U19 Division 5 Final: Disappointment for St.Vincents/Curraha

 

St. Vincents/Curraha traveled to Paddy O’Brien Park on Saturday evening for the Coolrite U19 Division 5 championship Final against Drumbaragh. The game was originally fixed for Cortown but was moved to the Navan O’Mahonys venue earlier in the week. 

The eagerly anticipated game had set up a mouth watering clash with both sides coming into the final in fine form. St. Vincents/Curraha and Drumbaragh were in group B in Division 5 of the championship with Drumbaragh topping the group on the head to head rule. When the sides met back on the 4th of November it was the Drumbaragh men who came out on top with a five point victory on a 3.13 to 3.08 scoreline. St. Vincents/Curraha however were missing some key players that night who had since returned to the fray. St. Vincents/Curraha still had a fine campaign when they recorded a fine victory against Dunsany in round 1. After the defeat to Drumbaragh they had to dust themselves down quickly and had to make the away trip to Balinacree on Saturday the 9th of November. In a winner takes all clash St. Vincents/Curraha prevailed with a hard earned 6 points victory against Inny Gaels. 

With a semi-Final place secured St. Vincents/Curraha were drawn to face table toppers Bective who topped group A of the division. St. Vincents/Curraha would have to travel to Bective on Sunday the 24th of November to try and earn themselves a place in this year's final. The men from Ardcath and Curraha again put in a fantastic performance and ran out 6 points winners and now faced Drumbaragh in the Final hoping to make up for the earlier round defeat. 

Ian Dowdall got the game underway at 5:03pm and Michael McIvor rose the highest and claimed the throw in and delivered the ball into Kevin O’Connor who was fouled heading into the clubhouse end in Paddy O Brien Park. McIvor stepped up and converted the free to open the St. Vincents/Curraha account. Drumbaragh replied almost immediately with a fine free. With scores hard to come by for both teams  and a gale force wind causing havoc with play. St.Vincents/Curraha's centre half forward Shane Andrews won a ball out along the sideline and made a darting run through the Drumbaragh defence which led to a free being awarded which again was converted by Michael McIvor after 5 minutes of play. Drumbaragh responded immediately with another free coming from Jake Madden. Some brilliant play from the St.Vincents/Curraha backs led to Eoghan Burke winning a ball well inside his own half of the field, Burke ran at speed against Drumbaragh with him laying the ball off to one of his teammates who's shot looked to have been curling over only for the strong wind to take it to the wrong side of the post and wide. St.Vincents/Curraha looked to be the brighter of the 2 teams in the opening 15 minutes with some excellent turnovers from their defence as well as forwards tracking back to help defend also. The large crowd in attendance may have been cold from the afters of storm Darragh but were kept entertained with both teams playing host to a fine end to end attacking encounter. St. Vincent's/Curraha got their next score in the 16th minute of the half when a Drumbaragh man was deemed to have fouled a St. Vincents/Curraha man. With the free out on the right hand side Matthew Tuite stood up and kicked the free off his left to regain St. Vincents/Curraha's lead. It was a game of frees and Michael McIvor extended St. Vincents/Currahas lead to 2 points when he kicked a fine free off his right with 20 minutes gone in the half. Conor O’Brien the St. Vincents/Curraha man rose the tallest in the mid- field area and produced a brilliant catch, O’Brien delivered a long ball into Matthew Tuite who was fouled. Tuite stepped up and again converted a fine free from close range to give St. Vincents/Curraha a 3 point lead with 9 minutes remaining in the half. St. Vincents/Curraha were continuing to grow into the game with a super turnover from John Dardis led to a long ball being sent into Mylo Hussey who took a shot which was dipping under the crossbar only for Drumbaragh keeper James Jordan to get across the face of goal and palm the ball off the line. Drumbaragh all of a sudden began to find their feet and got the next 3 points of the game in the space of 3 minutes. Jake Madden got the first of these and it was the first point of the game from play when he sent over a fine point. Madden got another from play seconds later to bring it back to a 1 point game. Madden got the third from a free to level the game in injury time of the first half and set us up for a rip roaring second half. 

Both teams returned to the field after the interval with St. Vincents/Curraha deciding to stick with the same 15 that had started proceedings. St. Vincents/Curraha now had the aid of a very strong wind behind them for the second half. The second half began with Drumbaragh starting where they had left off, with them creating good chances but failed to convert them. The St. Vincent's/Curraha defence stood tall however and some good defending from them prevented the Drumbaragh men making any more inroads. Tadgh Tuite the St. Vincent's/Curraha goalie was called into action in the 7th minute when he somehow managed to make it across the face of goal and produce a fine save. Drumbaragh kept probing towards the St. Vincent's/Curraha goal but still couldn't find a way through the defence. The St. Vincents/Curraha management team in the 10th minute of the second half decided to introduce Kevin Doyle for Adam Andrews who had put in a great performance throughout. Drumbaragh were reduced to 14 men moments later which now was an advantage to the St. Vincents/Curraha outfit. We were still waiting for the first score of the second half by the 14th minute and it was Drumbaragh who hit the front with a goal. A long ball was sent in and it fell to Scott Lynch who drilled the ball to the back of the net. Drumbaragh then extended their lead to 4 when Jake Madden sent over a fine point from play. St. Vincent's/Curraha had 15 minutes to try and save themselves and CJ Tuite replaced Jared Roche in the 20th minute of the half. St. Vincents/Curraha started to win any loose ball around the middle and a long ball was sent into Kevin Doyle out along the left hand side of the field who was brought to the ground and a free in was awarded. Michael McIvor stepped up and curled it straight over the black spot from a very tricky angle to leave 3 in it once more with 7 minutes remaining. Drumbaragh however responded almost immediately when they worked the ball up the field and sent the ball over the crossbar. St. Vincents/Curraha kept going and in the 27th minute Matthew Tuite sent over a massive free from his left. Kevin Doyle the inside forward made a darting run and won a long ball that was sent in, Doyle carried the ball forward before kicking a monster score from play to leave only 2 between the teams with 2 minutes remaining and set up a grandstand finish. The Drumbaragh goalie went long with a kick out and St. Vincents/Curraha won possession. A long ball was sent into Kevin Doyle who won it before quickly laying it off to Michael McIvor who was deemed to have been taken down inside the square and a penalty was awarded. McIvor stepped up but unfortunately his shot went the wrong side of the post and wide. Ian Dowdall allowed the kickout to be taken before he sounded  the full time whistle. 

The Drumbaragh players celebrated but unfortunately it was heartbreak for the Curraha and Ardcath outfit. Credit to all the players from the 2 clubs who have had a very good campaign who produced some fine victories en route to the final and played some very entertaining football over the last 2 months. Most of these players will be stepping up to adult football for Curraha and St. Vincent's in 2025 and hope to build over the last couple of years. Also credit must go to David Coyle and Mark Phelan from Curraha and Declan O’Sullivan and Donal Young from Ardcath who managed the group of players for the U19 campaign.

Michael McIvor 0.04F, Matthew Tuite 0.03F, Kevin Doyle 0.01

Tadgh Tuite(St. Vincent's), Mark Mahon(Curraha), Cian Heagney(Curraha), Eoghan Burke(Curraha), Dylan Rowland(Curraha), Shane Caffery(St. Vincents), Conor O’Brien(St. Vincents), Mylo Hussey(Curraha), John Dardis(Curraha), Michael McIvor(St. Vincents), Shane Andrews(St. Vincents), Matthew Tuite(St. Vincents), Kevin O’Connor(Curraha), Jared Roche(Curraha), Adam Andrews(St. Vincents)

Subs: Shea O’Connor(Curraha), PJ O'Reilly(Curraha), CJ Tuite(St. Vincents), Andrew Gough(Curraha), Donnacha Young(St. Vincents), Kevin Doyle(Curraha), Liam O’Brien(St. Vincents), Peter Sherlock(Curraha), Thomas Morgan(Curraha), Nick Dillon(Curraha), Richard Dunne(St. Vincents)