In the second half of the Carroll Cup Pool A opener on Wednesday, with six minutes to go, nearly half an hour had gone by without a goal from Kildare or Mater Dei, and just a point separated them.
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Mater Dei’s Hugh Templeton broke the gridlock to score, inciting roars from the crowd at Robertson Oval and bringing hope to his squad.
This activated Kildare players to turn the result in their favour and win the match.
Kildare’s Ryan Allen replied to Templeton’s goal, then Mitch Bloomfield sealed the deal with a goal on the run.
In the end, Kildare defeated Mater Dei 6.11 (47) to 5.8 (38).
“Mater Dei were on top for the first bit (of the final quarter) but we fought back and really ran over them in the end,” Kildare acting coach Ryan Price said.
“We’ll take some confidence out of that, some of our boys played really well, Brad Ashcroft and Josh Buchanan took a lot of good marks.
“Kildare hasn’t won the final since 2010, so we’re happy for the win, and look forward to finals.”
Most of the third quarter was played in Mater Dei’s attacking zone.
Behind at half time, Mater Dei won the quarter and equalised with Kildare.
Players in the back line followed coach Nathan Irvine’s instructions to “get it down the pitch, it doesn’t have to be pretty,” and forward Corey Toole was skilful enough to win the contested ball on the flank and provide good service to boys closer to the goal posts.
But unfortunately for Mater Dei, players sprayed a few set shots.
Best: (Kildare) Brad Ashcroft, Josh Buchanan, Jack Sase, Angus Cumming, Tom Anderson, Lewis Gooden. (Mater Dei) Jack Carey, Rhys Mooney, Corey Toole, Elliot Winter, Jake Hodge, Jackson Casey
Goals: (Kildare) Ashcroft 3, Mitchell Bloomfield, Xavier Lyons, Ryan Allen. (Mater Dei) Joe Burton 2, Toole 2, Hugh Templeton.
Earlier, in the Pool B match Wagga High defeated Mount Austin 19.17 (131) to 3.3 (21).
Best: (Mount Austin) Jacob Meridith, Latrell Seigwalt, Callum White, Jaleel Kind, Maleke Morris, Lachlan Watkins. (Wagga High) Josh Staines, Sam McGowan, Jack Flood, Jake Spackman, Ben Keith, Sean Keith.
Goals: (Mount Austin) Watkins 2, King. (Wagga High) Staines 4, Benson Ocheing 3, Flood 2, Zach Delaney 2, Ben Richards 2, Marc Bergmeier, Bodie Senior, Jacob Ocheing.
In the school girls’ competition earlier, The Riverina Anglican College defeated Kooringal 1.9 (15) to 0.0 and Wagga High beat Kildare convincingly 8.6 (54) to Kildare 1.1 (7).
