Reds hold on despite late Drumgoon rally

U20 Division 4 Championship final

Cornafean 1-14

Drumgoon 0-14

On Sunday afternoon last on the 3G pitch, the second of this year’s U20 football championship finals took place between Cornafean and Drumgoon. The Reds of Cornafean qualified for the semi-finals with a comfortable win over Ballinagh and a 5-21 to 4-11 win over Belturbet. In the final four, they faced St Finbarr’s and in a closer affair they won out by 2-10 to 0-10.

Drumgoon were given a walkover by Kildallan in round one and recorded a 16-point win over Ballinagh in the second group stage game. In the semi-final they made light work of Belturbet, scoring 7-10 while holding the Rorys to seven points.

Cornafean were quickest out of the traps as they set out their stall in the opening ten minutes with three points. Jack Trainor set the wheels in motion with a point in the third minute and Peter Doyle added two more on the sixth and the 10th minutes.

After a Dean Carroll reply for Drumgoon, Culann McSeain and Dean Kilkenny raised white flags for Liam Young’s side. Cornafean were in control of the game and lead by four points at the first water break even after missing a number of further scoring opportunities.

Donal Keappock broke forward for Drumgoon from the half-back line and finished the ball over the bar, closing the gap to two points. Cornafean, playing with the aid of a strong wind, continued to use it to their advantage as Jack Trainor and Dean Kilkenny sent over a point each.

Drumgoon midfielder Kaylan Jackson McCabe landed their third and final point of the first half with seven minutes to go to the break. The would-be winners kept their foot on the gas right to the half-time whistle with points from Trainor, McSeain, Kilkenny and a ’45 from Peter Doyle.

Cornafean could have been even further ahead as they broke through on goal in first half injury-time but a superb double save by Dermot McCabe denied the Reds a major. When Jimmy Galligan sounded the half-time whistle, Cornafean lead on a score line of 0-11 to 0-3 but the question was with the wind against them in the second half, was eight points going to be enough?

After using the wind to supply long early kick passes to the full forward line Cornafean, needed to use the running game in the second half. After adjusting quickly, Jack Trainor extended their lead to nine with the first score of the second half.

A Dean Carroll free in the third minute clawed one back for Drumgoon but they hadn’t started to use the wind to their advantage fully just yet. The deciding score of the game came in the seventh minute of the second half.

An attempt at a point for Cornafean got held up in the wind and in a mid-air battle for the ball, Emmett Martin punched to the back of the Drumgoon net.

Drumgoon appeared stunned and points from Culann McSeain and Jack Trainor (free) either side of a Dean Carroll point left Cornafean with 12 points to spare entering the final quarter. With such a large gap it looked like the game was up but Drumgoon relocated Kaylan Jackson McCabe to full-forward which had an immediate effect.

Two points in a minute after the restart from Kaylan Jackson McCabe and a free by Carroll raised the energy of the Eire Ógs. Darragh Lynch added a point before Jack McCabe sent over two more to leave six between the sides with three minutes remaining in ordinary time.

Sub Oisin Pepper and Patrick Lynch kept Cornafean pinned back with a point apiece as injury-time began. Cornafean, struggling to get the ball out of their half of the field, knew they couldn’t afford to give away a goal. Drumgoon completed nine scores in a row when Donal Keappock sent over on the 32nd minute but that all-important goal never came as Cornafean held on for a three-point win.

Cornafean: Shane Cullivan, Pete Hogan, Trevor Sheridan, Daniel Brady, Ronan Trainor, Pierce Kilkenny, Culann McSeain (0-3), Emmett Martin (1-0), Peter Doyle (0-3,1’45), Jack Trainor (0-5,1f), Dean Kilkenny (0-3)

Drumgoon: Dermot McCabe, Aaron Gaffney, Oisin Doyle, Darragh Lynch (0-1), Donal Keappock(0-2), Dylan Hand, Kaylan Jackson McCabe (0-5), Conor Shalvey, Patrick Lynch (0-1), Dean Carroll (0-4, 2f), Liam Maguire

Subs: Ryan Conroy for O Doyle, Oisin Harkin for D Lynch, Oisin Pepper(0-1) for C Shalvey.