Slaughtneil’s hopes of reaching a first All-Ireland Club Hurling final at the fifth attempt were dashed as they suffered an agonising 0-18 to 0-17 defeat by Munster champions Sarsfields.
With the Cork side 0-18 to 0-16 ahead deep into injury-time in Newbridge, the Ulster champions had a glorious last-gasp chance to snatch victory but captain Mark McGuigan blasted the ball over the bar from a central position just outside the small square.
And after the final whistle, Slaughtneil’s pain was summed up by the sight of Shane McGuigan bawling his eyes out after the Robert Emmet’s outfit had yet again fallen short at the penultimate stage of the competition.
The Cork club led 0-8 to 0-7 at half-time after Slaughtneil had been two up after the first quarter only to have a bad patch as free-taker Cormac O’Doherty missed a trio of placed balls.
Sarsfields looked fortunate to still have a full complement of 15 players at the break with Eoghan Murphy having tangled with the outstanding Brendan Rogers on a number of occasions and Colm McCarthy appearing to catch Shane McGuigan with a high stick.
Slaughtneil came out fired up after the break as a long-range Meehaul McGrath scored helped them moved 0-12 to 0-9 ahead after 42 minutes.
During that period of Slaughtneil superiority, Sarsfields again benefited from a hugely controversial call by referee James Owens, who deemed that Jack O’Connor’s late stick into O’Doherty’s helmet was only worthy of a yellow card.
O’Connor went on to notch two of Sarsfields remaining points with Munster Final supersub Shane O’Regan again making an impact after his introduction with his two scores.
Sarsfields led 0-15 to 0-13 after 57 minutes only for two O’Doherty frees to level the contest as the game reached injury-time.
However, points from Aaron Myers and Liam Healy restored a two-point advantage for the Cork side and while Shane McGuigan replied, Cathal McCarthy doubled Sarsfields’ lead once more before Mark McGuigan’s last-gasp goal chance.
More to follow.
