Kill 1-14
Arva 1-13

by Shane Corrigan
at Kingspan Breffni Park

Sean Gaffney's injury-time free saw Kill come out on top against Arva in a pulsating junior championship final today at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Having surrendered their lead twice in the second-half, Barry McLoughlin's men fought to the bitter end in this contest and snatched victory at the death through their talisman Gaffney, whom belted over the winner from all of 50 metres to ensure a dramatic finish.

Arva, who fell 1-4 to 0-0 behind after the opening 10 minutes, eventually came to life and were much the better team for the next 20 minutes of the first-half to go in level at the break. By the 42nd minute they'd be in the lead when midfielder Gavin Doyle struck their goal, but two long range scores from Pearse McKenna - 'Man of the Match' in the 1997 JFC final - put Kill back in front.

Brian Ellis, scorer of 0-6 from play, looked to have done enough for Arva with a quick hat-trick of points between the 53rd and 56th minutes, but the Shamrocks dug their deepest in the closing stages, kicking four points in as many minutes, including Gaffney's wonder strike which isn't likely to be forgotten around Kill any time soon.

Kill utterly dominated the first 10 minutes of this decider, ignited by Gaffney's fourth minute goal which saw the captain, who would go on to be named 'Man of the Match', race into yards of space and screw a shot into Sean Donnelly's near top corner.

Conor McCaffrey, Pearse McKenna (free) and Anthony Brady (free) doubled the Shamrocks' lead by the eighth minute, with Arva yet to string together a first attack, and when Brady slotted over a free from his full-forward station Ciaran Brady's men were in danger of being completely overrun.

A coolly struck 40-metre free from Kevin Bouchier eventually settled the favourites in the 12th minute and from there they took off as Brian Ellis, Bouchier (free) and Jonathan McCabe reduced the deficit to a goal. Bouchier's first from play was cancelled out by a Gaffney free in the 20th minute, ending a 10-minute scoring drought for Kill after making such a splendid start.

With 10 minutes remaining in the half, the difference was Gaffney's opening score and it was Arva that moved through the gears with two frees from the reliable Bouchier before a superb individual effort from Brian Ellis which closed the half at 0-8 to 1-5.

McLoughlin would have had some inspirational words for his side, whom he knew were being outplayed for the last 20 minutes, at half-time and his players responded by registering the first two scores of the resumption through frees from Brady and Gaffney.

It took Arva the best part of 10 minutes to rediscover their first-half rhythm but when they did they'd it the jack pot. Good work from Peter Morris saw the wing forward narrow the difference to one before Doyle struck his side into their first lead. After good approach play from Ciaran Brady, Arva slipped Doyle through and the midfielder rounded Gary Tiernan in the Kill goal to dispatch to an empty net.

However, as had been their mantra all afternoon, Kill never gave in and were back in front by the 46th minute following a Brady free and two superb long range scores from McKenna.

The lead would be short-lived as their opponents came into a rich spell of possession which Brian Ellis turned into profit for them. The nippy corner-forward sent over a hat-trick of points in the space of three minutes which looked to have the blue and whites with one hand on the cup, leading by three with five minutes to go.

In that time Kill, crucially, took every chance that came their way, earning back-to-back frees for Gaffney to convert and when Damien O'Brien cut inside and raised their 13th white flag the momentum was firmly flowing in their favour.

Towards the added minutes Arva had an attack foiled which allowed their opponents to break and earn a free along the right flank at midfield. From there Gaffney's audacious effort off the outside of his right boot would see him become the Kill hero, as the ball sailed over Sean Donnelly's crossbar to break Arva's hearts and secure the coveted Sean Leddy Cup for the Shamrocks.

Kill: Gary Tiernan; Ray Magee, Barry McMenamin, Ciaran O'Reilly; Aaron McIntyre, Luke O'Brien, Damian Foster; Liam Gaffney, Liam Keane; Conor McCaffrey (0-1), Pearse McKenna (0-3, 1f), Sean Gaffney (1-5, 5f); Niall McCaffrey, Anthony Brady (0-4, 4f), Damien O'Brien (0-1). Subs: Shane McCann for D Foster (HT), Kevin O'Reilly for L Gaffney (49), Shane Tiernan for L O'Brien (50, inj), Darren Tiernan for N McCaffrey (57).

Arva: Sean Donnelly; Shane Finnegan, James Morris, Sean McManus; Stephen Ellis, Thomas Brady, Shane McEntee; Gavin Doyle (1-0), Fergal McGlade; Jonathan McCabe (0-1), Ciaran Brady, Peter Morris (0-1); Alan Barry, Kevin Bouchier (0-5, 4f), Brian Ellis (0-6). Subs: Patrick Murtagh for S McEntee (42mins), Conal Sheridan for G Doyle (44), Brian Fitzpatrick for F McGlade (54).

Ref: Tony Gregory (Bailieborough Shamrocks) Tweet

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