Cappawhite Gaels show real guile to edge past dogged Galtee Rovers in edgy U21 final
McGrath Oil West U21A Football Championship Final
Cappawhite Gaels 1-6
Galtee Rovers 1-4
John O’Shea at Golden
Defeated finalists in 2022, Cappawhite Gaels made up for the loss in fine fashion at a sharp but dry Golden on Tuesday night, as they overcame Galtee Rovers in the final of the McGrath Oil West Under 21A Football championship.
This was the first occasion for the combination to get their hands on the JJ Kennelly Cup and the second time for Cappawhite as they added to their 1981 victory, when they were also in a combo with Eire Og Annacarty.
The foundation for this victory was laid in a first half where they overcame the conceding of an early goal, to lead at the break by four points, having played some good intelligent football and making good use of their possession.
Early on they signalled their intent when they opened up the Rovers defence on a couple of occasions, but those attacks came to nothing. Having drawn level by the eighteenth minute, their big break came three minutes later following a defence-splitting run from Stephen Dee to find Conor Martin who beat Robbie McGrath from close in.
Rovers failed to add to their early major and this could be attributed to wayward shooting in attack, where the shot five wides in the opening period.
The Bansha side came more into the game after the break, but again came up against a tough tight marking defence, who defended in numbers and tried to attack on the break. For most of the second period, both defences were on top, with scores hard to come by. Tackling was precise, turnovers were disciplined and this led to a free-flowing game.
In this regard, both defences were very disciplined, resulting in only one score from both teams from a placed ball. Heading into injury time in the second half, the combo maintained a three-point advantage as Galtee went in search of an equaliser. Again, poor shooting let them down at vital stages and Aidan Mair in the combo goal handled well.
In one final attack, four minutes into added time, a combo defender put over his own crossbar in an attempt to clear his lines. This was to be the last score of a low-scoring yet entertaining contest.
Both sides were slow off the mark from the off, but Cappa Gaels opened up the Rovers defence on a couple of occasions, although the attacks came to nothing. With five minutes on the clock, Rovers started a good move out of defence, came down the stand side and finished with Sean Gubbins overlapping before driving a low shot to the corner of the Cappa net.
This was a score that should have lifted the Bansha side, but it had the opposite effect. The combo attacked and Stephen Dee kicked a glorious point at the far end. Cappa upped the intensity and following a move by Brian Buckley he put a ball over the top where Anthony Barry got a fist to it, only to see his effort skim the crossbar.
The sides were level in the nineteenth minute after Stephen Dee converted a frees having been pulled down himself in a promising move from defence. What proved to be the decisive score came four minutes before the break. With the sides level at 1.0 to 0.3 Stephen Dee got possession around the halfway line and his powerful run through the defence found Conor Martin on his shoulder, who made no mistake from close in.
Coming up towards half-time Sam Carmody gave the combo a four-point advantage when he received a good ball from Conor Martin before splitting the posts. Cappa were good value for this four-point advantage as referee Seanie Peters called half time.
Galtee attacked from the throw-in but found it hard to penetrate a strong stubborn combo defence who gave little away with their disciplined tackling. Conal Grogan kicked a point after three minutes when he received a good ball from Bill Quirke who was alert to a Cappa kickout.
Two minutes later Mikey O’Brien and Tommy O’Mahony combined to put four between the sides once more. What followed over the next sixteen minutes was that both defences were completely on top, turning over ball and snuffing out attacks. This led to a situation where scores were very hard to come by.
Conal Grogan broke the impasse from a placed ball in the 21st minute and three minutes later Eamon Quirke reduced the deficit to two. With Rovers on an all-out attack and following a turnover, Stephen Dee got on the end of a move and kicked his third of the night as the game headed towards the 60 minutes.
Galtee pegged the combo inside their own 45 but were unable to get on the scoreboard as a few shots went outside the posts. In the final attack deep in added time they were rewarded with a minor which came off the boot of a Cappa defender in an effort to clear his lines. The Combo held out and now meet Ballina in the County Semi Final.
Cappawhite Gaels: Aidan Mair; Pakie Barry, Gearoid Ryan, Daire Duggan; Mikey O’Brien (0-1), Tommy O’Mahony, Michael English; Tommy Costello, Stephen Dee (0-3, 0-1f); Ben White, Sam Carmody (0-1), Conor Martin (1-0); Cian O’Carroll, Anthony Barry (0-1), Brian G. Buckley.
Subs used: Tristan Stokes for Tommy Costello (HT); Neil Clancy for Brian G. Buckley (HT); Sean Cleary for Anthony Barry (45); Mikey Carmody for Michael English (55); James Quinlan for Sam Carmody (59).
Galtee Rovers: Robbie McGrath; Tadhg Gubbins, David Harold Barry, Ciaran McCarthy; Sean Gubbins (1-0), Robbie Byron, Evan Kennedy; Liam Finnane, Bill Quirke; Cian O’Dwyer, Conal Grogan (0-2, 0-1f), Dan O’Dwyer; Calum McCarthy, Eamon Quirke (0-1), Joe O’Callaghan. ]
Subs used: Jack Crowe for Callum McCarthy (38); Eoin Halpin for Joe O’Callaghan (42); Emmet Bonner for Evan Kennedy (50).
Referee: Seanie Peters (Aherlow)