Minors March onto County Semi-Final

Shannon Gaels 4-15 St. Ronans 1-02

THE SHANNON GAELS minor team eased into the Division 3 Championship semi-final with a resounding 4-15 to 1-2 victory over St. Ronans on Friday evening last.

Although the Gaels did not play as well as they would have liked there was a lot of glimpses of what the lads could produce. The forward play was impressive; particularly 3-5 scored by Daniel Morris, while in midfield there was excellent high fielding by the duo of James Filan and Liam Murtagh.

The Croghan pitch held up well for the game as the home team played into a stiff breeze in the first half.

Three wides in the first five minutes may have put doubts in the mind but an excellent 45' by Fintan Sweeney put the Gaels three points to the good. Eleven minutes into the game and Ronans found their feet. A goal chance for them was cleared off the line by David O' Dowd but from the resultant 45' the Ronans full-forward made a good catch and unleashed a powerful drive into the top of Chris Jordan's goal. This left Ronans a point behind. They followed up with another good score to put the sides level.

Daniel Morris had numerous goal chances for the Gaels some of which were narrowly over the crossbar but on the 23rd minute a long ball from Niall Leyden found Morris who dispatched the ball into the bottom corner.

Five minutes later a ball from David O' Dowd found Morris thirty yards out and another good attacking run by the forward found the net once again.

At halftime Shannon Gaels were 2-07 ahead of St. Ronan's 1-02.

The second half continued in the same way as the first with the Gael's dominance getting stronger as the game wore on and the 36th minute saw Morris complete his hat trick for the day.

The Gaels decided to tag a few points during the second half. Pearse Beirne with two brilliant points (he finished with a total of 0-4), plus points from Morris, Sweeney, David O' Dowd and Keelan Loftus kept the Gael's score ticking over.

The Gael's final goal came in the 57th minute and was one which is unlikely to be replicated again in Croghan, indeed it was a goal which Giovanni Trapattoni could have done with in Cyprus. Great footwork by Andy Dolan in the 14yard line dazzled everyone before he delicately side footed the ball into the bottom corner.

With that the final whistle blew three minutes later and the Gaels had their semi-final position secured. There was excellent performances on the evening from Pearse Beirne, James Filan, Andy Dolan and Daniel Morris. The usual suspects of David O' Dowd, Liam Murtagh, Luke O' Dowd, Fintan Sweeney and Niall Leyden also worked hard.

Shane O'Dowd in the back line and Keelan Loftus also put in a good shift. Substitutes Adam Fennel, Fergal Harmon, Darragh O' Carroll and Rory O' Donnell helped the team progress.

The team are into the county semi-final which is likely to be played next week. Unfortunately County player Shane Leydon picked up an injury and the club would like to wish him a speedy recovery!!




TEAM

Chris Jordan, Shane O' Dowd, Niall Leyden, Andy Dolan (1-0), David O' Dowd (0-01), Luke O' Dowd, Liam Murtagh, James Filan (0-01), Keelan Loftus (0-01) Fintan Sweeney (0-03), Pearse Beirne (0-04). Adam Fennel, Daniel Morris (3-05). Subs: Fergal Harmon, Rory McDonnell, Darragh O' Carroll, Damien McKeon, Daniel Harmon