Heartbreak amid heroics as Midleton edge thriller but lose Eoin Moloney to injury

It came down to a free in the 82nd minute – and a limp.

Conor Lehane, hobbling towards the ball, then hobbling away from the celebration, was the man who sent Midleton back to a county final.

A game that could have gone either way for long spells, one that veered from brave to brutal, finished with the Magpies edging through by the minimum. But it came at a cost.

Luke O’Farrell limped off 17 minutes after coming on. Killian McDermott went down with cramp in extra time and hobbled off. And when Eoin Moloney was withdrawn three minutes from the end, it was with a limp too – before a suspected achilles injury in the celebrations that followed.

Lehane felt the sting of that loss.

“Eoin Moloney hurt his leg at the end, so it’s a sad ending in a way,” he said. “We’ll drive on and we’ll do our best for him.” For manager Micheál Keohane, it was survival mode from the start of extra time.

“If we could have used 10 subs in extra time, we’d have had to use them,” he said. “There were fellas cramping all over the place. The amount of effort that they put into the games. The intensity, the tackles, it’s non-stop.

“So the level of fitness that they showed there is a huge credit to Frank Flannery, Steve Casey and the lads, that they were able to go that long.

“Gutted for Eoin. It looks like he’s after damaging his achilles in some way shape or form. He was awesome today. He was good in the full-back line, half-back line, he was everywhere. Hopefully it’s not too bad, but we’ll see.” 

Moloney’s return will be prayed for. Few players have been as influential for Midleton this season. His consistency in performance and leadership at full-back leave him an irreplaceable piece of the puzzle, and they’ll need him again if they’re to topple Sars in the final.

To get there, though, it took a veteran’s touch – and nerve.

NO BETTER MAN

“The lads were saying, ‘is he able to take the free?’ If he wants to take it, we’ll let him take it!” Keohane smiled. “There’s no one to stand up to the moment better. Just to make it as difficult as possible, we were right behind him and he curled it over the bar it was absolute heart in the mouth stuff. But it was a clutch moment, he’s an incredible player.” 

Lehane admitted he wasn’t sure himself.

“It was probably going wide for, I’d say 90% of it,” he said. “But the wind just took it, so I was just delighted when I saw the umpire going for the flag!

“Entertainment wise it was unbelievable, and the extra time, last minute stuff is great,” Lehane explained. “But when you’re on the pitch, you’d much prefer not to be!” he laughed. “But that kind of stuff stands to you. 

When you come through the other end of that, it gives you great confidence, so delighted with the way it ended.

It was another comeback victory, another test of nerve. But even those have their limits.

“Nobody wants to start slow,” said Lehane. “And although it was great coming back against the Glen and great coming back today, you can’t keep getting away with that.

“So it’s something to work on definitely, even though doing that is really good as well. It’s kind of the balance there, but you don’t want to be starting slow, especially going into a county final in a few weeks’ time.” 

And on the age-old debate – play the quarter-final or take the bye to the semis? Lehane shrugged.

“Do you know what, it’s hard one to judge. You do have more time and you can rest up and get sorted, but it all just depends on how you perform in the semi-final.

“If you play well, people will be like ‘aw they’re great’ and then if you don’t they’ll say ‘they needed a game’ so in a way it suited us this year, but the year we got to the final in 2023, we had that gap too! So it’s just how you approach it for those few weeks.” 

That’s two finals in three years. The first with the bye, the second without it. But it was without the bye in 2021, when Midleton last won the county.