It was a dramatic weekend of action in the Carlow Senior Football Championship.
Two games took place with a combined total of two points separating the sides.
In the end both Mount Leinster Rangers and Old Leighlin prevailed at the expense of Eire Og and Tinryland respectively.
Here’s the pick of the four teams from the weekend.
1. James Clarke (Old Leighlin)
The experienced net minder was his usual steady self between the sticks on Saturday. He could do nothing about Matty O Toole’s fantastic goal.
2. Ger Hickey (Old Leighlin)
Hickey has been faced with the task of marking Paul Broderick on many occasions in recent years and on Saturday he stifled the Tinryland attacker.
3. Richie Coady (MLR)
Better known for this hurling exploits, Richie was tight and tenacious in defence for his sides win over Eire Og.
4. Niall Roche (Old Leighlin)
The youngster kept Eire Og’s Darragh O’Brien scoreless last week and picked up Diarmuid Walshe on Saturday and done reasonably well considering how dangerous Walshe is. Hard to believe that this chap is still a minor.
5. Gary Kelly (MLR)
Playing county football has brought Kelly on to a higher level of performance and it showed on Saturday.
6. Willie Hickey (MLR)
He may have wore the number 12 shirt on Saturday but Willie played at centre back and held things together quite well at the back which helped his side to hold on for victory.
7. Cian Moore (Tinryland)
Moore was shakey at the start but eventually settled in to his role and kicked a brilliant score to bring his side level in the latter stages of the one point defeat to Old Leighlin.
8. David Phelan (MLR)
Phelan wore no.6 but operated at midfield for MLR. He had a very good outing, created the opportunity for Eddie Byrne’s goal and enjoyed a fine game in general.
9. Murtough Ware (Eire Og)
The towering midfielder replaced Eoghan Ruth who was black carded and he dominated midfield for a large spell during the second half and was unlucky to see his goal bound effort go narrowly wide near the end.
10. Matty O’Toole (Tinryland)
Matty scored a contender for goal of the season on Saturday and worked tirelessly throughout the game.
11. Cathal Coughlan (Old Leighlin)
You’ll struggle to find many players who are more comfortable on the ball than Cathal Coughlan. He distribution is excellent and he picked off some great scores on Saturday.
12. Hugh Gahan (Old Leighlin)
Old Leighlin were awful against Eire Og last week. Gahan was absent for that clash but his return came at the perfect time against Tinryland where he was the best player on the field. Took the goal very well.
13. Chris Nolan (MLR)
The Rangers youngster picked off two great scores on Saturday, one at the beginning of the game and the other late on.
14. Eddie Byrne (MLR)
Byrne was outstanding on Saturday. The Eire Og defence simply couldn’t contain Eddie at the weekend and even when he was moved to midfield he continued to play well. Scored the all important goal.
15. Cormac Mullins (Eire Og)
Mullins was the only real scoring threat for Eire Og in their defeat to MLR. He finished the goal in the first half and also added a point.
