Galtee Rovers edge out Fethard to claim Tipperary Under 19B football crown

FBD Insurance County Under 19B Football Championship Final

GALTEE ROVERS/ST PECAUN'S 1-9 FETHARD 1-8

Three Conal Grogan frees in the last ten minutes helped Galtee Rovers to victory over Fethard in the FBD Insurance County u-19 ‘B’ Football Final played in atrocious conditions at Cahir on Monday.

To the Bansha boys go the plaudits and the silverware but both teams deserve enormous credit for putting on such a riveting display of football in torrential rain that was almost of biblical levels at time.

Both teams put Orange Status rain warnings to the back of their minds as they battled for the coveted cup. By the closing stages the pitch was water-logged in many places, kick passes along the ground were stuck in the mud and players found it close to impossible to make hand passes stick.

Mistakes were more likely to prove crucial than any inventive football and so it proved with the four last scores coming from frees. Fethard had led 1-5 to 0-3 after twenty-four minutes, were a point in front at the break and retained that slender advantage thirteen minutes from the end, 1-7 to 1-6, when a super score from Michael Quinlan put them within touching distance of the finish line.

Quinlan’s brilliance from play and placed balls was matched by Galtees’ Conal Grogan as the sides battled in worsening conditions for the crucial scores. 

The last ten minutes were tense for players and supporters alike. Grogan pointed a free to tie the sides again before Quinlan pointed a free to restore the Blues’ lead. But a more direct game from Rovers saw them shade the closing five minutes. Grogan levelled the scores again as Rovers kept Fethard pinned in their own half, and Eoin Halpin won a free that Grogan converted in the final minute. Fethard had time to force extra time but they just couldn’t manufacture the vital score before referee Tom Loughnane blew the final whistle.

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It was a real team performance for Rovers as every player needed to play his part in such trying conditions. Team captain Evan Kennedy was a true leader at the heart of the defence with great support from Ciaran McCarthy, Tadgh Gubbins, Alex Harold Barry, Sean Gubbins and Eoghan Byrnes before he went off injured, while Robbie McGrath was a solid last line of defence in goal. Bill Quirke and Liam Finnane toiled tirelessly at midfield while upfront Conal Grogan’s seven points, six from frees, were priceless in such conditions. Eoin Halpin hit a crucial goal when it looked like Fethard might pull clear; Daniel O’Dwyer hit a peach of a point to open the scoring; while Cian O’Dwyer, Emmet Bonnar, Callum McCarthy and subs Jack Crowe and Joe O’Callaghan all played key roles in bringing a county title back to Bansha.

Fethard could not be faulted for this defeat as no player could have done more. Michael Quinlan took the scoring honours with five points, four from placed balls; Sean Moroney hit a super goal and Matt Coen chipped in with two great points. Their defence was a rock, especially in the first half, with fullback Dara O’Meara making vital clearances; and wing backs Charlie Hackett and Liam Kiely busy throughout. 

Rovers enjoyed the better start, Daniel O’Dwyer taking a pass from Conal Grogan in the third minute to split the posts from the standside touchline. Play swung from end to end before Rovers doubled their lead when Grogan pointed a free in the eighth minute following a foul on Alex Harold Barry.

Fethard needed to make their possession pay, and they did so with three points in a row in the space of two minutes - Quinlan had their opener from a free in the ninth minute; Matt Coen had their first from play a minute later when he dispossessed a Rovers defender to kick a superb point; and in the next move he added a second to put the south side in the lead for the first time.

Grogan hit a fine point from play to draw level again but Fethard quickly moved up the gears and hit 1-2 without reply. Michael Quinlan restored the lead from a 45 before the Blues struck for the first goal. Mark Neville won possession at midfield and a darting run cut open the Galtee defence before he offloaded to Sean Moroney who found the net. When Neville finished a move that he started himself, and involved Shane Neville and Sean Moroney in the build-up, it put Fethard 1-5 to 0-3 ahead six minutes from the break.

The west side needed a response before the game slipped away from them and they got it when a minute later Eoin Halpin slipped his marker to shoot past Jack Davey for a vital goal. Then when a very patient build-up was finished with a superb score from Evan Kennedy, it meant Rovers were only a point in arrears at the interval, 1-5 to 1-4.

And one minute into the second half they had drawn level from a Grogan free. As the skies darkened and the unrelenting rain never looked like stopping, the second thirty minutes became a war of attrition. And with the sides level four times in the half, and never more than a point between them, it proved to be a battle of wills.

A Grogan free seven minutes in put Galtee Rovers in front for the first time since the ninth minute. They might have gone further ahead with a second goal but a superb block from Dara O’Meara knocked the ball out for a 45 that Bill Quirke sent wide.

Fethard grasped the reprieve and levelled again from a Quinlan free and regained the lead from Quinlan again, this time from play, following great work in the build-up from Shane Neville and Jack Quinlan.

As parts of the pitch became unplayable, Conal Grogan levelled again from a free in the twentieth minute before Quinlan raised the hopes of the Fethard contingent in the large crowd with a pointed free to regain the lead with seven minutes to go.

But those minutes belonged to Galtee Rovers and the two late pointed frees from Conal Grogan saw the county title heading west and the cup making the short journey back to Bansha.

TEAMS AND SCORERS

Galtee Rovers – Robbie McGrath, Eoghan Byrnes, Ciaran McCarthy, Tadgh Gubbins, Alex Harold Barry, Evan Kennedy 0-1; Sean Gubbins, Bill Quirke, Liam Finnane, Cian O’Dwyer, Conal Grogan 0-7, 0-6 frees; Eoin Halpin 1-0; Emmet Bonnar, Callum McCarthy, Daniel O’Dwyer 0-1.

Subs – Joe O’Callaghan for Eoghan Byrnes, Jack Crowe for Callum McCarthy.

Fethard – Jack Davey, Michael James Phelan, Dara O’Meara, Michael O’Meara, Charlie Hackett, Shane Neville, Liam Kiely, Darragh Spillane, Jack Quinlan, Keenan Ahearne, Mark Neville 0-1; Oisin Ryan, Sean Moroney 1-0; Michael Quinlan 0-5, 0-3 frees, 0-1 ‘45’; Matt Coen 0-2.

Sub – Conor Neville for Michael O’Meara.

Referee – Tom Loughnane (Gortnahoe-Glengoole).