Back to Homepage

U16A Football Championship Final

Ferbane/Belmont on Target Again

Ferbane/Belmont 0-10 Shamrocks 0-6

Many of these young footballers featured in last year's thrilling Under-14 A football final between these two clubs and for the second year in a row their endeavour and skill resulted in a competitive and highly entertaining game of football where the result was in doubt up until the final whistle. Last year Ferbane/Belmont were almost undone by late Shamrocks goals, but this year it was their ability to keep out those goals that got them over the line, while their greater economy up front ensured that in a game where possession and territory was shared, they came out with the all important result. Ferbane took ten points from nineteen goal attempts, including seven wides, one shot dropped short and one goal effort that struck the post, while Shamrocks had ten wides and four goalbound efforts that were blocked in their twenty chances. That was the fundamental difference between two wholehearted panels of players, and huge credit must go to the Ferbane/Belmont backline who ensured that their opponents were shooting under pressure throughout this game and thus kept the concession rates low. Their half back line was constantly spoiling possession and picking up loose breaks, corner backs Robbie Robinson and Stephen O'Rourke were always on top of their men with Stephen O'Rourke in particular putting in a wonderful display, and full back Shane Mooney went about his task well and after a tough opening ten minutes, got on top of a very good full forward in Johnny McEvoy. That difference in efficiency was most pronounced in the first half, when Shamrocks enjoyed the slight majority of possession but kicked seven wides and only two points. They missed a couple of early chances before Ferbane/ Belmpnt full forward Michael Butler kicked a beautiful point after five minutes to open the scoring, shaping the ball over the bar with the outside of his right boot after Dean Hogan played the ball back to him. Shamrocks' equaliser was equally impressive. Johnny McEvoy got out in front of Shane Mooney to win a good low ball in and kicked the ball over the bar on the turn from thirty metres out in a wonderful fluid movement. Ferbane/Belmont responded immediately to this equaliser with points from Dean Hogan and Colin Kenny, but they had to make every chance count as Shamrocks were enjoying the lion's share of the possession. Paddy Dunican and Michael Butler traded scores in the llth and 12th minutes before Colin Kenny took a fine score with his weaker right foot on fifteen minutes after a good break down the left wing to stretch the lead out to three. Despite playing into the slight breeze, Shamrocks continued to win plenty of primary possession and to shut out the Ferbane/Belmont forwards, but they couldn't make their superiority count on the Scoreboard and will regret some poorly chosen shots from tricky angles during this spell of the game. A Christian Brazil point made it 0-6to 0-2 at half time, with both sides having plenty of cause for concern in advance of the second half.

Upon the resumption, Ferbane/Belmont certainly addressed their lack of possession as players like centre forward Merrick Daly and midfielders Darragh Keenaghan and David Kelly became much more prominent in showing for fhe ball and playing quick deliveries into the inside line. However the run of the ball wasn't going their way and they failed to increase their lead substantially. Colin Kenny struck three 45's extremely well but missed each one by a tiny margin, while Darragh Keenaghan had a point disallowed for a thrown handpass and Michael Butler was denied a goal by the post after beating Mark Condron with a low shot. One solitary Butler free was the only scoring in the third quarter before a 46th minute point from Jack McNamara got Shamrocks on the board for the second half. McNamara had been performing effectively as a sweeper, but Shamrocks needed his talents at the other end and he demonstrated his potential with this fine score. Michael Butler restored the five point advantage with a beautifully taken point after Colin Kenny's pass was measured to perfection, but Shamrocks' greater power and strength was starting to come to the fore and crucially, they were beginning to get close to the Ferbane/Belmont goal by beating some of the green-clad tacklers.
Paddy Dunican had the first chance on 49 minutes, overcoming the challenge'of Shane Mooney and getting in on goal, but he chose to shoot when a layoff to the unmarked David O'Toole may have been a better option, and his shot was smothered.

The last ten minutes belonged to Ferbane/Belmont keeper George Murray, who had very little involvement outside of kickouts up to that point, but delivered in fine style when he was called upon with three vital saves. Johnny McEvoy was the first player to attempt to beat Murray as he cut in along the left hand side but Murray narrowed the angle perfectly and blocked McEvoy's attempt, Tihe rebounded ball wasn't adequately cleared and it fell to Dunican who fly hacked the ball towards the bottom left corner, but again Murray was equal to the challenge and he got down quick enough to deflect the shot away. With three minutes to go Dunican had one last goal chance, and after evading one defender with a subtle dummy, he attempted to place the ball low past Murray, only to see the custodian get his leg in the way and once again avert the danger. Whether a goal at that stage would have changed the course of this match will never be known, but that final save denied Shamrocks their last chance, and sealed a third consecutive Under-16 football championship for Ferbane/Belmont in die process.

Ferbane/Belmont: Michael Butler 0-4 (0-2f); Colin Kenny 0-3; Darragh Keenaghan 0-1; Christian Brazil 0-1; Dean Hogan 0-1
Shamrocks: Patrick Dunican 0-4 (0-3f); Jack McNamara 0-1; Johnny McEvoy 0-1
Wides
Ferbane/Belmont: 6 (1 in 1st half)
Shamrocks: 10 (7 in 1st half).
Yellow Cards
Ferbane/Belmont: None Shamrocks: Eoin Larkin

FERBANE/BELMONT: George Murray; Robbie Robinson, Shane Mooney, Stephen O'Rourke; Gavin Maleney, Jack Egan, Brian Gilligan; Darragh Keenaghan, David Kelly; Christian Brazil, Merrick Daly, Ronan McEvoy; Colin Kenny, Michael Butler, Dean Hogan. Subs: Seán Milner for Ronan McEvoy, Anthony Seery for Christian Brazil.
SHAMROCKS: Mark Condron; Damien Guinan, Eoin Larkin, Graham Healy; Conor Condron, Alan Heffernan, Derek Walsh; Ryan Daly, Johnny O'Toole; David O'Toole, Jack McNamara, Patrick Dunican; Glenn Mooney, Johnny McEvoy, Brendan Looby. Subs: Gary Hutchinson for Derek Walsh, James Guilfoyle for Graham Healy, Adam Keyes for Brendan Looby. .
REFEREE: Pauric Pearse

TOP MAN : In a game where points were hard-earned, a goal could have been decisive - but Ferbane/Belmont goalkeeper George Murray made three crucial interventions in the closing stages to ensure that Shamrocks never got in for the three-pointer that could have energised their challenge. Murray showed positional sense and outstanding reflexes to deny Shamrocks on three occasions in a seven minute spell and no single contribution was as important in the sestination of this championship.

Back to Homepage