Tubbercurry made their way to the final of the Connacht Gold
Junior B championship after overcoming a battling St Patrick’s side at Kent
Park on Saturday evening last.
By the end the margin was convincing as the victors pulled
away in the last quarter with goals from Ronan Forkin and Ben Henry putting the
game beyond the reach of St Pats in what was a competitive encounter up to that
point.
The first quarter of the game was dominated by the weather. Tubbercurry’s
TJ O’Hara and St. Patrick’s Ciaran Brady got a point each in the first two
minutes but as the heavy rain turned into a downpour, both sides struggled to
build any momentum or get an opening to score
Tubbercurry had the better of possession but didn’t press
home the advantage on the scoreboard with their wides including a missed
penalty with Conal Ryan pulling the ball wide after he had been fouled himself.
Stephen Kilcoyne, who emerged as Tubbercurry’s top scorer on
the day eventually moved his side on with their second point on 16 minutes and
added a third and a fourth in the 20th and 27th minutes to open up a
gap as half time approached.
Brady pulled one back for St Patrick’s just before the break
to leave the score at 4 points to 2 in favour of the south Sligo men going into
the dressing room.
The opening period of the second half remained cautious and
six minutes elapsed before St Patricks midfielder Kenneth Moore pointed to
bring the margin back to a single point.
Kilcoyne replied for Tubbercurry and then there was a burst
of scoring with four points – two each -
scored in three minutes; Peter
Kearins and Moore for St Patricks and Colm McGee and Kilcoyne for Tubbercurry.
Tubbercurry however were now dominating both possession and
territory with Fionn Lucey and Gerard Perry running the ball back at their opponents
at every opportunity. Kilcoyne and Lucey moved the margin out to four as the
game entered the last ten minutes.
They then scored their two goals in quick succession which sealed
the outcome of the game. The first was finished by corner forward Forkin who
fisted a high delivery to the net in the 49th minute with the second
coming four minutes later from the boot of Kilcoyne who was to finish the game
with 1-7.
Those scores pretty much ended the game, St Patricks had two
late points and Forkin added one for the winners but then suffered an
unfortunate facial injury that will rule him out of the final.
The game ended at 2-10 to 0-7 in favour of Tubbercurry who
now face Eastern Harps in the final the week after next.
St Patricks; Joe Curran; Patrick Farrell, Conor
Henry, Teddy Kilgallon; Jimmy Kilgallon, Patrick Kevany, Oisín MacDonald; Oisín
Kevany, Kenneth Moore (0-2); Cian Lacken, Ciarán Brady (0-2), Fergal Curran;
Conor Foxe, Peter Kearins (0-3), Jack Clarke.
Subs:
Tubbercurry: Mark Burke; Darren Matthews, Jimmy McDonagh,
Adam O’Donnell; Mark Brennan, Gerard Perry, Jack Flatley; Aidan Brennan, Fionn
Lucey (0-1); Conall Ryan, TJ O’Hara (0-1), James King; Ronan Forkin (1-1), Steven
Kilcoyne (1-6), Colm McGee (0-1)
Subs: Ben Henry, Brendan Devane, Daniel Flatley, Colin
Brennan, Enda McGoey, Gavin Gilmartin (blood sub)