U17C Football Championship Final
Rasharkin 0-7 Randalstown 0-5
A strong second half comeback from St. Mary’s Rasharkin saw them overcome the challenge of Tir na nOg, Randalstown in a low scoring but never the less, entertaining U17C football final at Slemish Park, Ballymena on Sunday morning.
These sides had served up high scoring league encounters earlier in the season with Naomh Muire coming out top in Dreen while the Randalstown men gained revenge at Whitehill to claim the league title and would probably have went into this one as favourites.
In the proverbial game of two halves, Tir na nOg looked like justifying the favourites tag when they led by 0-4 to 0-2 at the break but whatever Tom Lynch, Stephen Hardy, Paul Baird and the rest of the Rasharkin backroom team said to their side at the interval certainly worked and they came out strong in the second half to dominate proceedings and outscore their opponent 0-5 to 0-2.
Christopher Smith got the Whitehill side off to a great start when he pointed a free after 30 seconds and when the same player added another from a placed ball with less than two minutes gone, Tir na nOg looked well on their way.
Scores were proving hard to come bye as the game got bogged down in the soft underfoot conditions and referee Paul Burns was kept busy as both teams conceded needless fouls with a series of poor tackles.
That first score from play came from the boot of Eoghan McParland to put the Whitehill side three in front after 6 minutes and it finally brought a response from Rasharkin as Cormac McMullan fired over in the 9th minute to open their account.
Tir na nOg continued to enjoy the better of the exchanges but were finding it difficult to penetrate a hard tackling Naomh Muire defence in which team captain Pearce McTague and Ruairi Duffin excelled.
It would be another 14 minutes before another flag was raised as Tir na nOg’s Odhran O’Kane split the uprights to put his side 0-4 to 0-1 ahead but a Daniel Doherty point for Rasharkin with four minutes remaining to the break kept the Dreen side in touch as the half time whistle sounded.
St. Mary’s returned for the second half like a team on a mission and substitute JP Hasson pointed in the second minute to close the gap to a single point and a minute later it was all square as the stylish Daniel Doherty added another.
They failed to push on at this stage with the Tir na nog defence, led by Brendan Devlin closing shop and for a time both defences dominated before Dylan McLarnon stroked over a fine point to give the Randalstown side back the lead in the 12th minute.
The tackles continued to go in hard and fast and Oisin Casey tied the contest for the second time when he pointed a free in the 19th minute and at this stage there was little between the sides but Naomh Muire were begining to get on top.
Pearce McTague and his defensive colleagues were starting to turn over everything that came their way and as they broke forward again they were awarded a 40 meter free with Brendan McMullan stepping out from goals to direct the award between the uprights to give his side a lead they would not again lose.
Tir na nOg threw everything at their opponents in the closing stages but a combination of poor shooting and solid defending by the Rasharkin defence kept them at bay and when Daniel Doherty pointed a free in the 29th minute at the other end it was all over.
A great day for St. Mary’s Rasharkin and their management team and after a number of baron years at juvenile level the renaissance continues with many of the U11 footballers who won the South West Shield recently, there today to join in the celebrations that followed.
Rasharkin: 16 – Brendan McMullan, 2 – Jason McGregor, 3 – Ruairi Duffin, 4 – Oisin McCamphill, 5 – Ciaran O’Neill, 6 – Pearce McTague, 7 – Conleth Johnston, 8 – Conan McMullan, 17 Oisin Casey, 9 – Cormac McMullan, 10 – Thomas Hasson, , 12 – Caolan McGarrell, 13 – Stephen Dempsey, 14 – Daniel Doherty, 15 – Joseph McNeill
Subs: 11- JP Hasson for Stephen Dempsey, 20- Aodhan McTague for Conleth Johnston, Not Used: 18- Kevin Feeney, 19- Sean Casey
Tir na nOg: 1 Daniel Ennis McManus, 2 Patrick McCloskey, 3 Brendan Devlin, 4 Odhran Loughran, 5 Ciaran McCamphill, 6 Sean McKeown, 7 Callum English, 8 Dylan McLarnon, 9 Joe McCormick, 11 Paul McCloskey, 12 Brogan McNally, 13 Egan Maguire, 14 Caleb Smith, 15 Odhran O’Kane, 17 Cathal McCann, 18 Pauric Redmond, 19 Eoghan McParland, 20 Tiarnan Bonnes, 21 Tom McGale, 22 Malachy Martin, 23 Reece McCartney, 24 Christy Heffron, 25 Dara Dickson
Referee: Paul Burns (Naomh Comhghall)
