The ability to get goals, against the wind, earned Fossa a stunning late victory over two-point kings Kilcummin, in an absolutely exhilarating Kerry county intermediate football championship semi-final at Austin Stack Park.
Entering the last six minutes of an absorbing thriller, the protagonists were at parity (1-14 to 0-17).
However, with Kilcummin captain Paul O’Shea, his sibling Mark, and Cian Foley, raising orange points for fun with the wind to their backs, it appeared that the only team with a 100% winning record in the competition were set to inflict a second defeat on Fossa in a fortnight.
The 2023 runners-up had different ideas. In a flash, Fossa hit the front again when substitute Harry Buckley’s shot for a point dropped short, and midfielder Darren Ryan supplied the pass for Paddy Sheehan to send a superb left-foot drive into the roof of the Kilcummin net.
Kilcummin responded immediately with Foley narrowing the deficit to two points, 2-14 to 0-18, but Fossa then pounced for a second goal in the space of three minutes, with the excellent Emmett O’Shea hitting a right-foot thunderbolt into the top corner.
Once more, after receiving another gut-wrenching sucker punch, Kilcummin didn’t hide. Skipper O’Shea, a trojan all afternoon, launched over his second two-pointer to again come within three points of the leaders entering the final three minutes.
With the atmosphere and tension at fever pitch, it was Eoin Talbot who came to the rescue for Fossa yet again, just as he did in the quarter-final against Beaufort last weekend. This time, he threw his body at the feet of Foley to prevent a Kilcummin equalising goal.
That wasn’t the end of the drama. In the very last minute, as Fossa sought to play keep-ball, they were turned over, and it was goalkeeper Shane O’Sullivan who was the last-gasp hero, making a brave point-blank stop from Paul O’Shea.
From the rebound, Kilcummin’s Matt Keane rocketed a left-footed attempt off the butt of the near post and wide. The final whistle then sounded, with the losers crest-fallen, and Fossa into a second intermediate decider in the space of three seasons.
Scorers for Fossa: D Clifford 1-5 (1tpf, 1tp), E O’Shea 1-4 (0-1f), P Sheehan 1-1, P Clifford 0-3 (0-1 ’45), T O’Gorman 0-1.
Scorers for Kilcummin: P O’Shea 0-7 (0-1f, 2tp), P O’Leary 0-4, C Foley 0-4 (1tp), M O’Shea 0-4 (2tp), K O’Shea 0-1.
FOSSA: S O’Sullivan; D O’Connell, B Myers, S Buckley; K O’Sullivan, E Talbot, P Sheehan; C O’Shea, D Ryan; K Buckley, P Clifford, T O’Gorman; D Clifford, E O’Shea, F Coffey.
Subs: H Buckley for Coffey (36), M Rennie for K Buckley (40), A O’Keeffe for S Buckley (47).
KILCUMMIN: B Kealy; D Stack, C O’Leary, D Moynihan; J Williams, D O’Callaghan, K O’Shea; P O’Shea, K Gorman; C Foley, P O’Leary, O O’Connor; S O’Leary, M O’Shea, M Keane.
Subs: S McSweeney for Williams (43), O O’Leary for K O’Shea (51), P Moynihan for O’Connor (58).
Referee: P Hayes (Kerins O’Rahillys).