Munster Junior B Football Final

Kildimo/Pallaskenry 1-08 Valentia Young Islanders 0-12
There was heartbreak for our junior footballers in Knockaderry on Sunday, as they fell to Valentia Young Islanders in the Munster Final by just a single, agonising point. It was a hard-fought game in windy conditions, and we were unlucky to come out on the wrong side of the result. It had started so well; we played with the wind in the first half and had the upper hand as we took the fight to the Kerry champions deep in their own half, and lead at the half-time break.

Peter Nash opened the scoring after four minutes after excellent work by Darragh Deegan at wing-forward. Tom O'Shea hit a wide shortly after, which many on the sideline felt may have crept inside the upright but the referee and his umpires were firm in their decision. Mossy Sheahan made a great intervention to prevent Valentia from levelling matters before the Kerry side finally got on the scoreboard. However, we continued to assert our first-half dominance and two wonderful scores put us back into the lead; one a brilliant left-footed effort from Darren O'Connell and another spectacular individual effort from Peter Nash, judging the wind to perfection.

Valentia managed to peg us back in the lead-up to half-time but Nash added a couple more scores before the break to give Kildimo/Pallaskenry a one-point lead at the break. The first was his third from play after a lovely piece of skill from Simon Guerin in the build-up, while the second was a pointed free which was pretty much the last action of the first half. We had lost Mossy Sheehan to injury towards the end of the first half, ably replaced by Martin Nunan but Valentia captain Brendan O'Sullivan had shown signs of what he was capable of, with two goal chances after powerful runs, luckily neither ended up with a green flag. Perhaps our first-half efforts should have resulted in a larger advantage at the break but Peter Nash and Darragh Deegan in particular were causing problems in attack, Simon Guerin's work rate and build-up play was superb and Tony McCarthy was marshalling the defence well from centre-back, with Barry Walsh and Brian Howard stepping in to make excellent interventions at times.

Valentia started the second half very well, kicking two points inside the first two minutes to take the lead for the first time in the game. They were utilising the wind to great effect and O'Sullivan was putting huge pressure on our kick-outs, and it took Kildimo/Pallaskenry some time to adjust to the conditions. Valentia did hit a number of wides, thanks in part to some great pressure from our backline; Brian Howard put in a hugely tenacious display at corner-back, reading the game very well on occasion while Tony McCarthy grew into the game with every passing minute and was key to launching many counter-attacks. The industrious efforts of Darragh Deegan eventually paid off, as he hit the levelling score for us midway through the first half. However, despite our best efforts, we couldn't find a way to get that extra score to pull back into the lead and Valentia were smart in their use of the conditions and they opened up a four-point lead as the game entered the last five minutes.

Our defence had come up trumps in preventing a goal chance that had come Valentia's way, the combined efforts of the full-back line and goalkeeper James Fitzgerald getting the ball clear. Ciaran Ryan and Michéal Keating were sent on by the management to bolster our options in attack, and Peter Nash exchanged two pointed frees with Valentia full-forward John Shanahan. Tony McCarthy, Simon Guerin and Peter Nash really dug deep to act as playmakers in one last push on goal in injury time, and after numerous frees in and around the Valentia goal, Peter Nash came up with an inspirational goal, blasting to the back of the net despite almost the whole Valentia team standing on the line. It gave the players, the management and the crowd renewed vigour for one final push and we were able to launch one last assault on their goal. There was some great work in the build-up before substitute Michéal Keating was desperately unlucky to see his shot slide across the face of goal instead of nestling in the back of the net. It was a cruel end to our players' supreme efforts in the final and the referee blew the final whistle shortly after.

Despite the disappointing result, the players have had a tremendous season and have been a huge source of credit to the club and the parish as a whole and they are looking forward to playing Junior A football next year. Much credit must go to the management and backroom team of Noel McCarthy, Darren O'Shea, Brian Barry and Alan Fitzgerald who led the club to a county title and a Munster final, and to the panel as a whole who put in a huge effort throughout the season.

Scorers: Peter Nash 1-6 (1-3 frees), Darren O'Connell 0-1, Darragh Deegan 0-1

Team: James Fitzgerald; Brian Howard, Stephen Hodnett (captain), Mike Delap; Barry Walsh, Tony McCarthy, Mossy Sheahan; Simon Guerin, Johnny McHale; Darragh Deegan, Peter Nash, Robert McKeogh; Eoin Cuddihy, Tom O'Shea, Darren O'Connell

Subs: Martin Nunan for Mossy Sheahan (27 mins); Ciaran Ryan for Eoin Cuddihy (49 mins); Michéal Keating for Tom O'Shea (56 mins)

Rest of Panel: John Chawke, Stephen McKeogh, Seán Holland, Johnny Nash, Shane Gloster, Féilim O'Leary, Dean Corrigan, Tommy O'Connor, Rory O'Donnell, Ryan Kelly, Tommy Kennedy

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