Lamh Dhearg’s Daire Larkin solos clear of Ruairi Scott, St. Enda’s during the U21 semi-final at Woodlands today
U21 Football Championship semi-final
Lámh Dhearg 1-15-0-17 St Enda’s
By Kevin Herron at Woodlands
Lámh Dhearg survived a late rally by St Enda’s to book their place in the Antrim U-21 football final after a 1-15-0-017 victory against the Hightown side at Woodlands this afternoon.
Jack Trainor’s first-half goal helped his side to a four-point lead at the interval and twice it looked as though the Hannahstown men had did enough, leading by eight after the 37th minutes and six with three minutes to go, however St Enda’s came roaring back on both occasions and set-up a grandstand finish in an enthralling encounter.
St Enda’s went into the game as pre-match favourites having accounted for defending champions Aghagallon in the quarter-final and they were quickest off the mark on Sunday as Lámh Dhearg goalkeeper Aaron Slane was adjudged to have handled the ball on the ground and Odhran Eastwood converted the resulting free.
Jack Trainor levelled the game a minute later after Paddy Mervyn slipped in the wing-half back and on six minutes the Hannahstown men took the lead through a converted Mark Finnegan free.
A minute later the opening goal arrived, Eoghan McKeown picked out Jack Trainor in space and Trainor’s shot sailed over the dive of Christopher Losty and into the net to give Lámh Dhearg a 1-02-0-01 lead.
Odhran Eastwood responded with two converted frees before Lámh Dhearg’s talisman from their quarter-final win over Gort Na Mona – Mark Finnegan, converted his second free of the afternoon to leave the goal separating the sides approaching the midway point, 1-03-0-03.
The sides continued to trade scores, free-takers Eastwood and Finnegan found their first scores from play and despite Donal Walsh again cutting Lámh Dhearg’s lead to two-points – Finnegan landed a magnificent score to make it 1-05-0-05 with 22 minutes on the clock.
Finnegan brought his tally to five with his third converted free of the half and then after a contentious side line ball was awarded in favour of Lámh Dhearg, the ball made its way into the hands of Ben Rice who popped the ball over the bar to extend his sides lead to five.
Odhran Eastwood responded with a free after Ronan Fegan was black-carded by referee Eamon McAuley for a last ditch tackle and the margin remained at four at the break as Lámh Dhearg led 1-07-0-06.
Lámh Dhearg came flying out of the traps after the restart and scored four-points in a four minute period.
Livewire corner-forward Eoghan McKeown popped the ball over the bar and Mark Finnegan slotted over his sixth of the afternoon within a minute. Half-forward Martin Murphy extended the lead with a superb point and Finnegan then converted his fourth free of the afternoon as the Hannahstown men extended their lead to eight points with 37 minutes on the clock, 1-11-1-06.
Ten minutes later the Lámhs lead wasn’t so convincing however as the Hightown side came storming back in contention.
Odhran Eastwood converted back to back frees within a minute and just as it appeared as though Eoin Nagle was about to charge through on Aaron Slane’s goal, Patrick Larkin quelled the danger and a magnificent block kept Nagle at bay.
Ruairi Scott would claim St Enda’s third point on the spin, but he could possibly have opted for a goal chance. Eoin Nagle and Donal Walsh added further points as St Enda’s had hit five unanswered points to leave a goal separating the sides, 1-11-0-11.
Daire Larkin ended Lámh Dhearg’s ten minute scoreless period, cutting in from the by-line and making space for an excellent point, though St Enda’s talisman Eastwood responded from play at the other end.
Lámh Dhearg hit their second purple patch of the half and looked certain for progression as they hit three unanswered points to lead 1-15-0-12 with three minutes plus injury-time remaining.
Mark Finnegan began the run of successive points with a superb effort before substitutes Declan Dunne and Pearse Fegan combined with the latter finishing the move off with a point. Top scorer Finnegan would conjure the Lámhs final score of the afternoon and it looked to have sealed his sides place in the U-21 decider.
St Enda’s weren’t prepared to throw in the towel however, Ruairi Scott popped the ball between the posts and just before the end of regulation time Donal Walsh found his third point of the afternoon to reduce the deficit to four.
The Lámhs were under immense pressure as Scott converted a third successive point a minute into added time and with that was followed by another score from James McAuley to leave two points the difference, 1-15-0-16.
Four minutes into added time Odhran Eastwood reduced the deficit to the bare minimum, but St Enda’s couldn’t find the elusive equalising score as Lámh Dhearg held on by their fingertips to reach the U-21 decider for the first time in three-years.
Lámh Dhearg: A Slane, R Fegan, N Hughes, P Larkin, J Trainor (1-01), P Mervyn, R Diamond, R Straney, P Fitzsimons, M Finnegan (0-09, 0-04f), M Murphy (0-01), D Larkin (0-01), E McKeown (0-01), D Nugent, B Rice (0-01). Subs: J Boyd for R Fegan (26 mins), D Dunne for B Rice (48 mins), P Fegan (0-01) for R Straney (52 mins).
St Enda’s: C Losty, D McNulty, C Lyttle, C Eastwood, C Thompson, J McAuley (0-01), C McAuley, E Gibson, M McNamee, P Hamilton, E Nagle (0-01), A Curran, D Walsh (0-03), O Eastwood (0-09,0-06f), R Scott (0-03). Subs: M McAuley for A Curran (31 mins), C Jennings for C McAuley (58 mins).
Referee: Eamonn McAuley (Cargin)
Match referee, Eamon McAuley (Cargin) with his linesmen and umpires and with team captains before the game.