*Kilmaley’s U14 side.
The growing final rivalry of Kilmaley and Clooney-Quin reached new heights in the last bumper weekend of underage hurling action when it had to take extra-time to decide an Under 14A thriller in Broadford last Sunday morning.
In what was their third final meeting of 2021, the familiarity of protagonists from their double helping of Under 15B (Championship and Academy) deciders three months earlier certainly impacted a compelling seesaw tie that Kilmaley only eventually shaded by the bare minimum at 2-16 to 4-09. The excellent freetaking duel of Jerry O’Connor and James Murphy provided the solid foundation but it was the goals that added the flair, with Kilmaley quickest out of the traps in that regard through Aidan Weaver and Jamie Healy to sandwich a like score from Harry Hennessy and edge matters by half-time at 2-4 to 1-5.
Two further strikes from Clooney-Quin on the turnover proving crucial for contrasting reasons as first Pat Finneran’s strike put his side into the ascendancy before Jerry O’Connor had to scramble an injury-time major just to force extra-time.
So when substitute Donnacha Cantwell raided for a fourth goal at the start of the additional periods, it appeared to be Clooney-Quin’s day. No-one told James Murphy of that script however as Kilmaley’s ice cool marksman fired the last five points to complete an Under 14A and 15B double over their heartbroken opponents.
A strong finish was also pivotal to Cratloe’s first Under 14B crown in 16 years as a second half masterclass saw off the challenge of Broadford by 3-23 to 1-07 in O’Callaghan’s Mills.
Captain Marc O’Brien was simply unstoppable throughout, finishing with 1-9 to inspire his side to glory, having only led by the minimum at the break at 1-5 to 1-4 following a Michael Vaughan penalty for a battling Broadford. Cian O’Gorman (0-7), Sam Mulholland (1-1) and Tadhg Lohan (0-2) were others to excel in Cratloe’s dominant second half flourish.
Seven timely goals stifled Banner’s challenge in the Under 14C decider as Parteen completed a huge encouraging underage season on a winning note at 7-11 to 1-5.
A brace of goals in the opening two quarters through Mikey Cahill, Gavin Marshall and Joe Maxwell (2) was only offset by Finn Duignan as Parteen raced to a 4-5 to 1-3 half-time cushion. Further green flags on the restart through Sean Maxwell, Mikey Cahill and worthy captain Ruaidhri Nolan duly ensured a first Under 14C title since 1978.
There were also two Under 14 Hurling Shield Finals with a Darragh Dillon goal either side of half-time effectively securing a 2-8 to 0-10 A Shield final win over St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield on home soil.
Clarecastle produced a 13 point turnaround to take the Under 14B Shield honours over hosts Scariff-Ogonnelloe by 4-11 to 1-13 in Ogonnelloe on Saturday morning. Trailing by 1-8 to 0-5 by the break, the Magpies gathered momentum with four second half goals through Harry Doherty (2), Ruairi Keogh and Conor Ralph to add to their earlier Under 15A Shield success.
There were actually ten goals evenly shared in the last action of the weekend as home side St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield edged out neighbours Clooney-Quin by 5-13 to 5-2 on Monday night last.
