Quinn shines for Blessington
Under-17s claim league title after victory over St Pat’s
BLESSINGTON ST PATRICK’S 3-16 2-5
THE under-17 footballers of Blessington turned in a fine performance to claim the Division 2 league title and secure their position in the championship semi-final in Ballinakill last Friday night.
Led by the hugely impressive Kevin Quinn and centre half forward and Jake Kelly in full-forward, Blessington never really looked like losing this game, despite being just three points ahead of their Wicklow town counterparts at the break.
The reason for suggesting that Blessington looked somewhat stronger than Pat’s is the fact that the west Wicklow side seemed abundantly more capable of scoring than the Wicklow town lads, especially in the second half where they romped clear with a devastating performance with Kevin Quinn very much to the fore.
Within six minutes of this game getting underway, Blessington had opened up a threepoint lead thanks to white flags from Jake Kelly, Dan Cooney and Jake Kelly from a free.
The one serious threat that Pat’s had was the potential for goals and they realised that potential after nine minutes when Aaron Byrne reacted quickest to a Padraig Cahill shot that came back off the upright. Byrne lashed the ball off the crossbar before gathering the rebound and firing home past Michael O’Toole for the game’s opening goal.
Blessington corner-back Sean Lambe was excellent in the opening half. He didn’t have a hell of a lot to do in the second, but he was very impressive in the first, turning over possession and sending his colleagues forward with decent ball won in the trenches.
Craig Anderson fired Pat’s into the lead for the once and only time in the game before Blessington fired over three unanswered scores from Kevin Quinn and Jake Kelly (two). However, Pat’s looked to be rallying and they pulled level through points from Mark Whelan (free) and Craig Anderson made it 1-3 to 0-6 after 24 minutes.
Blessington introduced Daniel Silke Fetherson for Aaron Byrne after 25 minutes and his impact would be immediate but his feverish work with Jake Kelly would see the substitute fire wide. He would have plenty more to add in the second half.
The good work from Pat’s to draw level was undone right on the death of the first half when a 45 from midfielder Dan Coooney flew into the Pat’s square and took the slightest touch off Jake Kelly and nestled snugly in the bottom corner of Patrick Sammon’s net, 1-6 to 1-3 at the break.
Blessington owned the second half. Pat’s would try various tactics to dilute the dominance of Kevin Quinn and Jake Kelly such as pulling Ken O’Grady back on Kelly and later Niall Delahunt but both Kelly and Quinn were superb.
Part of the reason for Kelly’s massive impact on the second half (he scored six points) was the fact that the Pat’s midfield drifted too far out for their own kick outs and when Patrick Sammon put boot to ball it landed in Quinn territory and the county Minor star was made to look heroic.
Daniel Silke Fetherson goaled after 47 minutes to make it 2-11 to 1-4 and James Mulligan killed the game as a contest after 53 minutes to make it 3-14 to 1-4.
Pat’s would come late with 1-1, the goal from a penalty from Matthew Ryan but it was merely decoration on the scoreboard as Blessington had the damage done by then and Niall O Gallchobair collected the league trophy from Coiste na nÓg chairman Pat Dunne after a superb night’s football from a very useful looking team.
Kevin Quinn and Jake Kelly will get the plaudits for Blessington but they had fine servants in Claude Tounou, Sean Lambe, Craig Maguire, Thoams Fisher, Dan Cooney and Eoin Kavanagh. Pat’s were well served by Frank Reynolds, Callum Kelly, Cian O’Brien and Craig Anderson.
Scorers – Blessington: Jake Kelly 1-5 (1f), Kevin Quinn 0-7 (2f), Daniel Silke Fetherston 1-1, James Mulligan 1-0, Eoin Kavanagh 0-1, Jack Leitner 0-1, Dan Cummins 0-1.
St Patrick’s: Aaron Byrne 1-0, Matthew Ryan 1-0 (p), Mark Whelan 0-2 (2f), Craig Anderson 0-2, Cian O’Brien 0-1 (f).