Cortown and Clann na nGael draw in A FL but referee kept busy

Cortown and Clann na nGael played out a thrilling draw (1-10 to 0-13) in the AFL Div 3 on Saturday evening in a sun-soaked Cortown writes Cortown PRO David Rispin.

These sides are no strangers to each other having met last year in the 2015 Intermediate Championship when Cortown ran out comfortable winners in Pairc Tailteann which sparked a miserable year for the Athboy men.

Incidentally, the referee that day, Paul Mooney, also took charge of this meeting.

There was nothing easy in the opening moments and the sides traded points.

Cortown got off the mark thanks to a certain Graham Geraghty handling on the ground and, despite vintage GG protests to Mooney, the decision stood and Ryan O’Rourke tapped over straight in front of the posts.

However, after an unsavoury incident at the far goals causing a massive kerfuffle things finally calmed down and it was level at half-time (1-3 to 0-6).

The teams traded scores consistently in the second-half, but with only a matter of minutes left on the clock there was yet more drama to come when another melee broke out and the result from it was a red card for a Cortown player.

That’s three red cards dished out by referee Paul Mooney in his last two games officiating this fixture.

With time up, Clann na nGeal won a free and with the last kick of the encounter secured a draw.

It’s never dull when these two meet and this one was no exception with a full-blooded, passionate encounter with no love-lost between the two rivals.

Overall, after a pulsating 60 minutes of football, maybe a draw was the fairest result.