Love Island star Fitzgerald returns in win over Caltra

Bearna Na Forbacha finish strongly in Round 1 clash

Bearna Na Forbacha 0-14

Caltra 0-11

By Stephen Glennon

At Kenny Park

THREE unanswered points in the final eight minutes plus injury-time secured Bearna Na Forbacha their opening Senior Football Championship Group 2 victory of the campaign, but, truth be told, Ger Butler’s charges should have put this result to bed long before the final whistle.

Registering 11 wides and spurning a litany of other scoring chances throughout, the winners dominated the middle third, picking off over a dozen of Caltra’s kickouts, and yet they simply were unable to translate all this possession into scores.

It left the door open for Caltra, who with 10 minutes remaining tied up the contest at 0-11 apiece following four unanswered points from Oisín Butler, Kelan Murray (a superb two-pointer) and Owen Naughton.

By this stage, Bearna Na Forbacha had introduced reality TV Love Island star Sean Fitzgerald to the fray on 47 minutes, with Fitzgerald’s presence offering a timely fillip as the West Board outfit headed down the home stretch.

Imbued with a new sense of purpose, Bearna Na Forbacha upped the ante once more, as Padraig Lenihan set up Darragh Cox for a neat point on 52 minutes, before Lenihan fisted over two more points on 55 minutes and in injury-time respectively to seal the win.

They also came close to finding the net late on in the final quarter – the impressive Cian Hernon palmed wide from a Sean Dunne 53rd minute delivery before Darragh Costello had his goalbound shot blocked down moments later after substitute Charlie Timon’s fisted effort came back off the upright.

For Caltra’s part, they struggled for extended periods to gain any traction in this encounter, creating far fewer scoring chances and toiling laboriously under the restarts from both ends. Their saving grace was at least from those chances that they did create, they usually secured a favourable outcome. In a blow to their chances on the day, however, they were without injured Galway senior panellist Mikey Mulryan.

To their credit, Caltra did lead 0-6 to 0-5 by the 20th minute, despite playing against the breeze. Luke Cosgrove, goalkeeper Odhran Loughrey (45), Owen Naughton, Alan Naughton (free and play) and Kelan Murray tallied those Caltra scores, while Cian Hernon and Sean Dunne, the latter with two incredible two-pointers, kept the scoreboard ticking over for their side.

However, Bearna Na Forbacha closed out the first half the stronger as Tom Curran kicked the last three points – two from frees and a neat score from play – to ensure his side led 0-8 to 0-6 at the interval.

Butler’s men continued in the same vein in the third quarter, outscoring Caltra by three points to one. Again, Curran (free) was to the fore, along with James Kennedy and Costello, for Bearna Na Forbacha while Eoin Ó Ceallaigh offered the sole riposte for the 2025 Intermediate champions during this time.

Yet, as noted, Caltra did rally early in the final quarter by posting four unanswered points to tie up the contest through the pacey Butler, Murray (two-pointer) and Owen Naughton. But, alas, this was to be their final salvo of the fixture as Bearna Na Forbacha registered the last three points through Cox and Lenihan (two).

BEARNA NA FORBACHA: J. Keane; C. Friel, J. Kennedy (0-1), N. Cox; D. McComiskey, A. Kavanagh, D. Forde; C. Hernon (0-1), C. Malone; D. Costello (0-1), T. Curran (captain, 0-3, 0-3 frees), S. Dunne (0-4, two 0-2 scores); C. Kelly, P. Lenihan (0-3), D. Cox (0-1). Subs: D. Naughton, for N. Cox inj. 20 mins; C. Timon, for Kelly, 42 mins; S. Fitzgerald, for J. Kennedy, 47 mins.

CALTRA: O. Loughrey (0-1, 45); E. Naughton, A. Doyle, E. Murray; D. McCabe, S. Loughrey, T. Morrissey; O. Naughton (0-2), J. Barrett; S. Butler, E. Ó Ceallaigh (0-1), O. Butler (0-1); A. Naughton (joint-captain, 0-2, 0-1 free), L. Cosgrove (0-1), K. Murray (0-3, one 0-2 score). Subs: J. Muldowney, for E. Murray, inj., 24 mins; S. Keane, for A. Naughton, 46 mins.

REFEREE: Ronan McNulty.

HERALD SPORT MAN OF THE MATCH:

Cian Hernon (Bearna Na Forbacha).