Ramor-Munterconnacht 1-17
Ballinagh-Cornafean 0-4

Ramor-Munterconnacht completed their three-in-a-row conquest with the minimum of fuss this evening by seeing off Ballinagh in a totally one-sided U21 Division One final at Kingspan Breffni Park.

The Meath-border side, who were without key attacker Jack Brady, never looked back after racing 0-5 to nothing in front in the first 20 minutes, as Paul Queally and Adrian Cole led the line superbly up front, while James McEnroe and Damien Barkey were also outstanding at centre-field and centre-back, respectively, to lead them to a third consecutive triumph at this grade in as many years.

The holders settled into the match nicely with ace forward Adrian Cole tapping over the first score inside the opening minute and after a handful of wides that lead was doubled through full-forward Paul Queally.

A Shane O'Reilly free after Colm Caffrey was impeded in front of goal moved the Virginia side further clear and when the same player was allowed through after a lapse at the back from Ballinagh there was four in the difference, with Ballinagh yet to post a reply.

A terrific drive through from centre-field by Cavan U21 James McEnroe allowed Cole through for an easy score, before Niall McDermott was unlucky to see a 50-metre free come back off the cross bar and be cleared away by Ramor's stern defence.

Three minutes from the break Cole grabbed his third point from play with the goal at his mercy, which was cancelled out by the Saffron first score of the evening on 29 minutes through a McDermott free. Shortly afterwards Queally closed the half with a point, which put the score at 0-7 to 0-1 for the interval.

Queally and Fergal Reilly exchanged points early on in the restart to keep the difference at six, but Ramor moved up a gear after that and kept going until the long whistle as they rattled off seven points without reply, with Queally, O'Reilly, Simon Cadden, Cole and Barry Doyle all among the scorers to move their team into an unassailable lead.

Ballinagh struck three wides in-a-row in response, before key man McDermott eventually broke a 20-minute scoring duck for them, but it was mere consolation as the deadly Queally added to more scores to bring his tally to 0-8 and substitute James McEnroe raised their final white flag a minute from time.

A brilliantly taken goal from substitute James Bradley compiled the misery for Ballinagh and saw Ramor with 16 points to spare come the long whistle.

In the earlier game, Ballyhaise also had no problems in retaining their U21 Division Two title as they scored a comprehensive 4-18 to 0-4 over Cootehill, while Cavan Gaels also held onto their ACFL Division One title by defeating Kingscourt Stars in this afternoon's replay by 0-12 to 1-5 at Lavey, where both sides finished with 14 men following a melee in the closing stages of the game.

Ramor-Munterconnacht - Aaron Farrelly; Raymond Farrelly, Terry McCabe, Tadgh Morrissey, Darren Lynch, Damien Barkey, Adam O'Connell; Simon Cadden,James McEnroe; Sean Nolan, Colm Murphy, Colm Caffrey; Shane O'Reilly, Paul Queally, Adrian Cole. Subs: James Bradley, Kevin Mulvanny

Ballinagh-Cornafean - Paul Wilson; Niall Gaffney, Patrick Carroll, Conor Smith; Shane Warton, Michael Ward, Peter Donohoe; Niall McDermott, Andrew Ward; Fergal Reilly, Kevin Smith, Adrian Caffrey; Barry Doyle, Tommy Moore, Ciaran Harrison. Subs: Cian Geoghan, Cillian O'Reilly, Daryl Gaynor

Ref: Mickey Lee (Drumalee) Tweet

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