ST CUTHBERTS 2-10
ST MICHAELS 2-08

St Cuthberts claimed the Roinn D title of the Meath u-16 Summer League with a hard earned victory over a gallant St Michaels side at Grangegodden on Wednesday night.

Having drawn in the earlier rounds of the competition, this match was always going to be a tight affair and so it proved as the sides traded the lead on several occassions. St Cuthberts made the brighter start and had two pointed frees from Sean Condren on the board before Shane McDonnell with a brace and Ben Tobin gave the Carlanstown lads the lead after 15 minutes. Sean Power restored parity with his first score of the night but St Michaels responded with two points of their own to establish a 0-05 to 0-03 lead. The margin could have been much worse for St Cuthberts only for 'keeper Liam Carey puled off a magnificent save from Oran Meehan to keep the score down. Sean Condren notched his third point just before the interval to leave the score 0-05 to 0-04 in favour of St Michaels at half-time.

St Michaels extended their lead within 12 seconds of the second half with a point from Craig McGivern but Sean Power countered that with his second point. Oran Meehan again extended the St Michaels lead with a pointed free before substitute Ryan Tevlin volleyed over the 6th point for St Cuthberts. Darren Kavanagh restored parity before St Michaels registered the first goal of the match from Craig McGivern. A point from Matthew Halpin gave St Michaels a four point cushion and seemingly on the way to victory. However the Bohermeen lads dug deep and a point from Darren Kavanagh was followed by a converted free from Sean Condren to to leave the score 1-08 to 0-09 in favour of the side in black and red after 21 minutes of the second half. Two minutes later Condren was fouled in the square and he duly converted the spot kick to give St Cuthberts the lead for the first time since the 12th minute. The match was held up for an injury to Cuthberts keeper Liam Carey, and when play resumed there were two goals in the space of 1 minute. Firstly Stephen Dolan restored St Michaels lead with a piledriver past sub keeper Ronan Costello. But within a aminute Darren Kavanagh had raised agreen flag at the other end when he calmly stroked the ball past St Michaels netminder Aaron Kiernan to leave the score 2-09 to 2-08 entering injury time. Both sides had chances to either level the match or extend the lead but were unable to do so until the 10th minute of injury time when Darren Kavanagh slotted over from 30 metres to give a final score of 2-10 to 2-08 in favour of St Cuthberts.

Both teams deserve great credit for serving up an absorbing match and St Michaels can probably count themselves a bit unlucky to be on the losing side. However St Cuthberts never dropped their heads despite struggling for the earlier part of the second period and falling 4 points in arrears. Liam Carey was outstanding in goals for the winners until retiring early with a head injury. Martrin Dolan and Luke O'Reilly were at their best in defence while Sean Power had his moments in the centre of the park. Up front Sean Condren was deadly accurate from placed balls while Darren Kavanagh was a constant threat with his pace and accuracy in front of goals. Ryan Tevlin and Ronan Costello also made valuable contributions when introduced as substitutes.St Michaels had outstading performances from Thomas O'Brien, Matthew Halpin, Ben Tobin and Oran Meehan.

St Cuthberts : Liam Carey, Martin Dolan, Gary Byrne, Karl Sheridan, Conor Rennicks, Luke O'Reilly, Paidin Boggins, Sean Power(0-02),Eoin McLoughlin, Sean Condren(1-04), Cian Dolan, Darren Kavanagh(1-03), Cathal Ryan. Subs: Ryan Tevlin(0-01), Ronan Costello, Gregory McKeever, Chris Rennicks, Conor Whelan, Liam Clarke, Daragh Smyth

St Michaels : Aaron Kiernan, Mickey Dunne, Lee Morris, Adam O'Brien, Chris Drew, Thomas O'Brien, Ben Tobin, Matthew Halpin,Stephen Dolan, Oran Meehan, Craig McGivern,Ray Reilly, Shane McDonnell. Subs : Shane McCormack, Alan Reilly, Killian Creen, Harry Dunne Tweet

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