Bridge House Golden West U19B Football Championship Final
Cappawhite Gaels 5.13 (28)
Rockwell Rovers 1.4 (7)
John O’Shea at New Inn
Cappawhite Gaels are the inaugural Bridge House Golden, West Under 19B Football Champions as a result of their resounding victory over the home side, Rockwell Rovers, at New Inn on Tuesday night.
This Dan Ryan P managed side displayed all what is good about Gaelic Football, skill, ball carrying, ball control, attacking flair, good defending, discipline. This game was a joy to watch, even though it was over, as a contest, by the sixteenth minute of the opening half, following a three minute spell which yielded two goals and two points, to go eight points clear, a lead that they would never relinquish.
The combo opened the scoring in the first minute with a converted free from the boot of corner forward, Triston Stokes. Two minutes later, Rockwell’s Joe Lawrence ran through the heart of the Cappa defence, before firing an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net, for the game’s opening goal, from Rockwell’s first attack. Cappa then closed up shop and attacked with flair, with points from Conor Martin and Triston Stokes tieing up the game after twelve minutes.
The game was won and lost in a three minute spell between the thirteenth and sixteenth minute. First Eoin Murray rose above the defence to punch a high ball over the bar to go one up. One minute later Murray again was on hand to finish a move by James Quinlan to the net. This was followed by another green score from captain, Sean Cleary. These barrage of scores deflated the home side, to such an extent that they never recovered, and were playing second fiddle for the remainder of the contest. A point from Stephen Dee, put them eight up by the water break.
The trend continued after the water break, with Daire Duggan, Stephen Dee and Tristan Stokes all increasing the Cappa tally. Joe Lawrence and Kevin Cleary pulled two back for the home side but the visitors were eleven to the good at the half time break, 2.10 to 1.2.
The onslaught continued into the third quarter and further goals from Eoin Murray, his second of the night when he judged the bounce of the ball perfectly, and the other from Triston Stokes just before the water break, when he was first to react to a ball coming back off the crossbar. The sharpness and alertness of the Cappa attack was the main contributer to those two goals.
The final quarter was played out in much the same manner, Cappa introduced five substitutes before Pakie Barry had the final say when he crashed home goal number five in the closing minute to wrap up a wonderful evening for the combination, who on the night, reversed an earlier result during the league stage of the competition.
After the game, West Chair, Michael Ryan C, accompanied by Sponsor, Seanie O’Halloran, from the Bridge House Golden, presented the trophy to winning captain Sean Cleary.
Teams & Scorers:
Cappawhite Gaels: Aidan Mair, Cian O’Carroll, Michael O’Brien, Ben White, Conor Martin, Mikey Carmody, Thomas O’Mahony, Stephen Dee, Daire Duggan, Pakie Barry, Sam Carmody, James Quinlan, Sean Cleary (Captain), Eoin Murray, Tristan Stokes.
Subs used; Neil Clancy, Caoimhin Doody, Taylor Allen Flynn, Mark Treacy, Jamie Buckley.
Eoin Murray (2.1), Triston Stokes (1.6, 4frees), Pakie Barry (1.0), Sean Cleary (1.0), Daire Duggan (0.2), Stephen Dee (0.2), Conor Martin (0.1), Thomas O’Mahony (0.1).
Rockwell Rovers: Eoin Doyle, Senan McMahon, Diarmuid English, Finbarr English, Luka Fitzgerald, Conor O’Neill, Peter Heaney, Tom Tobin, Kevin Cleary (Captain), Jason O’Gorman, Joe Lawrence, Kevin Keating, Andrew Gallagher, Kyle Bourke, Tom Marnane.
Sub used; Conor Hennessy.
Joe Lawrence (1.1), Kevin Cleary (0.3 frees)
Referee: David Grogan (Aherlow)
(BacK L-R): Mikey O’ Brien, Eoin Murray, Pakie Barry, Daire Duggan, Thomas O’ Mahony, Seán Cleary, Mark Treacy, Aidan Mair, Jamie Buckley, Neil Clancy, Cian O’ Carroll, Gearóid Ryan (B). (Front L-R): Conor Martin, James Quinlan, Sam Carmody, Taylor Allen-Flynn, Mikey Carmody, Tristan Stokes, Ben White, Caoimhín Doody, Patrick Horan, Stephen Dee.
(R-L:) Michael Ryan C (West Chair), Seán Cleary & Seanie O’ Halloran (Sponsor) (Picture by John O Shea)
(L-R): Kevin Cleary, David Grogan &, Seán Cleary (Picture by John O Shea)
