Ballyshannon show guts to claim Southern under 16 title
Under 16 Southern Regional Final
8 May 2011
Aodh Ruadh 1-13
Dungloe 0-9
John Hughes reports from Páirc Naomh Ultan, Dunkineely
Aodh Ruadh's under 16s earned the club their first footballing silverware of the season with a gutsy win over Dungloe in the Southern Regional final.
Much of the hard work for the win was done in the first half. The wind was very strong, swirling and blowing towards the club house end. Dungloe were first off the mark with a free in the third minute. Aodh Ruadh hit back immediately though James Kelly getting on the end of a marauding move to drive the ball to the Dungloe net. It was the Ballyshannon who got the next score too, Pauric Patton showed huge bravery to get down on a loose ball when a Dungloe boot was on the way in. He won his free and David McGurrin made no mistake.
After that Aodh Ruadh continued to play enterprising football, taking the game to Dungloe despite the breeze. Dungloe were giving as good as they got though and it was only thanks to the outstanding Daniel Kelly that Aodh Ruadh didn't concede a goal in the first half. Matthew Maguire and captain, Ryan Patton were both also excellent in this period.
Points from the silky Adam Neilly and Luke Neilly made the score 1-1 to 0-3 with time running out in the first half. It looked like Aodh Ruadh would go in with what had looked like an extremely unlikely half time lead. Adam Neilly slotted over another couple of points before the break to take Dungloe back into the lead for the first time since the third minute.
Aodh Ruadh might have been expecting the wind to do the work for them in the second half, but a Jack Scally point directly after the break soon corrected any misapprehensions on that count. Good work from James Kelly saw Jamie McDonald slip over Aodh Ruadh's response three minutes later, that was followed a minute later by a great drive of a point from Eamon McGrath to level the game at 1-3 to 0-6.
Dungloe hit back with points from David Sweeney and Adam Neilly, however Neilly's 38th minute point was to prove Dungloe last score until almost the final whistle. Ballyshannon took for the final 20 minutes. David McGurrin struck a free which was followed by a soaring Conor Gilmartin left foot point. Darren Gethins was outstanding for Aodh Ruadh throughout and it was a super pass from him which set up the next score from David McGurrin.
Johnny Gethins showed great patience to work an angle for Aodh Ruadh's next point before Jamie McDonald lofted over a fine effort to put a goal in it at 1-8 to 0-8. Further points from Johnny Gethins, another peach from Conor Gilmartin and David McGurrin followed. With five minutes left Paddy Gillespie, another in the half back line who had an excellent 60 minutes, hared up the pitch and got a well-deserved point. A David McGurrin free finished the Aodh Ruadh scoring. The last action of the game was a fine free from Jack Scally into a difficult wind.
Captain, Ryan Patton, collected the Southern Regional Board trophy. Aodh Ruadh now look forward to a county semi-final meeting with Buncrana.
| Vital Statistics |
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| Teams |
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Aodh Ruadh Daniel Kelly; Matthew Maguire, Ryan Patton, Niall Harley; Patrick Gillespie (0-1), Colm Kelly, Darren Gethins; Eamon McGrath (0-1), Pauric Patton; Conor Gilmartin (0-2), David McGurrin (0-4, 3f), Jamie McDonald (0-3); Michael McNeely, Johnny Gethins (0-2), James Kelly (1-0). Substitutes: Eddie Lynch for Michael McNeely: 52 minutes, Stephen Thompson for Johnny Gethins: 59 minutes, Conor Kennedy, Jason Gallagher, Oisín Roper, Callum O'Halloron, Philip Patton. Yellow Cards: Johnny Gethins: 53 minutes. Wides: 6: Jamie McDonald: 3; Colm Kelly: 2; David McGurrin: 1. |
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Dungloe Sean Wallace; Barry Curran, Ryan Rogers, Cian Shovlin; Daragh McGee, Darren Curran, Conor Procter; Jack Scally (0-2, 1f), David McCarron; Adam Neilly (0-5, 4f), Eoin Scally, David Sweeney (0-1); Adam Ryan, Luke Neilly (0-1), Ryan Greene. Substitutes: Stephan Conaghan for Adam Ryan: 48 minutes, Niall Green, Matthew Ward, Paul Carr, Martin Procter, Daragh McGlynn, Darren Doherty. Yellow Cards: David McCarron: 13 minutes; Ryan Greene: 19 minutes; Adam Neilly: 33 minutes Wides: 4: Jack Scally, Adam Neilly, Eoin Scally and Ryan Greene one each. |
| Referee: Damien Craig (Naomh Conaill) |
Last modified: Monday, 1 June 2020 at 1:10pm