U-16 Football Championship Division Three Final:-

Kilglass Gaels...................................... 2-10 Ballinameen......................................... 2-9

Kilglass Gaels made their own piece of history by winning the club’s first underage championship title last Saturday. Played in sunny but windy conditions in Elphin, this was an excellent game witnessed by a huge crowd.

The wind dictated the pattern of play, with Kilglass building up an impressive lead in the first-half only to be brought back to the minimum of margins by a gallant Ballinameen.

The Kilglass first-half scoring spree started as early as the first minute with a David Nugent free from 20 metres. Richard Donner and Chris Duffy then added a point each from play and Kilglass began to look formidable.

Louise Tully and Emma Corcoran were tenacious in defence and Ballinameen found their path to goal blocked time after time. By the end of the first-half Kilglass had added three more points, one from Niall Kilcrann and two from Nugent.

Aided by the strong breeze and playing more direct football, Kilglass created all sorts of difficulties for the Ballinameen defence. Nugent was dominant at centre forward and when he scored the first goal after 20 minutes, Kilglass appeared to be on their way to an easy victory.

Ballinameen’s opening scores didn’t come until the 22nd and 26th minutes, when Thomas Carey rifled over two points after good support play by Fintan Harrington and Stephen Dolan.

The remainder of the half, however, belonged to Kilglass and in a four-minute blitz at the end of the half, they scored a goal and three points. Nugent pointed from 20 metres, Kilcrann sent over a magnificent point from 40 metres and Nugent scored his second goal of the game after a perfect long distance pass from Donner. Eoin Diffley completed the blitz with his first point to leave Kilglass with a huge lead of 2-9 to 0-2 at the interval.

Pat Tully, chairman of the Roscommon Minor Board, presents the under-16 Division Three shield to Coleman Feeney, captain of the Kilglass Gaels side

Impressive

Everyone knew that Ballinameen would attempt a comeback in the second-half, but few expected it to be so impressive. The first five minutes saw them hit four wides but when Cathal Keaveney sent over a point in the 36th minute you could sense a growing determination in the team. Stephen Dolan sent a possible goal chance over the bar before Nugent pointed what was to be the only Kilglass score of the second-half.

Two more Ballinameen points from Carey and Niall Cregg narrowed the deficit by the end of the third quarter. Keith Naughton then sent a dangerous ball across the goal for Keaveney to finish to the net and almost directly from the kick-out, Keaveney again found the net, this time a great individual effort. Carey next added a point, and by the 50th minute the margin was down to three with Ballinameen now the dominant side.

The final 10 minutes were nail-biting. Both sides defended like heroes and the atmosphere was electric. Chances were created, some were missed. Carey added two points to reduce the gap to one but with the clock ticked towards the end, Kilglass etched their names onto their first title by holding out for a deserved victory.

Kilglass: S. McHugh; B. Horan, L. Tully; E. Corcoran, G. Dowd, M. Feeney; R. Donner (0-2), S. Donoghue; N. Kilcrann (0-1) D. Nugent (2-5), C. Feeney; E. Diffley (0-1), C. Duffy (0-1). Subs. used: T. Cox for Duffy, E. Lennon for Corcoran.

Ballinameen: A. Casey, P. McKeon, G. Ward, C. McDermott, C. Keaveney (2-1), P. Burke, T. Gallagher, N. Cregg (0-1), F. Harrington, T. Casey (0-6), K. Naughton, S. Dolan (0-1), A. Naughton. Subs. used: L. Gallagher for A. Naughton, J. McKeon for L. Gallagher