Blackhall Gaels 7-6 Bective-Cannistown 5-3

Blackhall U14 boys secured another county title (Cup Roinn F) with a well-deserved 7-6 to 5-3 victory over a physically strong Bective-Cannistown side in Dunganny on a very warm August evening.

The omens were good from the start as the lads were allocated to the astroturf pitch, where they had secured the U13 title a mere 9 months ago. Referee Eamonn Barry, no stranger to controversy, caused a bit of a stir at the start by insisting that a full-length pitch be used. Captain Tony O'Connor won the toss and the large crowd waited expectantly. Bective had ran out easy victors when these two sides had met earlier in the Summer, and would have been confident of a repeat result. 

Blackhall took to the field missing three of their stalwarts from the campaign - Killian Mangan (man of the match when these two sides met earlier in the Summer), Xander Hayden and James Ruddy were all unavailable.

Despite these absentees Blackhall immediately took the game to their opponents, with Eddie Carr dominant at midfield, supported by the hard-running James Kelly, providing good early ball into the Blackhall forwards. Conor Duffy had the beating of his man and created several early chances, showing deadly accuracy to finish to the net within the first 2 minutes. Several other chances went a-begging before Duffy added his second after 8 minutes. When the same man added a point on 10 minutes, the Gaels were 7 points to the good. 

Bective had barely passed the half-way point at this point, such was the dominance of the Gaels, but a soft free on 13 minutes allowed them to open their account. The Gaels reasserted their dominance and two further points from Duffy (free) and a magnificent effort from play from Davy Sheeran left them 8 points up before the goal of the game from Duffy left the Gaels in a seemingly unassailable position, 3-3 to 0-1 up approaching half-time.

It had not been all one-way traffic to that point, and as impressive as the predatory instincts of our forwards was the tenacity and tough tackling of the defence, in which Tony O'Connor, Mark O'Leary and Conor Daly were exceptional in that first half; O'Connor in particular was instrumental in eliminating any opportunities Bective had on their forays into the scoring zone. Colin Byrne had shown safe hands on the few occasions that he was troubled in goals. 

However Bective are too good a team to lie down and their pressure started to pay off approaching half-time, when some uncertainty in the Blackhall defence and a failure to clear their lines properly after some initial great tackling and pressure, allowed Bective to raise the green flag for the first time. They maintained their dominance and had a purple patch over the next 5 minutes that yielded an additional 1-1 to leave them only 4 points behind approaching the half-time mark, Blackhall paying the price for failing to win possession around midfield or failing to clear properly from defence.

The referee found some additional injury time from somewhere, and Blackhall were glad that he did as a good catch from Carr sent Duffy free who got his, and Blackhall's, fourth goal of the night to leave them 7 points to the good at half-time. 

It had been a mixed first half display, with some excellent score taking and defending being negated by some score options being left behind and some poor clearances from defence allowing Bective to remain in the game. Nevertheless Coach Duffy was upbeat at half-time and with Conor Duffy, Ross Thornton and Conor Daly having the games of their lives he had good reason to be confident.

Ross Thornton repaid the confidence shown in him with a superb point after the restart, but from that point for the next 15 minutes Bective began to dominate, winning 50-50 balls in their half-back and midfield line, owning territory and possession. Blackhalls' defence was superb in their discipline and gave away no frees despite the pressure they were under. Mark O'Leary's move to the half-back line paid dividends as his bravery helped break up several promising Bective attacks. Captain O'Connor continued to marshal his defence well and Alan O'Toole won several vital 50-50 balls in the full-back line that prevented certain goals for the opposition had they got through.

Blackhall despite being under pressure always had an outlet and despite conceding two ('Square ball ref') goals to leave only 2 points in it, a rare Blackhall attack saw the ball get to Duffy who turned his man and finished to the net to restore Blackhall's advantage. Eddie Carr continued to work tirelessly in midfield and Harry McCahey was in the thick of the action in an unfamiliar half forward position. Ross Thornton, who had been instrumental in a few of Duffy's goals got his second point soon after to leave the Gaels 6 points up but Bective refused to surrender and got a goal back on 9 minutes.

From there on it was all about Blackhalls' defence. Bective continued to shade possession and drove at the Gael's defence, but they stood firm, not conceding any score for  the crucial 16 minutes of the second half. Paul Codd and Keelan Forde were particularly noteworthy in that period, with Forde showing great anticipation to break up several Bective attacks and Codd being Mr persistence, sticking limpet like to his man who failed to trouble the invisible scoreboard operator. Duffy showed his predatory instincts once more on the 12th minute to notch his, and Blackhall's 6th goal with a long-range effort that was the score that killed off the game. Davy Sheeran got his second point from a free a few minutes later and when Duffy got an incredible 7th goal a few minutes later to leave the Gaels 10 up with 10 to play, there looked to be only one winner.

Clever play by Blackhall wound the clock down and Micheal McIver did very well on his introduction as a sub for Mark O'Leary. Podge Clarke also entered the fray at full-forward whilst there was a welcome return for two stalwarts both returning from long injury spells as Oran O'Mahony and Charlie Mulligan got the last few minutes. Coach Duffy did his best to slow the game down by engineering a discussion with the referee, risking an appearance in front of the CCCC for the good of the team. 

When the final whistle was blown the Gaels had emerged victorious by 7-6 to 5-3. Conor Duffy had once again produced a performance worthy of a future county star with an incredible tally of 7-2. His was a magnificent performance, demonstrating all that is great about Gaelic Football - high fielding, pace, power, accuracy and bravery - shaking off a bad knock early in the game to continue when many others might have chosen to go off. The young man is destined to be a star for club and county for many years to come. 

Conor like any forward can only score if he gets the ball, and some of the passing leading to his scores was breathtaking. Luke Jennings in particular claimed a couple of assists with beautifully weighted through balls. Peter Coakley, despite being marked by man roughly three times his height, won several 50-50 battles, and claimed a few assists as did the deadly corner forwards Ross Thornton and Davy Sheeran.

The defence as a unit played magnificently, with only some of their clearances letting them down, and they can all be proud of a superb individual and collective display. Had Sky Sports been there we'd know how badly we lost the possession and territory stats, and Blackhall were under the cosh for long periods of this match (against a team that had beaten us by over 10 points a few weeks previously), and the defence to a man produced a performance that deserved to win a county final. 

Tony O'Connor accepted the trophy and thanked parents, the opposition and had a particular word of thanks to coach Brian Duffy, who has lived and breathed this team for the last 2 years. Blackhall are fortunate to have a number of coaches who give so much of their time to our underage teams, but none more so than Brian who lives and breathes this team and is a huge part of the success of the team and the development of the individual players in the last couple of years, several of whom produced performances that many would have thought them incapable of a few short years ago.

So the curtain draws on the U14 competition of 2016 with the Gaels in rude health, with a panel of up to 22 players, a few of whom are still U12. This is a team that has got used to winning competitions and has the talent and ability to win several more in the years to come. 

Blackhall Gaels: Colin Byrne, Keelan Forde, Mark O'Leary, Alan O'Toole, Paul Codd, Tony O'Connor (capt), Conor Daly, Eddie Carr, James Kelly, Peter Coakley, Luke Jennings, Harry McCahey, Davy Sheeran, Conor Duffy, Ross Thornton. Subs: Micheal McIver, Podge Clarke, Oran O'Mahony, Charlie Mulligan

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