U19 A Footballers Triumph in C Championship Final

The first, and potentially only, ever Under 19 C Football Championship was won by Saint Sylvester’s in a hotly contested matchup with Erins Isle. In their last game together at underage Syls produced 17 points against Isles’s 1-6 to claim their first championship trophy as a group.

 

Originally scheduled for Saturday, the match was played on a bitterly cold Tuesday night in Broomfield to a strong turnoutfrom both clubs.  St Ledger’s men were in trouble early on, but goalkeeper Seán Downey produced a crucial save from point blank range to keep it scoreless. Ross Keogh opened the scoring soon after, cutting in from the right to put over his first of the game. A fierce battle between both teams’ full forwards broke out with Pierce Donohue winning and scoring two marks while Isle’s no.14 put over three frees to tie the game. 

 

The game began to heat up following strong tackles from Cian Roche, Peter Byrne and Corey Tighe in the Syls back line. A few minutes later, Isles’s no.9 kicked out at Shane Lyons and was sent off, allowing Syls to retake the lead through a wonderful curling effort from Dan Curran. Things looked to be in control when out of nowhere a mishit Erins Isle free forced Downey to produce a punched clearence, only for the rebound to be struck into the back of the net. Sylvesters rallied back quickly however, with scores from Pierce Donohue, James Cotter and Cian Donnelly levelling things to seven-a -piece at the break.

 

Erins Isle would take the lead at the start of the second half, before running into an attacking onslaught. Ross Keogh turned the game on its head, scoring himself and then settingup Dan Curran to score a point from a wide angle almost identical to his first. Cian Roche made an outstanding last man tackle, flicking the ball out of his man’s hands, turning it over and quickly passing it on to start a move that culminated with Dan Curran barrelling into Erins Isle’s defence, winning a free, expertly dispatched by Pierce Donohue. Senan Hogan scored two unanswered off his left to put Sylvester’s into a comfortable lead and suddenly there was a rapid fire of points. Dan Curran showed why he won the team’s player of the year award producing a third from wing-half-back. Ross Keogh added two more to his tally including the score of the night, steering the ball over from just beside the white of the 45 line. Substitute Cian Whitney added himself to the score sheet and James Cotter had a mark sail over the bar with the last kick of the game.

Scorers: Pierce Donohue 0-4, Ross Keogh 0-4 , Dan Curran 0-3, Senan Hogan 0-2, James Cotter 0-2, Cian Whitney 0-1, Cian Donnelly 0-1

Starting 15: Sean Downey, Peter Byrne, Maurice Quinn, Corey Tighe, Daniel Curran, Shane Lyons, Cian Roche, James Cotter, Senan Hogan, Ross Keogh, Cian Donnelly, Daragh Maughan, Ryan McGlynn, Pierce Donohue, Dan O’Leary

Substitutes: Cian Whitney, Ben Meehan, Tom French, Brendan Crean, Harry Smith, Michael Downey, Alec Fricker

Coaches: Daniel St Ledger, Mick Byrne, Fergal McStay, Nicky Cleere

Report; Sean McStay