Gaeil Colmcille/Loughcrew Gaels 2-13 Kildalkey 1-06

The combination of Gaeil Colmcille/Loughcrew Gaels were crowned U15 Division 2 Hurling Champions with a formidable win over Kildalkey in Dunganny on Sunday morning.

It was Kildalkey who got the show on the road after 3 minutes with a Sean Lahart free after missing an earlier opportunity.

Cillian Burke opened the Gaels account from a placed ball after 5 mins and  added another monster from a 65 into the strong wind on 8 minutes. Lahart added an equaliser for Kildalkey a minute later before Burke got his first from play on the 10th minute.

It was in the 12th minute that saw the move of the match with Simon Fox winning a dirty ball on his own 40 before, Fox placed the perfect ball down the line to James Carolan who caught and laid off another sublime pass to Fionn Sheridan who was off his shoulder at pace, great vision from Sheridan found Charlie Crawley in space inside the 20 and Charlie with only one thing on his mind beat D.J McCarthy in the Kildalkey net to raise the first green flag of the day to put the Gaels 1-3 to 2pts in front.

Kildalkey responded well and got the next 3 points courtesy of placed balls from Lahart including 2 65s.

Scott Brown and Paddy O Sullivan were now starting to dominate around midfield with Brown surging forward to split the posts with a majestic point before another from the ever reliable stick of Cillian Burke.

Kildalkey were given a lifeline before half time when youngster Sam Dolan found a gap in the Gaeils defense to put a goal past Aodhan Early who had another fantastic outing between the sticks for Gaeil Colmcille/Loughcrew Gaels.

Cillian Burke added another free on 29 mins to leave the score 1-7 to 1-5 at the break in favour of the North Meath men.

After some calm and reassuring words from management in the dressing room at half time Gaeil Colmcille/Loughcrew Gaels were give one clear instruction, "Finish the Job".

If the first half was a shoot out between 2 great free takers then the 2nd half was quite the opposite with The Gaels cutting loose and really showing the large crowd in attendance what they really are all about.

Burke once again leading the way with 2 points from play within 3 minutes of the restart. Scott Brown got his 2nd of the day on 35 mins and 2 points from Conor Larkin either side of Cillian Burkes 8th point of the day.

The last 10 minutes was a scrappy affair with referee Sean Gahan issuing 2 questionable red cards (1 on each side).

Substitute Peter Barrett seemed to be catching balls in every corner of the field have scored 5-8 for Carnaross u13 footballers less than 24 hours previous!

It wasn't until the 60th minute until Kildalkey got the first and only score of the 2nd half .

The Gaels added fresh legs off the bench to see out the game with Danny Keane and Hugo Morris causing all sorts of problems to the Kildalkey defence and Morris on 62 minutes beat McCarthy again in the Kildalkey net with a sublime finish.

Sean Gahan blew the final whistle to great applause from the vocal North Meath supporters.

Joint captains Cillian Burke and Liam McDonnell raised the cup on behalf of their squad and special mention to Liam who gave his entire speech As Gaeilge (which he wrote in the car on the way to the match!)

The management and squad would like to thank all supporters, parents and sponsors who ensured they were fully prepared for the final, dressed with new tops and fed after the game.

Gaeil Colmcille/Loughcrew Gaels: Aodhan Early, Ciaran Walsh, Adam Gillespie, Ronan Fitzpatrick, Simon Fox, Liam McDonnell (J.C), Conan Clarke, Scott Brown (0-2), Paddy O'Sullivan, Conor Larkin (0-2), Cillian Burke (J.C) (0-8 (0-2 F, 0-1 65), Fionn Sheridan, Adam Harte, Charlie Crawley (1-0), James Carolan. Subs: Hugo Morris (1-0), Peter Barrett, Danny Keane, Peter Smith, Reece Farrell, Rory Kavanagh, James Carville, Fionn Owens, Sean Gilsenan, Killian Connell, James Chamberlain. Donnacha Ryan (Injured), Luke Dardis (Injured), Tomás Cahill (Injured).

Management: Seamus Ryan, Jim Fox and John Burke.

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