St Fechins coast to third straight hurling title

ANCHOR TOURS SENIOR HURLING FINAL

St Fechins 3-20 Naomh Moninne 1-14

St Fechins secured a third senior hurling title in a row courtesy of a comprehensive 12-point victory over Naomh Moninne in a contest where the winner was clear to all in attendance well before referee Kevin Brady blew the fulltime whistle.

Two men played out of their skins in St Bridget’s Park Dowdallshill on Sunday afternoon and played a huge role in making sure the Paddy Kelly Cup remained in Termonfeckin.

An unmarkable Paul Matthews helped his side create an early cushion with two superb goals, before Paddy Lynch slotted over 11 second half points to wrestle away the man of the match award from the county football panellist.

While the final scoreline reflects the superiority Niall McEneaney’s troops had in this contest, it doesn’t do justice to how hard this Naomh Moninne outfit, short a couple of their star names, fought to try and stay in contention.

When Conor Matthews was red carded late in the first half, they began a mini comeback, tapping over four of the last five scores prior to the break and even bagging the first point of the second half to narrow the gap to four.

However, once the championship’s top scorer Paddy Lynch began finding his range, the Dundalk men just had no real answer, as St Fechins breezed their way to a fifth senior hurling crown.

It took just three minutes for the men in green and white to get on the scoresheet, as they buried home their first goal.
Oisin Byrne fired the ball long into the corner, where he duly found Paul Matthews.

He managed to solo his way past Aaron McGuinness Smyth, before calmly slotting it underneath goalkeeper Donal Connolly, who had come off his line to try and stop him.

While Dylan Carey and Oisin McCarthy replied with two points to narrow the gap to one, this was as close as they ever got to dethroning the south Louth side, who hit an unanswered 1-4 to open up a nine-point lead before the clock had hit the 10-minute mark.

George Allen, Ryan Walsh, Sean Hodgins and Matthews all raised white flags in this period of dominance, but the biggest score came via Matthews when he notched his second goal.

Again, he soloed goalward from a starting position in the corner, this time unleashing a bullet into the right-hand corner of the net which even the finest of inter county keepers would have struggled to stop.

McEneaney’s side took full control around the centre of the field at this juncture, turning over possession from their opponents’ puck outs time and time again.

Oisin Byrne was their talisman in defence, winning countless breaking balls and then launching it forward and picking out Matthews with ease.

He kept moving all over the full forward line and whoever was tasked with marking him, they struggled to either beat him in the air or stay with him as he glided past defenders with ease. Coupled with the ever-changing positions of the forwards, alongside some slack marking and it was all too easy for the reigning champions.

The pressure put on the county’s most successful hurling team was relentless. All over the field they were being put under pressure and needed to move the ball fast to try and avoid the endless waves of tackles, as St Fechins took an aggressive stance against this young and inexperienced team.

This was a side lacking the likes of Darren Geoghegan, Padraig Fallon and Phelim Joyce, due to their prolonged championship commitments with clubs in the USA, and their leadership was missed at times like this.

Dylan Carey was keeping his team ticking over and he finished the half with seven to his name to stop the Termonfeckin men from running away with the game with a half still to play.

On 22 minutes they were given a lifeline when Conor Matthews was red carded for a foul on Conor Murphy. This brought about a change in momentum.

Having won all their own restarts to date, when down to 14 men St Fechins lost five in row. It led to three unanswered scores from Carey, leaving the Dundalk men trailing by five points, 2-8 to 0-7 at half time.

There were early points from Kyle Rafferty and Mark Gahan after the break, but Moninne soon lost control of the midfield stakes once again. And with it went their hopes, as St Fechins grabbed six of the next seven scores. All from the hurl of Paddy Lynch, who seemed capable of firing over now from any angle or distance.

Six puck outs in a row were turned over by St Fechins, as they found their best form to kill this game off by the end of the third quarter, while a third goal came the way of substitute Micheál Byrne to increase their lead further.

Carey did strike back with a fine goal of his own a few minutes later, but with the lead so large at this stage, it meant they needed a couple more green flags to have any chance.

Any free they got was dropped into the square as opposed to going for the posts, but St Fechins defence stayed resilient, blocking goal chances and clearing their lines a few times in the final 10 minutes. It saw them finish 12 points clear at the final whistle.

With just seven of their 23 scores coming from placed balls and with eight different players getting on the scoresheet, it was a well deserved margin of victory.

They will hope they can catch fire again later this year when representing the county in the Leinster Junior Championship.

Having pushed eventual winners Horeswood of Wexford all the way in last year’s quarter finals, the Termonfeckin outfit will be eager to light to up the provincial scene once again come the winter.

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NAOMH MONINNE: Donal Connolly; Seán Magill, Donal Kelly, Oisin McCarthy (0-2); James Murphy, Aaron McGuinness-Smyth, Diarmuid Murphy; Matthew Fee, Mark Gahan (0-1); Andrew Mackin, Dylan Carey (1-9, 0-7 frees, 0-1 65’), Kyle Rafferty (0-1); Sam Phelan (0-1), Conor Murphy, Eoin Murphy. Subs: Tadhg Dowdall for D Murphy (HT), Donal Lee for McGuinness-Smyth (57), Brian Carter for Rafferty (60).

Referee: Kevin Brady