Courtesy of The Western People
U-14 ‘A’ Football Championship -Section 1
CARRAS 2-15 BREAFFY 4-4
Michael Gallagher in Breaffy
LONG after the scores and saves, the points and passes and the tackles and tussles have been forgotten these boys will remember the deluge. In fact, they’ll probably never forget the evening they played football in Breaffy when the heavens opened and sent torrents of water down upon two fine young football teams.
Despite the floods both sides gave everything they had as they searched for victory and the championship points on offer. Carras were the better team for most of the evening and led by eleven points as the game drew to a close but a late fightback from the hosts closed the gap significantly. Carras started very impressively and led by six points after 25 minutes. Their midfield and forward line were on top and some of the scores kicked would have raised wows in normal conditions, never mind Thursday evening’s rain-soaked circumstances. Wing-forward Colm O’Neill was moving well and kicked three fine points, Cian Coleman drilled over two sweet efforts while the lively Michael Hession also raised two white flags and the hard working Darren Quinn landed a single.
Breaffy were finding it hard to work the ball forward but when they did James McGinty kicked a point while the deadly accurate Jason Hunt raised two white flags to keep the home side in the running. They closed the gap significantly on the stroke of half-time when a flowing move involving the impressive Shane O’Connor and Jarlath O’Malley found Hunt in front of the goal and the ace attacker planted the ball in the corner of Niall Heneghan’s net to leave the interval score reading 0-9 to 1-3 in favour of the guests.
Hunt pointed a free for Breaffy in the opening minutes of the new half but Carras soon found their feet again and pulled away. Michael Hession and Coleman split the posts and when O’Neill soloed 20 yards and clipped the ball beyond Paul Walsh into the corner of the net, the Red and White were comfortably clear again. That concession sparked Breaffy into life and James McGinty smashed home a goal to give his side hope after 45 minutes following fine play from Dylan Cannon. They pressed for another three-pointer in the following minutes and O’Connor forced Heneghan into a fine save before Hunt volleyed just wide two minutes later. The game was there for the taking at that stage as just four points separated the sides with 10 minutes remaining and it was Carras who grabbed the initiative once again. The excellent Coleman kicked a free from the left wing, and O’Neill added two from play as Brendan Sheridan, Jarlath Mullin and their colleagues excelled in defence.
They moved out of range in the 58th minute when Ernan Flannery’s long ball was superbly flicked home by the hard-running Andre Fahy to leave Carras 2-14 to 2-4 in front. Coleman kicked another fine point a few moments later and it seemed all over but Breaffy drove down the field in search of a consolation score. They got more than they bargained for in injury time when first, O’Connor got the goal his performance deserved and then Hunt sent a free into the roof of the net to leave just five between them, but time ran out and Carras were far enough ahead to emerge victorious.
SCORERS –
Carras: Colm O’Neill 1-5, Cian Coleman 0-5 (4f), Michael Hession 0-3, Andre Fahy 1-0, Darren Quinn and Brendan Varley 0-1 each.
Breaffy: Jason Hunt 2-3 (1-1f), James McGinty 1-1 (0-1f), Shane O’Connor 1-0.
CARRAS: Niall Heneghan; Tomas Fahy, Eamon Monaghan, Jarlath Mullin; Niall Monaghan, Caolan McTigue, Brendan Sheridan; Cian Coleman, Andre Fahy; Darren Quinn, Michael Hession, Colm O’Neill; Ernan Flannery, Brendan Varley, Stephen Hession Subs: Martin McHale (for S Hession 53)
BREAFFY: Paul Walsh; Brandon Tolan, Dylan Cannon, Pat Corless; Alex Campbell, Evan Morrin, Conor Carter; Gary Walsh, Jarlath O’Malley; Jason Hunt, James McGinty, Sean Ivers; Darragh Judge, Shane O’Connor, Paul Howley. Subs: Colm Quinn (for Carter h/t), Conor Carter (for Ivers 38-inj).
REFEREE: Eamon McAndrew (Belmullet)
