UNDER 20 COUNTY HURLING FINAL:
It wasn't to be for the Under 20 hurlers last Friday night at McGinn Park, Ballygunner, as An Ghaeltacht proved too strong for Ferrybank in the JJ Kavanagh & Sons County Final winning on a scoreline of 5-20 to 3-13. The damage was done in the opening half as An Ghaeltacht made the most of being wind assisted to build up a healthy lead, despite a brave second half comeback from the players.
Ferrybank made a good start to the game with opening scores in the first few minutes through Fionn McGarrity and Caolán Mac Cathmhaoil, but An Ghaeltacht then went on a scoring blitz in the next fifteen minutes hitting 3-07 without reply. The An Ghaeltacht forward line were sharp, which caused a lot of problems to the Ferrybank defence, and their accuracy in front of goal proved decisive. Ferrybank got back on the scoreboard through Conor Haley, as the team began to get on the ball a bit more, and had a couple of scoring chances to get scores, but failed to convert them. Both sides traded points with Conor Haley pointing for Ferrybank on both occasions. With half time looming, again An Ghaeltacht hit 1-04 on the spin to increase the lead. On the stroke of half time, a long ball was played up to the forward line, where Fionn McGarrity was first to react to the ball and placed the ball to the net from close range to leave it 4-14 to 1-05 at the break.
With the breeze in their backs, Ferrybank hit four of the next five points through Caolán Mac Cathmhaoil (2) and Conor Haley (2), but An Ghaeltacht killed the game with a fifth goal. Credit to the team, as they could easily have thrown in the towel, and they battled away with scores from Jacob Richards and Conor Haley. Despite having a couple of goal chances, Ferrybank finally made one count with a close range free from Conor Haley, and that same man got his second and Ferrybank's third with another close-range goal.
Fionn McGarrity was very unlucky not to get his second and goal number four when he batted the ball over the bar from close range. That finished out the scoring as An Ghaeltacht ran out worthy winners. Again, fair play to the Ferrybank team who battled throughout, never giving up, and deserve credit where it’s due.
Thanks to Robbie Carew, Cormac Heffernan, Ruadhri McGarrity, Luke Flynn, Greg Murphy, Millie O’Gorman, Stephen O’Kane, and Ryan Tierney for preparing the team for the competition, and to the supporters for coming out on a wet night.
TEAM: Kyle Daly, Sean Byrne, Harry Flanagan, Sean Adeyemi, Izaak Richards, Jacob Richards, Caolán Mac Cathmhaoil (0-03), Jack Hoban, Jay Bagge, Evan Mullally, Conor Haley (2-08), Fionn McGarrity (1-02), Paddy Mackey, Dean Clarke, Calum O’Sullivan, Lochlann Flanagan.
