Drumgoon 5-15 St. Finbarr’s 2-10
Drumgoon’s under 20 boys put in a good team performance in O’Reilly Park, Cootehill on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. They were first on the scoreboard, when the hard working captain Liam Smith shot over from out on the left. Goals from Liam and the dynamic Ben Brennan seen them go into half time leading 2-09 to 0-04. St. Finabarr’s fought back in the second half with goals from Colin Mc Cauley and Conor Bannon, but Drumgoon upped the gears again and goals from the flying Darragh Lynch, Ryan Conroy and Ben Brennan, seen them safely though to lift the cup. The winning team was Peadar Mc Cabe, Andrew Murray, John Mc Dermott, Euan Crosson 0-02, Matthew Mc Dermott, Ben Mc Donald, Dermott Mc Cabe, Dean Carroll 0-02, Liam Smith (C) 1-02, Ben Brennan 2-02, Shane Shalvey 0-02, Ryan Conroy 1-02, Darragh Lynch 1-03, Subs Lee Murray, Gerry Morris, Cian O’ Hare, Philip Morris
Celt Report
SPORT 20 LEAGUE DIVISION 3 FINAL
Drumgoon’s impressive win built on solid first half
HAVING won an U15 title, high-flying Drumgoon lifted their second cup in a week in Hugh O’Reilly Park, Cootehill when they got the better of St Finbarr’s. Played in perfect conditions, the would-be winners scored 1-5 without reply between the 9th and the 25th minutes to give them a cush ion that the Drung and Kill amalgamation never managed to close.
Drumgoon, playing with the aid of the wind in the first half. lead by two points to one after six minutes with Dean Carroll and Ryan Conroy scoring. Full-forward Sean McDon nell sent over St Finbarr’s first two points with the second coming after Peader McCabe between the posts for Drumgoon denied Gavin Fitzpat rick an early goal.
Drumgoon’s pivotal purple patch began when Shane Shalvey pointed from 20 metres with his right foot. The game’s first goal had a freakish nature about it as Liam Smiths shot dropped short, only to see Pauric Clerkin’s attempt to palm the ball down to himself, hit a clump of uneven ground and bounce back into his own net.
With St Finbarr’s on the ropes, Drumgoon moved in for the kill and a 40-metre free sent over off the ground by Dean Carroll increased their lead to five. With 20 minutes played, Ben Brennan sent over his first point of the game with his right foot as Drumgoon hammered home their advantage
Attacking corner back for Drumgoon, Euan Crosson showed great pace before fisting a point over from 20 metres. St Finbarr’s, now guilty of being wasteful with the ball fell, eight points behind when Ryan Conroy free was brought in closer to goals before he sent over his second of the day
Sean Curran reacted quickest to a free that came off a Drumgoon post, as he temporarily put the breaks on Drumgoons run of scores with a snapshot point from close range. Drumgoon’s pace in their forward line was proving difficult for St. Finbarr’s to get to grips and Liam Smith used that speed two minutes before half-time to set up Ben Brennan for a volleyed goal.
Cian O’Reilly was accurate with his left foot for St Finbarr’s, resulting in his first point of the game, but Drumgoon leading by nine wanted to make use of the wind at their backs right until the short whistle. As injury-time began, Carroll’s rocket hit the crossbar and the rebound fell to Brennan who hit the post.
Drumgoon did manage to salvage a point from the when Ryan Conroy tapped the ball over from close range. Before referee Jimmy Galligan sounded the short whistle, Dean Carroll sent over a point as he blasted the ball in a goal attempt. Drumgoon headed for the tunnel leading 2-9 to 0-4
St Finbarr’s started the second half brightly with full-forward Sean McDonnell fouled for Cian O’Reilly
to send over the resulting free.
In a goalmouth scramble, St Finbarr’s full-forward O’Donnell tried to lift the ball into the far top corner of the net but just over-shot the target and had to settle for a point instead
Drumgoon, now carrying the ball more into the wind replied with a Liam Smith point and a second from
the speedy Crosson after a defence-splitting solo run. With 10 second-half minutes played, St Finbarr’s caught the Drumgoon defence napping as they created an overlap to find Colin Mc Cauley in front of goal and the centre-forward made no mistake in raising his side’s first green flag.
Drumgoon’s response was three points in the next four minutes, with Shane Shalvey sending over the first. With St. Finbarrs pushing up the field on kick-outs and while on the attack they found left open at the back and two points on the break from Darragh Lynch punished them.
As the game entered the final quarter, an Owen Mulligan, style dummy handpass, gave Conor Bannon a run at the Drumgoon goal which he finished by placing the ball in the net.
With the gap now back to eight points, any hope of a comeback was dashed foot as Drumgoon from their own restart, worked the ball to the for-ward line where Liam Smith set up Darragh Lynch for a palmed goal.
St. Finbarr’s never threw in the towel and two points from frees by Colin McCauley and Cian O Reilly kept the scoreboard ticking. Drumgoon added a fourth goal in ruthless fashion as Ryan Conroy’s dummy made room for him to finish to the net with his favoured left foot.
McCauley and O’Donnell sent over a point each for St Finbarr’s on the 27th and 28th minutes but that was the sum of their side’s tally. Darragh Lynch finished a super counter attacking move with his final point of
the game before Ben Brennan showed great power in shipping a heavy shoulder before blasting the ball to the roof of the St Finbarr’s net.
Drumgoon: Peader McCabe, Andrew Murray, John McDermott, Euan Crosson (0 2), Dermot McCabe, Matthew McDermott, Liam Smith(1-2), Dean Carroll (0-3,1f), Ben Brennan (2-1), Ben McDonald, Shane Shalvey (0-2), Ryan Conroy (1-2,), Darragh Lynch (1-3)
Subs: Gerry Morris, Lee Murray, Cian O’Hare, Philip Morris
St Finbarr’s: Pauric Clerkin. Brian Mc Cauley Conor Bannon, Oisin Brady, Ben Fitzpatrick, Caolán Fitzsimons, Gavin Fitzpatrick (Capt). (0-1), Darragh Boyle, Sean Curran, Colin McCauley (1-2f), Emmett O’Reilly, Cian O’Reilly (0-3, 21), Sean McDonnell (0-3) Subs: Niall Curran, Ronan Flynn, Andrew Elliot, Liam Mc Cauley
