*Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
Five unanswered points in the dying moments of Sunday’s U21B football final saw St Breckans snatch victory from Lissycasey.
St. Breckans 0-13
Lissycasey 1-8
Venue: Dr Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay
Three points ahead as the game headed for ‘injury time’ Lissycasey looked set to be crowned Clare under 21 B football champions at Hennessy park in Miltown on Sunday.
St. Breckans had other ideas, however, and a storming finish yielded five unanswered points for the Lisdoonvarna side which led to them capturing the title.
This was a thrilling contest which produced some great football as both sets of players gave their all in search of victory.
Lissycasey started well and had the opening points through Shane Culligan (free) and Conor Meaney but St. Breckans landed the next three points through Cian Burke (2) and a Jamie Stack free.
The Martin Daly managed Lissycasey stormed back and a fine move ended with Conor Meaney shooting to the net as the mid point of the half approached. Michael Meaney added a point and a goal separated the sides at the first water break.
The physically stronger Neil Hawes managed North Clare outfit enjoyed the better of the second quarter when they added points from Robert O’Connell (2) and Jamie Stack (2 frees) to lead by the minimum at half time when the score was 0-7 to 1-3.
Defences dominated in the third quarter when each side managed just one point and the minimum separated the sides at the final water break which both sides would face into a man down.
St. Breckans midfielder Robert O’Connell was shown a straight red card nine minutes into the half and two minutes later Lissycasey’s Luke Griffin suffered a similar fate.
Inside the last ten minutes Lissycasey enjoyed the upperhand and three points in a row from top scorer Conor Meaney and one from Shane Culligan had them 1-8 to 0-8 ahead as added time approached.
With Jamie Stack posing a lot of problems for the Lissycasey defence, his side d rove forward and two points (one from a free) from the team’s joint captain had the margin down to the minimum. A high delivery from Stack led to the equaliser with Lissycasey captain Michael Madigan seeing his attempted flykick clearance go over the bar.
The Lisdoonvarna side were on a role and Eoin Guerin put them ahead before substitute Eoin Fitzpatrick sealed victory with the game’s final score.
St. Breckans: Oisin O’Loughlin; Eoin Hurley, Thomas O’Dwyer, Dan Garrihy; Shane Fitzpatrick, Patrick Doherty, Daniel Fogarty; Robert O’Connell (0-2), Seamus Hurley; Denis O’Callaghan, Eoin Guerin (0-1) Seamus McNamara; Cian Burke (0-2), Jamie Stack (0-6, 5f), Oisin McNamara;
Subs: Eoin Petty for Fogarty; Joe Flanagan for S. Fitzpatrick; Killian Blood for E. Hurley; Eoin Fitzpatrick (0-1) for C. Bure (inj); Daniel O’Callaghan for Denis O’Callaghan; O.G (0-1)
Lissycasey: Thomas Collins; Billy DeLapp, Ian Griffin, Colin O’Shea; Kevin Shivers, Michael Madigan, Michael Meaney (0-1); Ronan O’Callaghan, Luke Griffin; Harry Keane, Shane Griffin, Fionn Cotter; Shane Culligan (0-3, 2f) Conor Meaney (1-4), Jack Meere;
Subs: Jack Cahill for Keane; Cian Meaney for De Lapp;
Referee: John O’Connell (Cooraclare)
