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Gaels muddied but unbowed
Tir Chonaill Gaels 3-10
St. Kiernans 0-11
Under-21 FC London Final
 A
CLINICAL Tir Chonaill Gaels made it three under-21 Championships in three
years last Sunday as they overcame a dogged and somewhat wasteful St.
Kiernans side.
In a thrilling cup final that was played in shocking conditions at Greenford
it was the home side who adjusted to the conditions the better and second-half
goals from Thomas Moriarty and Minor star Aaron Somers ended St. Kiernans’
stern resistence.
Kieran Harte was in superb form for the visitors scoring seven points
— a superb return for a midfielder — but it was his side’s
inability to use the strong wind to their advantage in the opening period
which ultimately cost them victory.
Both sides exchanged points early on with the dreadful playing surface
making it difficult for the two sides to play decent football. Despite
playing with the wind and Tir Chonaill’s kick-outs not travelling
a great distance, St. Kiernans failed to capitalise, and were punished
midway through the half as the hosts grabbed their first goal. Despite
having slipped on the greasy surface centre-forward Mark McNulty somehow
managed to stab the ball into the Kiernans net.
The goal knocked the wind out of Kiernans’ sails and despite a couple
of points from the tricky Ciaran McGing, they trailed by four points going
into the interval.
St. Kiernans were left to rue their failure to make use of the elements
in the opening period as Tir Chonaill Gaels ruthlessly made them pay.
Billy O’Mahony — goalscorer in the Conway Cup final the previous
day — forced Matthew Fahey into action early on, the goalkeeper
reacting well and pushing his shot over the bar.
But a second Tir Chonaill goal was in the post and it arrived on 40 minutes
when Moriarty was played in on goal by substitute Andrew Gallagher and
the half-forward buried his shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Somers capped off a virtuoso performance with the score of the day late
on. Picking the ball up in his own half Somers went on a barnstorming
run, playing a couple of neat one-twos before rifling the ball past Fahey’s
despairing dive.
Tir Chonaill Gaels: K Nash; S Carr, J Mullarkey, R Williamson; A Somers
(1-0), B O’Mahoney (0-1), K McFadden (0-1); P Fagan, C Burke; C
Moroney (0-2), M McNulty (1-2), T Moriarty (1-2); K Keenan (0-1), R Fortune,
L Mullen. Subs: J Lawson (0-1) for S Carr, D Mullen for K Keenan, S Tully
for R Williamson, M Wards for L Mullen, A Gallagher for R Fortune.
St. Kiernans: M Fahey; S Ryll, F Collo, B Dowling; S Pratt, J Minihan,
R Scullion; P Morgan (0-1), K Harte (0-7); S Mahoney; C McGing (0-2);
E McInerney; T McGahern (0-1), D McCarthy, S Walters. Subs: B Whitling
for D McCarthy, A Broad for E McInerney, J Donoghaue for K Harte.
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