Erin's Own strike late to beat Danesfort in seven goal thriller

A dramatic goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time from Conor McMahon ensured Erin’s Own grabbed their opening win in the St Canice’s Credit Union Senior League when seeing off Danesfort on Friday evening.

The Group B league clash was a pulsating affair throughout with Comer coming from seven points down to snatch the win in the dying minutes.

It wasn’t McMahon’s only impactful moment as he also found the net a couple of minutes earlier when a close in free found it’s way past Paddy Hogan in the Danesfort goal.

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A huge win for Comer as they get their season up and running but Danesfort and in particular Ben Whitty who scored a hat-trick muct be wondering how they let this one slip away in the final 10 minutes.

The opening quarter of the contest was tightly fought until one of the more bizarre moments in KIlkenny occured when an attepted pass from Conor Brophy to his Comer goalkeeper Conor O’Sullivan was hit with too much venom and the sliotar went all the way to the net for an own goal.

Luckily for the Castlecomer outfit, they goaled with the very next attack as Shane Feehan firing home to leave his side as 1-5 to 1-3 leaders by the end of the first quarter.

Points from Ben Whitty, Robbie Walsh and Anthony Ireland Wall then helped Danesfort hit the front but with Comer striking four on the bounce via Jack Buggy, Shane Feehan, Eoin Brennan and Shane Coogan, the North KIlkenny side led once more.

Ultimately though it was the Danesfort men that went into the dressing rooms with an advantage as Ben Whitty got the first of his three goals on the stroke of the half-time whistle (2-11 to 1-11).

Comer came out of the traps the quicker at the start of the secod half with Eoin Brennan, Jack Buggy and Kevin Buggy on target but when Ben Whitty scored two brilliant indiviidual goals in the space of 10 minutes, Danesfort looked well primed to see the game out.

With Des Dunne, Daire O’Neill and Fionn Mahony adding to the score, the 2025 intermediate winners had a 4-17 to 1-19 advantage going down the stretch.

They only managed to score two points in the final 15 minutes or so though as Comer piled on the pressure and the comeback really started when Conor McMahon drilled a 21 yard free to the net with six minutes left on the clock.

McMahon was plying his trade in the forwards at this stage and when the opportunity arose, with another free in stoppage time, there was no other thought in his mind as his shot deflected past Paddy Hogan.

With Jack Buggy adding on frees either side of the goal, Comer had done enough as they claimed a thrilling two point success.

Teams and Scorers

Erin’s Own: Jack Buggy (0-8, 6fs and 1 ‘65); Conor McMahon (2-1, 1f); Shane Feehan (1-1); Eoin Brennan (0-4, 2fs); Michael Brennan (0-4); Shane Coogan (0-3); Kevin Buggy (0-2); Josh Dowling (0-1)

Danesfort: Ben Whitty (3-4, 3fs and 1 ‘65); Fionn Mahony (0-4); Des Dunne, Robbie Walsh (0-3 each); Anthony Ireland Wall (0-2); Paddy Hogan (0-1, 1f); Daire O’Neill, Paddy Hickey (0-1 each)

Erin’s Own; Conor O’Sullivan; Aidan Moran, Cathal Holland, Conor Brophy; Josh Dowling, Jake Connery, Ciaran Wallace; Conor McMahon, Joey Ryan; Kevin Buggy, Shane Feehan, Shane Coogan; Eoin Brennan, Michael Brennan, Jack Buggy.

Subs: Eoghan Moore for Holland, 37 mins; Jack Comerford for Moran, 45 mins; James Coogan for K.Buggy, 53 mins; Dan Coogan for Connery, 55 mins.

Danesfort: Paddy Hogan; Adam Byrne, Diarmuid Phelan, Darren Booth; Des Dunne, Paul Murphy, Daire O’Neill; Cathal O’Neill, Cathal Kearney; Brian McDonald, Ben Whitty, Sam Hayes; Anthony Ireland Wall, Robbie Walsh, Fionn Mahony.

Subs: Dan Dowling for McDonald, 40 mins; Paddy Hickey for Walsh, 55 mins.

Referee: Kevin Joyce