LEE STRAND COUNTY UNDER 14 FOOTBALL DIV. 7 LEAGUE FINAL
Asdee/Bally 0-10 St. Pats, Blennerville 2-4.
Owen O Connor became the hero for Asdee/Bally when he took on the responsibility to drive over from play with under 4mts left to give his side another bite of the cherry in a terrific game of football played in perfect conditions at Ballyduff on Thursday evening last; May 2nd. Certainly neither side deserved to loose and no doubt the huge crowd that were in attendance on this occasion can be assured of another cracker at the same venue on Thursday May 9th commencing at 7 30pm.
Asdee/Bally playing with a stiffish breeze got off to a blistering start and with Ciaran Dowd ruling the roost at midfield they laid siege to the St. Pats goals and by the 9th, mt, were 3pts ahead without reply. Conor Carmody, and Ciaran Dowd, (2) on target. However the margin should have been greater but a mixture of poor shooting and good defending by the Tralee side saw the scoring at a premium. St. Pats settled and began to exert their authority on the game and it took a superb save from Neill Carmody to deny them a goal after 13mts. At this stage the combination side were hanging in there; defending well but a much lighter attack were finding it difficult to penetrate a much more physical defence. Still Jack Keane, Sean Carmody, Ciaran Dowd and especially Jack McKeown stood firm and with 3mts left in the half points from Ciaran Dowd and Liam Mulvihill had them 4pts ahead. But a lapse in concentration in the 23rd. mt. saw the first of what must be put down to as a goal of a rather soft variety. Owen O Connor from a free closed the scoring and at half time it was Asdee/Bally 0-6 St. Pats Blennerville 1-1. Within 5mts on resumption the Tralee side had pulled back that 2pt deficit. St. Pats took the lead only for to be pegged back on level terms by Owen O Connor. A few alterations to the lineup made earlier were now taking effect and Asdee/Bally were now attacking in numbers and none more-so than Liam Mulvihill who teased and tormented his opposite number no end, Sean Hanrahan, Patrick Carmody, James O Connor, Stephen Lynch and Jack Collins were now getting more into the game and Owen O Connor swung over 2 more points to sent his side 0-9 to 1-4 in front by the 15th mt. It looked now only a matter of holding out but there was another twist to the story. A line ball awarded to the Tralee boys about 30 meters or so out was floated in and ended up in the corner of the net to give St. Pats a 1pt advantage. Still all to do and a never say die combination side came forward in droves and after squandering a few scoring opportunities it was Owen O Connor who split the uprights for the equaliser. Both sides had chances to take the title but when Referee, Billy McElligott blew for full time there was no complaints and now we can look forward to what should be another cracker from two very well matched sides.
Asdee/Bally. Neill Carmody, Jack Keane, Jack McKeown, Sean Hanrahan, Sean Carmody, Patrick Carmody, Ciaran Dowd, 3ptsJames O Connor, Liam Mulvihill, 1pt, Stephen Lynch, Conor Carmody, 1pt, Owen O Connor, 5pts, Jack Collins. Subs; Denis Heaphy, Brendan Kennelly, Brendan Keane, Paddy Flavin, Antone O Connor, Ciaran Griffin.