Ballyshannon side to strong
Under 16 A Championship final
Aodh Ruadh 2-16
Saint Eunan's 1-8
15 August 1993
Peter Campbell reports from Tirconaill Park, Donegal Town
With a near perfect display the Aodh Ruadh under 16s were fairly convincing winners of the under 16 A title at Tirconaill Park, Donegal Town, on Sunday evening.
The Ballyshannon side last won this title in 1986 and it was the first Co. Championship for most of this side. However, most of the panel had been part of the Community Games side that won the All-Ireland title in 1990.
From very early in this game there was a clear difference between the sides. St. Eunans relied heavily on a few players while Aodh Ruadh seemed to be strong in most positions.
Kevin Winston was tightly marked by Co. U-16 colleague, Patrick McGrath and his threat was limited to free-taking, while St. Eunan's best player, Shane O'Donnell was tried in three different positions - full-forward, midfield and eventually at full-back where they had lost Hugh Lennon with an injury late in the first half.
All six Aodh Ruadh forwards got on the scoresheet with corner forward, Michael Ward the star of the first half, giving both St. Eunan corner backs a torrid time. Before the throw-in both Patrick McGrath and Kevin Winston were warned by the referee after a bit of jostling and it was lucky for McGrath that they weren't booked as he came to the referee 's attention midway through the first half for an off-the-ball incident for which he was booked.
Keith Mannion put Aodh Ruadh ahead in the 3rd minute from a 13m free and a minute later a long ball by David Hoey broke to John Gillespie and he fired to the net. Mannion added another point from a free before Kevin Winston had St. Eunan's firstponit in the 10th minute from a 21m free.
Impressive full-back, James Shannon and Kenneth McGurren set up John Gillespie for another point before Michael Ward added another
inside a minute. A mix-up in the Aodh Ruadh defence gave Kevin Winston an opportunity in the 12th minute and he hit a delightful point from the wing.
However, there was no respite for the Letterkenny lads as Michael Ward and David Hoey added points before a long ball into the danger area by John Gillespie was fisted to the net by Barry Travers in the 16th minutes. This put Aodh Ruadh 2-6 to 0-2 ahead and t was always going to be an uphill battle for St Eunan's after that.
Before the end of the half Kevin Winston hit three frees and David McGinley fisted a point after a Winston free came back off the upright, but in between Aodh Ruadh had added points from Michael Ward and Barry Travers, who was beginning to exert a definite influence on the game.
St. Eunan's efforts weren't helped by some very poor kick-outs by goalkeeper, Enda Kelly, which gave the advantage to their opponents on several occasions.
Half-time: Aodh Ruadh 2-8, St. Eunans 0-7.
Winston reduced the margin to six points immediately on the restart, but Kenneth McGurren, Barry Travers (2), Keith Mannion (4) tagged on points to put Aodh Ruadh in an unassailable position, 2-15 to 0-8 by the 15th minute.
St. Eunans did pull a goal back when David Haran put Ronan Mulligan through in the 16th minute and he chipped the 'keeper for a good goal, but the game was over as a contest by then and the only other score came in injury time as Barry Travers hit a free over.
Aodh Ruadh had great performances all over the field, but James Shannon, Patrick McGrath, Bobby Reynolds, Barry Travers, John Gillespie, Keith Mannion and Michael Ward were star performers. For Eunans, apart from Winston and O'Donnell, Hugh Lennon, Paul O'Dowd and Ronan Mulligan tried hard.
| Vital Statistics |
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| Teams |
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Aodh Ruadh David Greene: Sean McGee, James Shannon, Jamie McCauley; Bobby Reynolds, Patrick McGrath, Martin Gallagher; Brendan Boyle, Stephen Ward; John Gillespie (1-1), David Hoey (0-1), Barry Travers (1-4); Kenneth McGurren (0-1), Keith Mannion (0-6), Michael Ward (0-3). Subs: Christy Coughlan for Shannon (inj.); Gerard Ferguson for Hoey (inj.), Stephen McGlinchey. |
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Saint Eunan's Enda Kelly; Laurence Maguire, Hugh Lennon, Darragh Boyle; Adrian McClafferty, Andrew Connolly, Packie Gibbons; Paul O'Dowd, Barry Kavanagh (0-1); David McGinley (0-1), Kevin Winston (0-6), Shane McBrearty; Ronan Mulligan (1-0), Shane O'Donnell, Stephen Crossan. Sub: Brendan Dempsey for Lennon (inj.), David Haran for McBrearty; James Rooney for Crossan. |
| Referee: Conor McBrearty (Killybegs). |
Last modified: Friday, 12 June 2020 at 1:24pm