looked as though a late victory had been snatched, but in the dying seconds Ramor were awarded a free inside and Monaghan held his nerve to set-up another meeting between these two sides next weekend when the losers will be condemned to a Round 3B clash with Mullahoran.

Ramor United: Aaron Farrelly; Shane Cole, Stefan Connolly, Mark Magee; Jack Doyle, Damien Barkey (0-1), Adam O'Connell (0-1); Anton O'Reilly (1-1), James McEnroe; Simon Cadden (0-1), Jack Brady (0-1), Cathal Maguire; Adrian Cole (0-2), Stephen Monaghan (0-5, 2f), Paul Quealy (0-1). Subs: Barry Fitzsimons for C Maguire (54mins), Michael O'Reilly for J Doyle (58).

Castlerahan: Jamie Leahy; Stephen Cooney, Barry Cusack, Cormac Daly; Paul Smith (0-1), Daniel Lynch, Caolan McBreen; Fergal Reilly, Paul Brady; Enda Flanagan (0-5, 4f), Enda O'Connell (0-1), Padraig McGahern (0-4, 3f); Oisin O'Connell (0-1), Fergal Flanagan (1-0), Jamie McGrath. Subs: Ronan Flanagan (0-1) for D Lynch (25mins), Sean Brady for J McGrath (39), Cian Mackey for McGahern (50), Cian McEnroe for P Brady (60).

Ref: Conor Dourneen (Ballinagh)

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