An injury time goal from Ciaran Walsh gave Fourmilewater a dramatic 2-18 to 2-16 win against Clonea in Saturday's relegation play-off at Fraher Field. That late, late strike secures Fourmile's senior status for 2025 while Clonea take on Tallow in the relegation decider.
The Ballymacarbry men shot fifteen wides and trailed by two in the 62nd minute as Billy Power and Conor Dalton hit late Clonea points. Jamie Barron then cut through the defence and offloaded to Walsh who kept his cool and found the net. Evan Spellman struck the insurance score. Barron and Conor Gleeson played starring roles for Derek Lyons' charges.
In the second minute, Ciaran Walsh passed to the unmarked Michael Morrissey and he found the far corner. 1-1 from Morrissey along with points from Evan Spellman, Dermot Ryan and Tom Barron gave the Ballymacarbry men a 1-4 to 0-1 advantage after 17 minutes. The leaders rued eight first half wides as Clonea rallied. A minute before the break, James Power soloed through and Oisin Walsh pulled across him to stop the goal chance. Walsh received a yellow card. Jason Gleeson slammed the ball to the top corner. 1-7 to 1-6 at the break.
A minute into the second period, James Power pounced on a misplaced pass in the Fourmile defence and fired Clonea into the lead (2-6 to 1-8). Jamie Barron and Spellman edged Fourmile back in front. Francis Roche came off the bench for Clonea and shot two points to give them the initiative once more. It was tit for tat with the teams level five times across the second half.
In an action packed three minutes of injury time, Billy Power belted over from his own 65 and Conor Dalton got his second point to leave Clonea 2-16 to 1-17 up. Ciaran Walsh had other ideas as the Fourmile selectors celebrated wildly on the sideline when his shot hit the net.
