Action from the Junior A championship final in Parnell Park
Photo by Paul Barrett
St Finian’s are stopped short in junior contest
ST FINIAN’S Newcastle were defeated in the Junior A Championship final by St Finnian’s Swords by a comprehensive margin in Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon, reports Michael Howley.
Swords took control of the game early on in the first half with Scott Brennan scoring a brace within the opening three minutes of the contest.
They would continue to dominate possession throughout the first half and would score 11 unanswered points before Newcastle would finally open their account for the day with Jamie Power kicking a fine score in the 29th minute.
Seeing that the game was totally running away from them within the opening 20 minutes of the match, Newcastle had elected to make some substitutions and brought on Niall O’Grady and Josh Aherne in an attempt to change the tide of the game.
While the defence had been shored up with the substitutions the damage had been done and Swords would score one more point to bring the game to 0-12 to 0-01 at the half time stage.
Newcastle were faced with a mountain to climb upon the resumption of the game in the second half but were offered a possible lifeline when Swords defender David Butler was sin-binned before the break which left them with a man advantage for the opening eight minutes of the second half.
Newcastle certainly made use of this advantage and in that eight minute spell Laurence Harney hammered home a shot low and out of reach of the Swords goalkeeper Stephen McNally in the 34th minute.
The side would start scoring points also with a close range free from Harney bringing down the deficit to just five points.
Newcastle were unable to keep their momentum going however when the Swords man rejoined the game and now restored to full strength they would continue to score bringing the deficit back to nine points with the scoreline reading 0-16 to 1-4 moving into the final quarter.
Newcastle continued to fight and Niall O’Grady would score a goal in the 54th minute but the mountain was too big for them to climb and Swords would see out the match to finish the game with a scoreline of 0-18 to 2-4, lifting the Junior A championship.
Newcastle’s first half performance cost them dearly.
