Tourlestrane win Division One.
TOURLESTRANE ST. MOLAISE GAELS 0- 15 1- 11 TOURLESTRANE capped off a brilliant year with victory in the Furey’s Coaches Division 1 final against Molaise Gaels on Sunday afternoon.
Tourlestrane, who last week were crowned winners of the Senior Championship, were 0- 15 to 1- 11 winners over St. Molaise Gaels, who also had some celebrations of their own, as they won the Intermediate Championship last week.
In a tight encounter, the South Sligo side were trailing heading into injury time but pushed on to eventually win by a tight margin of just one point.
Molaise held a two point lead into half- time, with brothers Niall and Alan McLoughlin hitting over all seven of the North Sligo side’s scores in the first half- hour.
Tourlestrane had looked as though they were still getting over last weekend’s heroics, although Molaise too looked tired at times.
It took nine minutes for the game’s first score to appear, with Tourlestrane hitting three wides in the opening ten minutes, while Molaise hit one wide.
Brian Egan almost gave his side a goal after seven minutes, but his shot was kept out by the feet of John Gilsenan in the Molaise goals.
Cathal Henry got the scoring started on nine minutes, with Molaise responding through Niall McLoughlin on 12 minutes.
Molaise went ahead on 14 minutes thanks to Alan McLoughlin, but Tourlestrane fired back with scores from Pat Harte and Cathal Henry before the North Sligo side went two points ahead thanks to the McLoughlin brothers.
Molaise started the second half where they left off, with James Brennan extending their lead to three points, while Tourlestrane suffered two wides in quick succession.
Brian Egan and Pat Harte brought the Senior Championship winners to within one point of their opponents on 37, with John Quinn levelling the scoring just seconds later.
Cathal Herron restored Molaise’s lead, but Egan responded shortly afterwards to bring the scoreline level once again, with a replay almost seeming imminent as the two sides could not be separated.
Darragh Fallon hit over after 46 minutes to make it 0- 10 to 0- 09, before Molaise were awarded a penalty when Herron was fouled in the area.
Darragh Gilsenan hit the back of the net on 48 minutes to give Molaise breathing space heading into the last ten minutes of ordinary time.
The South Sligo side knew they would have to fight to at least get back level with their opponents, and with time running out they knew they would have to put immense pressure on Molaise.
Alan Dunne and Cathal Henry brought Tourlestrane to just one point behind Molaise, with Harte taking the two sides level with four minutes of injury time plaed.
Henry’s wide on 65 minutes looked as though it could come back to bite Tourlestrane but John Marren’s 66th minute point was enough to see them win by the smallest margin.
James Leonard’s black card was too little too late for Molaise, and Alan McLoughlin’s wayward free- kick on 67 minutes saw Tourlestrane crowned Division One champions.