In Pairc Tailteann;
North Meath Gaels find that extra Puff to Take Title
North Meath Gaels 3-14 Blackwater Gaels 4-9
This was a fine game that was played before at good vocal crowd who came to support these North Meath clubs minor teams on the pristine Pairc Tailteann surface on a Sunny June Friday evening.
It was a close contest for the most part but wind assisted Blackwater hit the ground running and two quick fire goals in the 1st couple of minutes had them in the driving seat. North Meath Gaels refused to panic and on their 1st attack Paul Carolan got the White,Red and Blue on the score board.
North Meath defended well with Conor Marry and Kieran Slavin in good form and this was the secret to their success as Daniel Byrne pointed on 11 minutes and while Blackwater did not get their 1st minor on the 13th minute to lead 2-1 to 0-2 as the 1st quarter ended.
With Ryan Carry and Ryan Gillispie on holidays and Martin Shields out through injury the North Meath bench had an empty look to it with a number of U-15s added to the panel for the Final.
Blackwater with Frank O'Reilly in good form pushed them 2 clear goals ahead again but James Mooney forced the ball over the line after Blackwater goalie Philip McDermott had saved his 1st attempt. North Meath had a stroke of luck as a rasping shot had struck their crossbar was was cleared to safety by Graham Boylan.
Blackwater responded well with 3 points between the 20th and 25th minute while Daniel Byrne had responded with a well worked point but there was concern on the North Meath side as they now trailed 2-5 to 1-3 but a good last five minutes as both sides shared 4 scores.The most significant one of them was a North Meath goal which really lifted the Drumconrath/Meath Hill/Kilmainhamwood lads.
Byrne had pointed a free after a foul on Dylan Dardis but then James Mooney was hauled down and while Byrne's penalty was well parried by McDermott, Byrne reacted well to fire home the rebound from a tight angle as the sides retired with Blackwater leading 2-7 to 2-4.
James Mooney and Cathal Bennett had a battle royale with their Blackwater opponents but it was Blackwater who opened the 2nd half scoring with a point. This was to be 1 of only 2 points they would manage in the 2nd half the next one would not arrive until injury time.
Points from Byrne and Mooney narrowed the gap to 2 points but Blackwater beat Dominic Yorke for a 3rd time to give themselves a great boost.
That score was cancelled out with 3 points from Byrne (free) who struck some fine scores off the scores off the ground, Mooney and substitute Paddy Matthews who had a big impact when introduced with 15 minutes to go. Blackwater again threatened the hospital goals but first Yorke and then Cathal Dunne made goal line clearances to keep the game in the mix as Robert McEntaggart now playing in defense was getting more into the game.
Blackwater got their 4th goal on 46 minutes and again looked to be in command as they led 4-8 to 2-8 but Bennett fired over a defiant point to lift North Meath again. Quick ball into Jack McMahon and Byrne was proving effective with Byrne pointing after a free on himself.
Matthews proved his worth with a goal on 52 minutes to leave a single point between the sides and soon Byrne had the sides level 4-8 to 3-11.
After a huge kickout from Dominic Yorke that cleared the midfield area Matthews ran onto the loose ball and wisely pointed to give North Meath the lead for the 1st time with 5 minutes to go.
Jack McMahon pointed after good work from Matthew and Paul Carolan and while OReilly pointed a free on the 60th minute to cut the lead to a single point a foul on Paul Carolan earned a free for Byrne who tapped over on the 2nd minute of injury time to secure victory as they won this trophy for the 2nd year in a row.
Afterwards Meath County Board Vice Chairman Peter O'Halloran was given the honour of presenting Co Captains James Mooney, Cathal Bennett and Daniel Byrne with the Trophy won after this close fought game played in good spirit and well refereed by Duleek/Bellewstown's Liam Reddy.
North Meath Gaels; Dominic Yorke; Graham Boylan, Cathal Dunne; Kieran Slavin, Conor Marry, Matthew Carolan; James Mooney (1-2), Cathal Bennett (0-1); Paul Carolan (0-1), Robert McEntaggart, Dylan Dardis; Jack McMahon (0-1), Daniel Byrne (1-7). Subs; Paddy Matthews (1-2), Eoin Muldoon, Jamie McMahon, Cathal Marry and Martin Shields.
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