{"id":370356,"date":"2026-03-28T20:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T20:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/370356\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T20:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T20:53:07","slug":"germaine-the-hero-as-wicklow-strike-twice-at-the-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/370356\/","title":{"rendered":"Germaine the hero as Wicklow strike twice at the death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two injury-time Seanie Germaine goals saw Wicklow steal the Allianz Hurling League Division 3 title from Donegal’s grasp as they turned a five-point deficit into a one-point win late on, the Garden County prevailing 3-16 to 2-18 in Aughrim.<\/p>\n

On what was a perfect day for hurling, those who travelled to Echelon Park were treated to a classic as both sides looked to have the game under control at different stages.<\/p>\n

Minutes before Germaine\u2019s heroics, the latter of those securing his hat-trick, it was Donegal captain Liam McKinney who looked to be the match-winner as he scored 1-03 in a row to give his side the five points that Germaine dramatically clawed back.<\/p>\n

Wicklow started the game the brighter with Fionn Darcy, fresh from his haul of 2-07 against Louth, instrumental in the opening stages.<\/p>\n

P\u00e1draig Doyle, who excelled all day, landed the game’s opening score before Darcy followed with his own.<\/p>\n

McKinney replied with his first of the day, taking a pass from Ronan McDermott, who seconds later spilt the post from his own half for Donegal.<\/p>\n

\"3
\nSeanie Germaine scored a match-winning hat-trick for Wicklow<\/p>\n

Brandon Ryan hit back for Wicklow, but Donegal found their first groove in the game with three quick-fire points off the sticks of Declan Coulter, Peter Kelly and McKinney again.<\/p>\n

Doyle levelled things up and landed a further point following a Sam O\u2019Dowd score for Wicklow.<\/p>\n

At this point, the home side looked in control, but Donegal possess players capable of changing the game in an instant \u2013 and that was evident once more.<\/p>\n

Both sides then traded points before Gavin Browne announced himself in the contest.<\/p>\n

The Tir Chonaill wing-back first found himself in behind the Wicklow cover, where he showed great composure to find the corner of the net past the onrushing Conor McNally.<\/p>\n

The same man then swung over a beautiful point on the run, once again landing on the break at the right moment.<\/p>\n

Josh Cronnolly-McGee won his Donegal side two frees, which McKinney dutifully pointed.<\/p>\n

Richie Ryan, with one catch and turn, slotted over to ensure the entire Donegal full-forward line had scored and, more crucially, the Ulster side were seven points ahead.<\/p>\n

Wicklow did trim that back to five by the break \u2013 1-11 to 0-09 \u2013 with Doyle rounding off the first-half scoring with a brace of frees.<\/p>\n

\"28
\nThe Wicklow players and fans celebrate with the title<\/p>\n

Wicklow were in need of a response early in the second half and Germaine provided it as he flicked home with a deft touch following a goalmouth scramble.<\/p>\n

Boosted by this, Wicklow\u2019s half-time substitutes began to take control as Eoin McCormack and Luke Evans both scored with Evans pushing his side in front on the 49th minute.<\/p>\n

Both sides then took and lost the lead until McKinney looked to have swung the game in his county\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

For his goal, he latched onto a break on the 45-metre line and raced through the Wicklow defence, burying a strike to the left corner. He further extended his side’s\u2019 lead with three more points.<\/p>\n

From here the game looked settled as the clock ticked into injury time, but a Germaine rasper meant there was a chance.<\/p>\n

With time almost up, Wicklow goalkeeper McNally launched a long free into the Donegal box. It pin-balled there until Evans had a shot blocked down, the rebound falling to Germaine who volleyed home.<\/p>\n

Both sides will meet again in three weeks\u2019 time as they face off in the Christy Ring Cup.<\/p>\n

Wicklow: Conor McNally; Ben Kearney, Bryan Kearney, Ian Clancy; Tommy Collins, John Henderson, James Boland; P\u00e1draig Doran (0-01 0-01f), Sam O\u2019Dowd (0-03); Brandon Ryan (0-01), Andrew Kavanagh, Jack Doyle; Fionn Darcy (0-01), P\u00e1draig Doyle (0-08, 0-05fs), Seanie Germaine (3-00).<\/p>\n

Subs: Luke Evans (0-01) for Jack Doyle (ht), Eoin McCormack (0-01) for Ryan (ht), Jack Phelan for Darcy (65)<\/p>\n

Donegal: Luke White; Oisin Kelly, Ciaran Bradley, Steven McBride; Conor O\u2019Grady, Kevin Kealy, Gavin Browne (1-1); Danny Cullen, Brian MacIntyre; Liam McKinney (1-08, 0-03fs, 0-02 65s), Ronan McDermott (0-01), Peter Kelly (0-01); Declan Coulter (0-02), Richie Ryan (0-01) Josh Cronnolly-McGee (0-01).<\/p>\n

Subs: John Kealy for Peter Kelly (53), Dan Donnelly (0-01) for Ryan (58), Rauri Campbell for Coulter (65), Ryan Hilferty for Browne (66), Conor Diver for MacIntyre (69).<\/p>\n

Referee: Matthew Farrell (Offaly).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two injury-time Seanie Germaine goals saw Wicklow steal the Allianz Hurling League Division 3 title from Donegal’s grasp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-370356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}