Clonmore minors reached the county final after a tremendous comeback in the last quarter gave them a narrow win over neighbours Slaney Rangers on Sunday last. The weather conditions were atrocious but both teams deserve great credit for the quality of the play and the positive spirit in which the game was played.
The Tullow/ Grange combination had first use of the driving wind & rain and made a good start with points from Lee Byrne Gordon Hegarty, Stephen Nolan and Alan Fleming. But Clonmore defended well and moved the ball intelligently against the wind, and points from Shane McGrath(2), David & Conor McCarney and Jordan Walsh sent Clonmore in at half-time leading by 0-5 to 0-4. Clonmore also missed at least three goal chances in the first half.
In spite of playing against the wind, Slaney Rangers started the second half very well and points from Stephen Nolan (2), Paddy McCall and a cracking goal by Shane Doyle put them into a very strong position – 1-7 to 0-5 ahead on 45 mintes. Clonmore then dug deep and in a devastating last quarter, scored 0-6 without reply. Those points included a vital score from play by Conor McCarney and some tremendous long distance frees off the ground by Mark A Byrne and out of hand by Shane McGrath. The winning point was a real pressure kick as it was the last kick of the game from over 40 metres out. But McGrath stroked it over in style to complete another outstanding performance by him and a great team performance by Clonmore.
Slaney Rangers: Patrick Nolan, Nathan McDonald, Michael Murphy, Lee Kavanagh, Henry Hegarty, Sean Condon, Robbie Rooney, Stephen Nolan (0-3,3f), Shane Doyle (1-0), Gordon Hegarty (0-1), Paddy McCall (0-1), Alan Fleming (0-1), Paul Sheppard, Gary Dunne, Lee Byrne (0-1). Subs: Dale Cosgrave, Paul Brown, Dale Byrne, Stephen Cleary.
