Garrycastle 1-11 Emmet Óg Killoe (Longford) 1-10
A sublime point from their marquee forward Dessie Dolan in the 59th minute edged Garrycastle into the Leinster club semi-final, the Westmeath champions surviving a controversial last-gasp disallowed 'goal' by Emmet Óg Killoe to hang on by the narrowest of margins in a thrilling game in Mullingar yesterday.
The Longford men got off to a great start with midfielder Paddy Thompson rifling home a great goal after two minutes.
Dessie Dolan, who was subjected to close scrutiny throughout by the opposition, opened his account with a terrific point from play a minute later. There was very little between the sides throughout the first half and it was no surprise that they went in on level terms at half-time, 0-7 to 1-4.
Sandwiched between a brace of points by Emmet Óg substitute Ronan McGoldrick in the 31st and 39th minutes, Garrycastle kicked four bad wides.
They still trailed by two points when a great move orchestrated by Dessie Dolan ended with Mark McCallon finding the net from point-blank range in the 47th minute.
However, with Michael Quinn excelling, Killoe got back on level terms before Dolan kicked a tremendous point from an acute angle with a minute of normal time left.
The real drama came deep into added-time, when Darragh Bennett poked the ball home from close range, but the referee disallowed the ‘goal’ – after consulting with his umpires – for a square ball infringement.
GARRYCASTLE: C Mullin; M McCallon (1-0), J Donoghue, A Fox; K Henson, J Gaffey, G McCallon (0-1); J Barrett, A Browne; A Gardiner, D Dolan (0-5, two frees), M Guiheen; C Cosgrove (0-1), G Dolan, J Dolan (0-1). Subs: M Monaghan (0-2, one free) for Guiheen (19 mins), D Rushe for Cosgrove (h-t), J Duignan (0-1) for Gardiner (43 mins), S O'Donoghue for Rushe (b/c, 54 mins).
EMMET ÓG KILLOE: S McCoy; C Farrelly, D Bennett, D Keogh; S Dowd, J McCormack, R Keogh; P Thompson (1-0), S Kiernan; D McGoldrick (0-4, three frees), M Quinn (0-2), E Clarke; L Moran (0-1), S McCormack (0-1, free), M Hughes. Subs: R McGoldrick (0-2) for Farrelly (b/c, 13), P Kiernan for Clarke (37), L Hughes for Moran (57).
Referee: F Smyth (Offaly).
