Charleville win county Under-21 B football title
Charleville 3-11 Duarigle Gaels 1-3
A RAMPANT Charleville outclassed the disappointing challenge of Duarigle Gaels to a one sided County U-21 ‘B’ Football Championship Final at Pairc Uí Rinn last Sunday.
At the end of the hour, there was no doubting Charleville’s dominance on controlling the game for the most part with their superior physical presence and excellent teamwork contributing to excellent scores. Showing no ill effects from a hectic hurling campaign, Charleville demonstrated plenty of hunger here and picked where they had left off six days previously on defeating Midleton in a semi final.
The Gaels can have no complaints about the outcome, the Millstreet and Cullen combination never operated with the same fluency as they did in their previous engagement against O’Donovan Rossa. That was down to the tenacity of a Charleville side, chasing and harassing their opponents at every opportunity, crucially too carrying a wider threat of scorers in attack with full forward Darren Butler netting two cracking goals in the opening half.
Pretty mundane during the early exchanges, Duarigle nosing ahead for the only occasion after team captain James Linehan pointed from the wing for their lone contribution to the scoreboard. For a spell, defences dominated at either end, Charleville waited to the 10thmin to open their account from a Butler point.
Steadily Charleville were growing in stature, a massive effort from Cathal Carroll helped separate the sides 0-2 to 0-1 at the end of the closing quarter. Indeed the tempo of the Avondhu side quickened, rewarded in the 19th min., Conor Buckley found Butler to blast past Duarigle ‘keeper Dylan O’Leary.
Indeed Charleville’s game became more pronounced, across every line, they served notice of their intent. At the back, James Kennedy, Finbarr Cagney and Jack Doyle were uniformly solid in the half line; Darragh Fitzgibbon and Tim Hawe swung the midfield battle with Buckley and Butler, a constant menace in attack.
Sweeping forward in numbers, defenders Cagney and Kennedy splits the uprights as did Buckley following good work by Butler. And as the interval approached, Charleville turned the screw, Butler took a pass from Jack Callaghan to net for a clear 2-5 to 0-1 advantage at the break.
Much a similar pattern on the restart, the movement off the ball to create space and the accuracy upfront, meant the initiative remained with Charleville. After Duarigle Gaels answered a Butler point from a Cathal Crowley free, Charleville continued to drive on, a delightful move in the 36th min sliced open the Duarigle defence for Aaron O’Connor to make no mistake for his side’s third goal and clear daylight between the pair.
The Gaels were expected to make a strong challenge during the third quarter in a bid to reduce the arrears but it seldom materialised as Charleville maintained their grip. At times, the scores didn’ t come as frequent with Kennedy and Doyle adding to the Charleville tally.
Duarigle attempted to shuffle their line up in a bid to get some return, taking some encouragement from the play of Tim Healy, Colm O’Leary and Cormac Hickey. It was left to defender O’Leary to add a point but inside the closing quarter, there was an air of inevitability surrounding the outcome after a Doyle pointed free was followed by a likewise score from Fitzgibbon.
Duarigle never operated anywhere near their potential yet they plugged on, a goal from Crowley in the 58th min only served to put a more respectable look on the scoreboard. Still Charleville had a bit on hand, it was always going to be their day, finishing strongly for substitute Evan O’Connor to complete the scoring with a point to rubberstamp a highly impressive performance.
CHARLEVILLE: J Smith; K Cagney, J Meade, A Barrett; J Kennedy 0-2, F Cagney 0-1, J Doyle 0-2f; T Hawe, D Fitzgibbon 0-1; C Carroll 0-1, C Buckley 0-1, J Callaghan; S Buckley, D Butler 2-2, A O’Connor 1-0. Subs: J Madigan for J Callaghan (49), C Collins for K Cagney (54), E O’Connor 0-1 for A O’Connor (54).
DUARIGLE GAELS: D O’Leary; T Healy, C Hickey, F Cronin; Colm O’Leary, S Hickey, D Kiely; P Dineen, C Walsh; T Walsh, M Twomey, P Moynihan; J Linehan 0-1, C Crowley 1-1 (0-1f), N Flahive. Subs: Colin O’Leary for P Moynihan (38), S Fleming for M Twomey (38), C O’Connor for T Walsh (47).
REFEREE: A Larkin (Shamrocks)