Classy Clann na nGael U14s complete the double

Clann na nGael 3-11  Brackaville 3-4

CLANN na nGael justified their favourites tag to complete the Grade 4 U14 double but they ha to dig deep to get the better of a Brackaville side who gave as good as they got in the Championship decider at Greencastle on Saturday afternoon.

Seven points separated the to sides in the end but that doesn’t tell half the story. With the wind at their backs the Roes led 3-3 to 0-3 with only five minutes left to play in the opening period.

Crucially though the winners hit 1-2 before the break and they never looked back as they restricted their opponents to just a single score in the second half and scored 2-4 without reply to take the silverware.

>null<Brackaville enjoyed a great start to proceedings with Stephen Talbot firing home a goal after only three minutes before the same player added a point in the next attack. Impressive midfielder Shay O’Neill opened the winners account in the 8th minute and by the end of the opening quarter they had reduced the deficit thanks to scores from Jack Dooher and Tiernan Donaghey.

The Roes though upped the tempo and when a 17th minute Joseph Gillis goal was followed by another major sixty seconds later from Colm Morgan they were in a strong position. Peter Lavery and Morgan tagged on points by the 22nd minute and nobody at that stage could have forecast that Brackaville would add just a single point to their tally in the remainder of the game.

Charlie Donaghy and O’Neill began the Clann na nGael comeback with points apiece before a brilliant thirty metre run from the former saw him dummy Brackaville keeper Fionn McGrath to send to the net to leave it 3-3 to 1-5 at halftime.

It had to be something special to beat McGrath as on the day he made four or five outstanding saves but that injury time first half goal was just the boost that the winners required. Dooher and O’Neill halved the deficit on the restart before a Morgan point in the 41st minute was to prove to be the lasty occasion that they would trouble the umpires.

Clann na nGael took a grip on crucial areas throughout the field as they began to make the elements count in their favour. O’Neill and Dooher scored points and in the 18th minute the impressive Caoilte O’Mianain scored a goal that gave them the lead for the first time.

They now had their tails up and further points came from Dooher and Donaghy before O’Neill put the icing on the cake with their third goal in the final minute of normal time.

Scorers

Clann na nGael: Shay O’Neill 1-4, Charlie Donaghy 1-2, Jack Dooher 0-4, Caoilte O’Mianain 1-0, Tiarnan Donaghey 0-1

Brackaville: Colm Morgan 1-2, Stephen Talbot 1-1, Joseph Gillis 1-0, Peter Lavery 0-1

Referee: Martin Keenan, Kildress