Jenkinstown Gaels rounded off a long year with the Div. 4 Minor Football Championship Shield Final win over St. Michaels /Nobber at the well presented Kilmainham.

Jenkinstown Gaels 2-8 St. Michaels/Nobber 0-9

The amalgamation of Blackhall Gaels & Moynalvey overcame another combination side in the shape of St. Michaels/Nobber by five points in this LMFM Minor (U-17) Div. 4 Shield Final. Little separated the sides early on, St.Michaels/Nobber opened up with two points, with Jenkinstown Gaels drawing level with a Conor Duffy free and a Michael Brady point. The sides then traded scores for the next 15 minutes, with a St. Michaels/Nobber brace being countered by points from Jenkinstown Gaels Conor Duffy and Rob Keane, leaving it 0-4 apiece after 24 minutes.

A purple patch for Jenkinstown saw them hit two goals in the remainder of the half, the first from Rob Keane and the second from Patrick Sheerin, leaving the half time score reading 2-4 to 0-4 in favour of the Blackhall Gaels/Moynalvey combination side. Within two minutes of the restart two superb points from Jenkinstown’s full forward Conor Duffy extended the South Meath side’s advantage out to eight points. A point from each of the St.Michaels/Nobber corner forwards left the two goals in it again, before that man Duffy pointed again for Jenkinstown to leave it 2-7 to 0-6 with six minutes of normal time remaining.

A late rally from St. Michaels/Nobber yielded three points without reply, before Jenkinstown’s Conor Duffy broke the North Meath side’s momentum in the 2nd minute of added time, leaving it 2-8 to 0-9. With over six minutes additional time played there were still time for some late drama, with Jenkinstown Gaels’ losing Conor Duffy to a black card, while the last play of the game saw a St. Michaels/Nobber penalty go wide of the posts to the relief of the Jenkisntown Gaels’ players & followers. Referee Seamus O’Connor blew the full time whistle soon after to give the Blackhall Gaels/Moynalvey amalgamation the win with a five point winning margin.

Meath GAA Minor Board secretary Brian Kelly presented the shield to Jenkinstown Gaels’ joint captains Dylan Cranley and Ciaran Harnan after the game.

Jenkinstown Gaels: A. Bracken, T. O’Connor, A. McHugh, E. Clarke, P. Shirren (1-0), F. Kiernan, P. Corcoran, R. Keane (1-1), A. Rooney, M. Brady (0-1), C. Harnan, E. Murphy, D. Cranley, C. Duffy (0-6), R. O’Mahony. Subs: L. O’Reilly for O’Mahony, S. Deegan for O’Connor, O’Connor for Duffy (B/C).

St Michaels Report

St. Michaels/Nobber 0-10, Jenkinstown Gaels 2-07,

The ability to score goals at a crucial stage made all the difference for Jenkinstown Gaels in the U-17 Shield final played in ideal conditions in Kilmainham on Saturday afternoon when they saw off a determined St. Michaels / Nobber challenge to capture the U-17 division 4b Shield.

The St. Michaels / Nobber combination made the better start with points from Stephen Clarke (2) and Joe Tierney (1) to go into a early lead, however the “Gaels” settled and were on level terms after 17 minutes. They then went one in front but Tierney hit back for the North Meath combination when slotting over from a free on 25 minutes before goalkeeping colleague Niall McMahon pulled off some excellent saves to keep his side in contention. Then came the game changer when in a four minute spell before the half time whistle, Jenkinstown broke through the St. Michaels / Nobber defence for two goals to lead by six at the break 2-4 to 0-4.                                                        

Jenkinstown extended their lead to 8 points immediately after the re-start however the St. Michaels / Nobber combination battled away gamely for the remainder of the contest with points coming from Joe Tierney (3) and Lorcan McEntee (2) to reduce the deficit to a single score and their efforts were rewarded with a penalty on the stroke of full time, however the penalty shot came off the butt of the upright and was cleared. There was still enough injury time remaining for each side to record a point apiece but the honours went to the Blackhall Gaels / Moynalvey combination.                                                                                                                                               

St. Michaels/Nobber: Niall McMahon; Seamus Fagan, Brian Reilly, Paddy Farrell; Ben Gaffney, Barry Bradley, Cian Donoghue; Jack Dunne, Jakub Bidinski; Kevin Reilly, Stephen Clarke (0-2), Patrick Clarke; Joe Tierney (0-6); Justin McPhillips, Lorcan McEntee (0-2). Subs: Brian O'Reilly, Paddy Fitzsimons, Cian McFadden, Daragh Sheridan, Mark Condra, Jo Jo Ogungbe  Conor Harten, Jamie Duffy.

Referee: Seamus O'Connor.

Report: Pascal Reilly.

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