Heywood CS 9-6 Coláiste Chill Mhantain (Wicklow) 5-4
First Year South Leinster ‘C’ Football Championship Final
Heywood CS were crowned First Year South Leinster ‘C’ football champions following victory over Colaiste Chill Mhantain of Wicklow yesterday.
Played in the GAA National Development Centre in Abbotstown, Heywood were 14 point winners.
Heywood started brightly with a goal from their talisman Cillian Murphy followed up with two well taken points from James O’Mara and Stephen Jones.
Colaiste Chill Mhantáin settled into the game and dominated the next ten minutes of possession, scoring 1-1.
Liam O’Donnell got the scoreboard ticking again for Heywood with intelligent movement and a well taken point.
He showed excellently for the ball all day and was a key link player throughout.
At half time Heywood had opened up the lead to 3-4 to 1-3.
The second half saw Heywood put this game beyond doubt. In the first 10 minutes of it, Cillian Murphy struck for three more goals while Mikey O’Keeffe added another.
One of the most impressive things about this Heywood group is that they used 29 players throughout the game and they were still able to maintain their strong lead.
It was an overall squad effort that won it for Heywood but one of the most impressive performers was Darragh Curran.
The Crettyard man, playing at centre back, always seemed to be in the right place to win the ball and his distribution was excellent.
Other stand out performances were James O’Mara, Stephen Jones the aforementioned O’Donnell – along with the goal magnet Murphy.
Unfortunately this competition does not go on to All Ireland or Leinster series this year.
The team will be aiming to take on the ‘B’ grade next year in the Second Year competition. With how impressive they were in all games this year, they should relish the opportunity.
SCORERS – Cillian Murphy 4-1, James O’Mara 2-1, Mikey O’Keeffe 2-0, Peter Keane 1-0, Liam O’Donnell 0-2, Stephen Jones 0-1, Liam Ellis 0-1
HEYWOOD CS: Harry Carney (Ballyroan-Abbey); Donal Lynam (Spink), Joe O’Connor (Spink), John Fingleton (Park-Ratheniska); Darragh Kennedy (Spink), Darragh Curran (Crettyard), Stephen Jones (Ballyroan-Abbey); Conor Delaney (Spink), Peter Keane (Ballyroan-Abbey); John Kelly (Park-Ratheniska), Liam Ellis (The Harps), James O’Mara (Ballinakill); Liam O’Donnell (Ballyroan-Abbey), Mikey O’Keeffe (Ballyroan-Abbey), Cillian Murphy (The Harps)
Subs: Tom Graham (Crettyard), Aaron O’Brien (Spink), Sean Knowles (St Joseph’s), Dylan Delaney (Ballyroan), Conor Moylan (Ballyfin), Darragh O’Connor (Timahoe), Nathan Cuddy (Shanahoe), Tadgh Prendergast (Ballyroan-Abbey), Ruairi Bowe (Timahoe), Brian Doogue (Shanahoe), Daniel Scully (Ballyroan-Abbey), Daniel Knowles (Ballyroan-Abbey), Blake Morgan (Ballyroan-Abbey), Aaron Cuddy (Shanahoe), Brian Lacey (Ballinakill)
SEE ALSO – Division by division: All the fixtures in this year’s Laois club football leagues
