After a contest for the ages that took extra time to split the sides, Eastern Harps won the A division of Sligo’s first ever U.19 Championship in Markievicz Park on Wednesday evenuing defeating St. Mary's by 5 points.

It was a game of contrasts, and the final outcome would have been hard to predict at half time as the Sligo town side were dominant in early exchanges. The Harps trusted their running game however and came good in the second half and even more so in extra time to emerge worthy winners.

The winners actually opened the scoring with a Dylan Walsh free but this was quickly cancelled out by a long range point from midfielder Ronan Niland which was the first of five in a row for St Marys, with Conor White, Shea O'Neill, Paul Moore and Eli Rooney getting on the scoresheet.

Caelan Hunt got one back for the Harps but with Niland and Rooney completely dominant in the middle of the park, St Mary’s then added four more points through Rooney, O'Neill, White and Sean Clifford.

The half finished with a flurry of frees with Walsh and Hunt pointing for the east county side and Rooney for St Marys to leave the margin at six points, 0-10 to 0-4 at half time.

The Harps manager Keith Carty clearly worked some magic over the break as his side began to show more energy after the break led by Dylan Walsh who pointed in the first minute after a solo surge up the middle.

Fintan Campbell for Marys and Hunt from a free for Harps exchanged points and although two Rooney points – one a free – kept the St Marys margin intact, Harps were coming more into the game with Finn Bruen becoming the dominant player at the back, Conor Walsh winning possession in the middle of the park and the movement of his brother Dylan causing difficulties up front.

The Harps momentum was building and two points from Dylan Walsh narrowed the gap to 5 points as the game entered its last five minutes. They got their breakthrough with three minutes remaining when full forward Matt Henry finished a superb move to the net narrowing the margin to two, which was then reduced almost immediately to one by a free from Hunt.

St Mary’s got the ball back up the field for Rooney to point which should have given them a cushion as the game went into added time, but their tired defence gave up a free which Hunt pointed.

The Harps then applied a full press to the resultant kickout and although St Marys won the initial ball, they fouled it bring the game to extra time on a score line of 0-14 t0 1-11

The momentum was now very much with the east Sligo side. They got the first score of extra time through James Kiernan straight from the throw in and although Niland quickly equalised, they took control of the game a minute later when Cian Carty found the net off a post.

Rooney, for St Mary's, and Harps substitute Ollie Nerney exchanged points to bring the score to 2-13 to 0-16 in favour of the Harps at half time in extra time.

With the Harps now well on top, the second period of extra time was a tale of two penalties. At one end, Dylan Walsh extended his side’s lead from three to six by finishing from the spot after a foul on Barry Cryan while at the other end, Harps keeper Jamie McCoy, who had been outstanding throughout, denied Rooney after Marys were awarded a penalty for a foot block.

With tired bodies all around, that was really St Mary’s last chance and although they notched two further points to one added for the Harps, the first ever Sligo U18 title was destined for Gurteen and Keash on a 3-14 to 0-18 score line.