ROSCOMMON SFC final at Dr. Hyde Park: Pádraig Pearses 1-11, Roscommon Gaels 1-9.
PÁDRAIG PEARSES HAD to draw on all their experience and guile to see out their third Roscommon senior football title in six seasons, despite dominating Roscommon Gaels for long stretches of this afternoon’s final at Dr Hyde Park.
Storm Ashley blew across the pitch in Roscommon town so there was no advantage to either team for the opening half, but Frank Canning’s side were still utterly dominant, and full value for their 1-7 to 1-1 interval lead.
Niall Carty and Niall Daly dominated proceedings at the back and Paul Carey was the leading light at full-forward, making big plays at both ends of the pitch. When Carey’s shot was parried by James Fetherstone in the Roscommon Gaels goal and Eoin Colleran was on hand to finish off the rebound, Pearses were 1-4 to 0-1 to the good and already the underdogs looked like they had a mountain to climb.
18-year-old John McGuinness was the Gaels’ leading light and he fired in a superb goal to give them a lifeline, but Pearses were unperturbed, rattled off three points to lead by six at the interval.
That was still the margin with 12 minutes to play, but it looked like the south Roscommon club might pay for their lack of killer instinct when Mark Purcell fired over three long-range points and that was followed by scores from Ryan Conlon and McGuinness to set up a dramatic finale.
Instead Pearses held the ball, David Murray won a free which Carey converted from a tricky angle, and a fine score from substitute Jack Nevin saw them through.
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OFFALY SHC final at Glenisk O’Connor Park: Kilcormac-Killoughey 0-16 Ballinamere 1-11
It looked for long stretches of the second half as if Ballinamere might record the shock result of the day and win a first ever Offaly SHC title for the club based just outside Tullamore, but the brilliance of Adam Screeney was just too much for them to handle in the end, as the mercurial corner forward shot 0-10, 0-6 from play, in a majestic display for the ‘Double K’s’.
In a contest where both sides made light of the conditions to produce a contest full of intensity and quality, Kilcormac-Killoughey were expected to dominate against their inexperienced opponents. When Daniel Hand, Conor Mahon and Colin Spain got breathtaking points from play to make it 0-8 to 0-5 coming up to half-time with the wind set to favour the reigning champions in the second half, few would have envisaged Ballinamere making a contest of things.
Then Dan Bourke and Brian Duignan combined to set up Dan Ravenhill for a goal, and when the rain fell to mitigate the strength of the wind at half-time, Ballinamere would have felt that they still had hope.
They hurled to a standard that gave themselves every chance. Their use of the ball was precise, they didn’t hit a single wide after half-time, and successive points from Aaron Maher and Dan Bourke left them two up (1-10 to 0-11) going into the final quarter.
Kilcormac-Killoughey, or more specifically, Adam Screeney, weren’t going to be denied. The teenager nailed one free and shot a magnificent point from play to level the game and while Brian Duignan matched that with a superb point of his own, that only set the stage for Screeney to rattle off another three points, including one more ‘worldie’, while also drawing a fantastic save from Mark Troy in the Ballinamere goal.
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WEXFORD SHC semi-finals at Wexford Park
- St. Anne’s 0-14 Shelmaliers 1-9
- St Martin’s 1-18 Naomh Eanna 1-10
In one of many games where the wind had a huge bearing on play, St. Anne’s just about held on to victory and secured their passage back to the Wexford SHC final, after dominating the first half and taking an 0-12 to 0-2 lead into the interval of their clash with Shelmaliers.
After Dee O’Keeffe opened the scoring for the Rathangan club, a wide direct from an Andy Kennedy puckout gave a clear indication of how significant the wind was in this game.
Aidan Rochford took full advantage with four points from play in that opening half-hour, but within ten minutes of the restart after half-time, Ross Banville’s two points had helped Shelmaliers bring it back to six points (0-12 to 0-6) and a tight finish looked inevitable.
The next 15 minutes were crucial as St. Anne’s registered two points through Darragh Furlong frees and conceded just a solitary point, meaning that even when Ross Banville fired in a penalty with five minutes remaining, they were able to hang on.
It was one way traffic in the second of the two semi-finals as reigning champions Naomh Éanna never got off the ground, allowing St. Martin’s to lead by 0-16 to 0-2 at half-time and then wrap up their win with a goal midway through the second half.
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LOUTH SFC final at Haggardstown: Ardee St Mary’s 2-2 Naomh Mairtín 0-4
Ardee St. Mary’s are Louth senior football champions for the third time in a row, and they also became the first team since Glyde Rangers in 1934 to win a Wee County senior football final with just four scores.
Cian Moran hit an early goal for the winners, who led by 1-0 to 0-1 at half-time, but points from Sam Mulroy and Val Leddy left just a point between the teams before Daire McConnon’s goal in the 55th minute settled the tie and ensured that Cathal Murray’s charges overcame Naomh Mairtín for the second year in a row in county finals.
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MEATH SFC final at Páirc Tailteann: Dunshaughlin 2-7 Wolfe Tones 1-8
Dunshaughlin are back on top of the pile in the Royal County for the first time since completing their three-in-a-row back in 2002, with Mathew Costello’s goal in the last minute of normal time the crucial score as they edged out Wolfe Tones to complete their return to prominence, having won the intermediate title just two years ago.
The lack of a scoring threat from distance looked like it might be their undoing in the first half, as while Rúairí Kinsella found the net with an early goal, Wolfe Tones defended well and smothered Dunshaughlin runners and would have been much the happier side at half-time, 1-3 to 0-3 adrift with a strong wind still to come in their favour.
Costello won and converted a free to stretch that lead to four points but that was quickly eroded as Saran Ó Fionnagáin and Thomas O’Reilly pointed from distance, and when a defensive error led to veteran Cian Ward nudging Tones 1-7 to 1-5 in front, they looked destined to prevail.
It wasn’t to be however as Costello slammed the ball to the net when a high ball caused chaos in the Wolfe Tones goalmouth, setting them up for a Leinster club championship clash with St. Loman’s here in Navan next month.
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