Leinster Schools Senior 'A' Final
Ballymahon Secondary School claim Leinster title after
extra-time
06.03.10 | Ballymahon 2-06 Cnoc Mhuire 1-08 | By Jonathan O'Meara
Ballymahon Secondary School etched their
name into the chronicles of Longford GAA history, after they became the first
School in the county to claim the Leinster Vocational Schools Senior
Championship title.
In this highly entertaining all Longford/Leinster
final at Pearse Park last Saturday, both schools served up an exhibition of
football.
The teams were so evenly matched at the end
of normal time a further twenty minutes had to be played in an effort to
separate the sides, however when Ballymahon’s John Rock bagged a fortuitous
long range goal in the first period, it proved to be the match winner that gave
the South Longford School the coveted prize.
In the opening exchanges, both sides displayed
match day nerves, however Cnoc Mhuire nevertheless soon found their scoring
boots and two quick points from Simon Cadam and Bernard Dempsey set them on
their way.
Throughout the exchanges, it was the
Granard School who showed all the early form and they dictated the pace of this
contest as Ballymahon endeavoured to find some momentum.
They finally registered their first point
on the 16th minute mark after Trevor English fired over a long range spot kick.
The sides were once again level minutes
later, when English linked up with Shane Donohue on the right flank and this
time the Tang clubman cut inside his marker before tapping over his second of
the afternoon.
While the first-half proved to be a low
scoring affair, this certainly did not take away from the quality of football
on display. Both sets of defenders were completely on top with John Rock and
Sean Coughlan leading Ballymahon’s charges, while Cnoc Mhuire had their captain
James Madden and Wayne O’Hara manning their lines.
Ballymahon had a number of opportunities to
get themselves into the ascendancy in the latter stages, but failed to take
their chances in front of the posts.
Owen Swaine’s side extended their advantage
to two points on the brink of half-time, when full-forward duo Johnny Murphy
and Charlie Martin raised the white flag respectively. Dan Carberry however
pulled one back for the Innysiders before the break to leave one point
separating the sides.
The south Longford School were handed the
best possible start to the second-half after referee John Bannon awarded them a
penalty inside the first minute.
Cnoc Mhuire’s corner-back Anthony Baxter
fouled Martin Rock inside the penalty zone and Keith Carberry stepped up to
take the resulting spot kick and confidently converted his shot to the back of
the Granard net.
Granard refused to be pushed aside
nevertheless and they bagged their own goal eight minutes later. Full-forward
Johnny Murphy flicked a high ball into the path of Cillian Lynn and he superbly
drilled his shot beyond the Ballymahon net minder Sean Percival.
With ten minutes remaining the pendulum
swung back in Cnoc Mhuire’s direction and a fisted point from Charlie Martin in
the 40th minute stretched their lead out to two, but Ger O’Gara’s sides gained
parity in the closing stages and a brace of points on the trot from Oisin Farrell
and Trevor English forced the game into the extra time.
Gaining the upper hand in the opening
minutes, Ballymahon grabbed a brilliant start in extra-time when they bagged a
fortuitous goal. A long ball sent into the Granard goal mouth by John Rock was
fumbled by the Granard keeper Gavin Kelly with the glaring sun doing the Northern
Gaels man no favours, as it beamed down for long periods into his goalmouth.
Cnoc Mhuire did attempt to get things back
on track and midfielder Conor Maddem came close when his shot skimmed across
Sean Percival’s goal, but the Ballymahon defence held tight and ran down the
clock for the remaining minutes to claim a famous victory for their school.
BALLYMAHON: Sean Percival, Barry O’Farrell,
Jamie Noonan, Cathal Greene, John Rock (1-0), Sean Coughlan, Oisin Farrell
(0-1), Dan Carberry (0-1), Trevor English (0-3 0-2f), Keith Carberry (1p-0), Shane
Donohue, Owen Coughlan, Martin Rock (0-1), Thomas Mulvihill, Keith Maguire.
SUB USED:- Cian Masters for K. Carberry (78
mins).
CNOC MHUIRE: Gavin Kelly, Anthony Baxter,
Shane McKeon, Tom Fox, Kevin Shine, James Madden, Wayne O’Hara, Conor
Madden (0-1), James McGivney, Simon Cadam (0-2), Bernard Dempsey (0-1),
Diarmuid Reilly, Cillian Lynn (1-1), Johnny Murphy (0-2), Charlie Martin (0-1).
SUBS USED:- Vincent Nally for K. Shine (51
mins), Kieran Goldrick for
REFEREE: John Bannon (Legan Sarsfields).
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