by Shane Moylan
North Board Minor Football ‘A’ Championship Final at Tuam Stadium Thursday September 13th 2013
Claregalway beat Mountbellew-Moylough in Tuam Stadium last Thursday evening in the North Board Minor A final. This was a historic day for Claregalway GAA Club, as the last Minor Football title wins for the club were in 1991 when Claregalway won both the North Board and Co. Championship B titles.
Mountbellew-Moylough playing with a strong breeze into the scoreboard end had the ball in the Claregalway net after only two minutes of play, scored by half back Noel McDonagh. Claregalway responded five minutes later with a great point from Benny Creaven. Ryan Manning added another after twelve minutes to leave one point between the sides. Mark Rohan then added three more points for Claregalway before the break while Mountbellew-Moylough could only manage one score from Michael Daly, leaving the half time score Claregalway 0–5 Mountbellew-Moylough 1–1.
Claregalway were fast off the mark in the second half scoring 1–4 without reply in the first 10 minutes, with Ryan Manning scoring 1–2, and Ben Creaven and Mark Rohan a point each. Eoin Finnerty and Michael Kelly then pulled two back for Mountbellew-Moylough to leave the score 1–9 to 1–3 after fourteen minutes of the half. But the game was effectively over as a contest when a Mark Rohan cross bounced in the square and ended up in the net to put Claregalway nine points in front with ten minutes left on the clock. Mountbellew-Moylough added three more points and battled until the end as they tried in vain to get the goal to put them back in the game. But the excellent Claregalway defence & goalkeeper Liam Egan held firm to keep them out to win the first Minor A championship for Claregalway.
Joyous scenes followed the final whistle as the large Claregalway crowd invaded the pitch to celebrate with the players. JP Kelly presented the cup to the Claregalway captain Cathal Evans, and Mark Rohan was selected Man of the Match. Bonfires greeted the team as they returned to Claregalway. This was an excellent performance from the Claregalway team against a very tough opposition.
They look forward to playing the Co. Final v Moycullen or Carraroe on Oct 13th. Please come & support the lads!
The Claregalway Minor team panel that won the final at Tuam Stadium 15th of September 2013
Back L–R: Mark Coyle, Padraig Kearney, Patrick Griffin, Andrew Dolan, Conor O’Reilly, Tom O’Reilly, Craig Hansberry, Harry Connolly, Damien Dolan, Darran Hennessy, Ryan Murray, Liam Egan, Chris Carroll.
Front L–R: Ryan Manning, Eoin Flaherty, Kevin Ruane, Kevin Brennan, Ben Creaven, Peter O’Connor, Cathal Evans, Paul Fahy, Damien Culkin, Keith Herwood, Jason Donnellan, Mark Rohan. Missing from photo is Andrew Connolly.
Team Management: Paul Concannon, Shane Moylan, Cormac Evans, Jerry O’Sullivan, Keith McDermott, Alan Daly, Sean Flanagan.
