Danske Bank Nolan Cup final
Edmund Rice Glengormley 1-11 Shimna College Newcastle 2-7
Pics by Maurice McKey
EDMUND Rice College Glengormley built on their success in last year’s Danske Bank Barnageeha Cup by collecting the school’s first Ulster senior football title yesterday in Ballymacnab. In a tense final ten minutes, they held their shape well to collect the Danske Bank Nolan Cup at the expense of first time finalists Shimna College.
The teams had met in the early rounds of the competition with Shimna winning by two points and the Newcastle school impressed through the rest of their run to the final, entering the decider as favourites.
The game was probably won and lost during the opening half when Edmund Rice’s defence was excellent. Shimna College played with the aid of the strong breeze but trailed by 0-5 to 0-4 at the break.
Malachi McGibbon and Martin Fitzsimons galvanised the defence and they held out the Newcastle team despite the best efforts of their captain Chris Barbour and Shea McLaughlin.
Ryan Kelly was the key player for Edmund Rice scoring seven points over the hour with David Alfred’s goal ten minutes from the end a key score. The introduction of James McAllister from the bench ten minutes into the second half was also to prove crucial to Edmund Rice’s success as McAllister slotted in as sweeper and got on a lot of ball during the last quarter when his side was under a lot of pressure.
Glengormley’s first four point all came from the boot of Kelly and David Alfred added a fifth point just before the break.
Shimna upped their game during the second half and also played well into the stiff breeze. However they could never get ahead of the north Belfast side with Kelly clipping over points to keep Glengormley in control.
A goal from Joseph Hale closed the gap to a point at the three quarter mark, but David Alfred fired home his goal in response in the 50th minute to put Edmund Rice four up.
Within two minutes a sweeping move from Shimna saw Shea McLaughlin goal and just a point separated the teams with ten minutes of playing time left. However Edmund Rice closed ranks with McAllister sweeping up everything at the back and they held out for a famous victory.
Edmund Rice: D Alfred (1-1), R Kelly (0-7), O McKenna (0-2), C Curran (0-1)
Shimna: J Hale (1-1), S McLaughlin (1-0), C Simmons (0-3), C O’Hare (0-2), C King (0-1)
Edmund Rice: Kian Burns, Brendan Mailey, Martin Fitzsimons, Dan O’Kane, Conan Walsh, Malachi McGibbon, Robert Scullion, Calum Trainor, Oisin Maskey, Daire McCrory, Colm Curran, Odhran McKenna, Ryan Kelly, David Alfred, Saul Boyle
Subs: James McAllister for D McCrory, Sean Nugent for D Alfred, Oisin Magee for R Kelly.
Shimna: Rory Kerr, Riagan O’Hare, Conal King, Louis Dempsey, Nial Quinn, Zack Curran, Aaron McClelland, Chris Barbour capt, Daniel O’Hare, Callum Simmons, Shea McLaughlin, Conor O’Hare, Cameron Eakins, Joseph Hale, Eoin McCullagh
Subs: Xavier Rooney for L Dempsey, Jack Erwin for N Quinn