St Pats NS, Stamullen  2-11(13)  Realt Na Mara NS Donacarney 2-4 (6)

St Pats NS, Stamullen lifted their first Boyne/Opel sponsored Cooney Cup last Thursday in glorious sunshine in Pairc Tailteann.   The Cooney Cup Final was played in front a large school crowd and supporters with a Scottish Piper playing both teams out on to the Navan pitch.  The match itself was a great contest from start to finish.  In the opening half St Pats NS made most of the wind into the town end goals to lead 1-8 to 0-1 at the break.  It was half when St Pats NS played some great football, led by some wonderful play from their centre half forward Daragh Burns  who hit a remarkable 1-5 in the opening period to see his side wrestle control of the match.  Young Burns pulled the strings throughout the first period and his free taking and point scoring from open play was just a joy to watch.

The 2nd half saw Euan Canniffe pick up the dangerous Burns and his man marking job offered Realt Na Mara a brief foothold in the contest and they duly closed the gap courtesy of a two great goals from Eoghan McCloughan and Josh Hayes and great points from Shaun Leonard and Sean O'Donoghue  to narrow the gap to 4 points.  However that was as close as the Donacarney Boys got and great scores from Sean Flanagan ( 2) and Ciaran Darby 1-1 saw them once again stretch the lead out to 8 points.  A consolation near the end from Cian Flynn did close the gap to 7 points but referee Cormac Reilly blew the final whilst to great scenes at the end.

This was a very good match and St Pats NS  were deserving winners.  The winning side are backboned by some wonderful players from St Pats U13 team and no more prominent than the silky skills of Daragh Burns.  He was the stand out player and on the big occasion he demonstrated his wonderful array of scoring skills particularly in the opening half.   For Realt Na Mara they will concede they lost to a better team on the day.  Sympathy must however go to the fact that nine of their starting team did play for St Colmcilles in the U12 County Final the previous evening and they did look tired at times.  They tried hard throughout but struggled to hold key men in young Burns and Captain Sean Flanagan in what was a great St Pats performance

St Pats NS Scorers: Daragh Burns 1-5,Ciaran Darby 1-2, Aitzol King 0-1, Sean Flanagan 0-3

Realt Na Mara NS Scorers: Josh Hayes 1-0, Eoghan McCloughan 1-0, Shaun Leonard 0-1, Sean O'Donoghue 0-1, Cian Flynn 0-1

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