St Mary’s Granard produce powerful second half performance to win the U-21 ‘B’ title

Inspired by the most impressive Harry Kiernan at midfield, revitalised Granard came from seven points behind midway through the first half to eventually register a convincing win over Carrick Sarsfields in the U-21 ‘B’ Football Championship title decider at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Sunday. 

St Mary’s Granard . . . 0-18  Carrick Sarsfields . . . 0-10

Playing against the stiff wind, St Mary’s struggled in the first quarter and were 0-7 to 0-0 adrift after Ross Doherty (twice) and Brian Mulvey fired over two-pointers  (all from play) for the Carrickedmond and Legan amalgamation (minus the injured Pauric Dempsey) who were hoping to make amends for the disappointment of the defeats in the final of this competition for the previous three years.  

Suffering the significant setback of losing the injured Ben Blessington in the early stages of the game, St Mary’s eventually opened their account from a free converted by Cian O’Donnell in the 14th minute and the blues gradually closed the gap with the two scores from O’Donnell and the influential Brendan Martin deep into first half stoppage time proving to be very crucial. 

A two-pointer free from the prominent Cormac Mulvey in the 20th minute left Carrick Sarsfields leading by 0-9 to 0-5 at the break (their other score coming from a Brian Mulvey free) but Granard took control on the changeover in restricting the rattled opposition to just a solitary point from Shane Burke in the 51st minute.

Niall Sheridan’s slick side added another 13 scores to their emphatic tally with the advantage of the wind in a powerful second half performance and would have won by an even wider margin but for a trio of point blank saves by the excellent opposing keeper Darragh Egan who kept out goalbound shots from Kiernan, O’Donnell and Jakub Pawlowski.  

ST MARY’S GRANARD: Killian McGivney; James Macken, Tom Kearney, Jakub Pawlowski; Patrick Hynes (0-1), Oisin O’Hara, Ben Blessington; Harry Kiernan (0-4), Daniel Corr; Jacob Gaymor-Brady, Jamie Brady-Hynes (0-3, 1 two-pointer free), Donogh Callaghan; Brendan Martin (0-4), Eoin O’Hara (0-3, 1 two pointer play), Cian O’Donnell (0-3, 2 frees). 

Subs:- Shane O’Hara for B Blessington (injured, 6 mins). Temporary: Cathal O’Hara for D Corr (12 mins); Corr for C O’Hara (22 mins). 

CARRICK SARSFIELDS: Darragh Egan; Shaun McGrath, Conor Mulvey, Eoin Kiernan; Ryan Murphy, Sean Egan, Cormac Egan; Liam Glennon, Cormac Mulvey (0-2, two-pointer free); Diarmuid Breslin, Brian Mulvey (0-3, 1 two-pointer play, 1 free), Darragh Mulligan; Ross Doherty (0-4, brace of two-pointers play), Shane Burke (0-1), Matthew Doherty.

Subs:- Matthew McCormack for M Doherty (injured, 19 mins); Dwayne McDonnell for S McGrath (60 mins); Brandon Cooke for D Breslin (60 mins). 

Temporary: Dwayne McDonnell for Cormac Mulvey (first half stoppage time); Mulvey for McDonnell (start of second half). 

Referee: David Donohoe (Mullinalaghta St Columba’s).