St Mary’s Ardee lift the Louth minor title
A YOUNG LAD WITH GREAT POTENTIAL, PATSY COLEMAN, WAS TIRELESS AND INSPIRING AS ST MARY’S FROM ARDEE BEAT THE BLUES AND THEN CLAN NA GAEL TO LIFT THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY
ARDEE St Mary’s lifted the Louth Minor C’ship title thanks to a stunning comeback win over Clan na Gael, 0-9 to 2-1 at Dundalk, so lifting the Fr Larry Murray Cup.
They looked in serious trouble but in the last quarter, they delivered the goods with Patsy Coleman, their inter county star, starring at centre half and supported by Murray in midfield and Jim and Tommy Daly up front.
It was a ding-dong struggle from start to finish and while the Castletown lads appeared to be a little lucky in collecting two goals in the first fifteen minutes—there was no denying the superiority in approach work.
A tribute to the resolute defence of the West Louth combination is the fact that they held the Dundalk side scoreless in the second period. Though each and every member of the team combined to make victory possible in a do-or-die finish no issue will be taken at singling out a few for special mention.
O. Reilly at centre luil-back was steady but better still when he covered the centre-half berth. Patsy Coleman was the hero of the encounter and rambled around helping all sectors in a tireless, inspiring manner. Sturdy built Murray in the mid-field was powerlul and found Pol Sharkey a smashing partner when the latter was taken back. Jim Roe on the “40” was the pivot of the attack and with E. Murray and P. Leavy gave little rest to the opposition.
Mid-way through the concluding half, Clans had the match running to their liking and while they were not actually scoring themselves, their defence in which F. McGuire starred—they kept the opposition at bay in great style. J. Harrison, and J. Hearty were livewires in the fulls—John MacArdle worked hard as centre-half, but was not as prominent as usual. Hillen was the better of the two mid-fielders, though Brannigan had occasional brilliant patches.
The half-forward trio were streaklighting at the commencement but wore held in a vice like grip at the close. Kirk did not shine and Connolly together with fleet-footed Murphy, found the passes coming rather awkward near the end. Squareman Murphy with Begley, gave their opponents many anxious moments in the course ol a game that was well worth seeing.
Finishing the strong unit Ardee deserved their victory, though the result must have come as a disappointment to the Clans as they felt they were home and dry most of the way.
Clans opened with an early goal by Murphy, Kirk followed with a point and A. Murphy increased the score with a goal. After A. Magennis had a 14 yards free changed into a point for Ardee, Brannigan (C) Conceded “50 “—T. Murray the placed ball to his brother Eddie, who shot over the bar for their second point to leave the halftime score :- CLANS 2-1, ARDEE 0-2.
Ardee pressed in the second half, Magennis, starting them off and late on, he and Pat Leavy landed the crucial scores.
Ardee won their semi-final against the Newtown Blues on a 1-7 to 2-2 scoreline.
The Blues despite the fact that they had much less of the play in the opening period, looked a much more dangerous side, and but for the great exhibition of Patsy Coleman at centre-half, the Mid-Louth fifteen would have been more than a goal behind at the interval (1-2 to 0-2). Coleman was the man of the match.
Ardee’s first half display was far from convincing. The forwards saw plenty of the ball, but wasted chance after chance, so much so in fact that it seemed certain that it was going to be a repeat of last year’s semi-final match against the champions, St. Dominic’s when the team lost after having by far the better of the play. Things were different however in the second period. Aiden McGuinness settled down at centre-field, and some of his solo efforts had the Blues defence in dire trouble. The forwards, too. played with much greater confidence ably led by Jim Roe on the “40.”
Newtown Blues, who got off to a flying start with a goal by J. Judge, on the day’s play, lost to a better all round side. They had speedy defenders in J. Kelly (right-full) and J. Sheils (centre-half ), with left-half, J. Carr (son of Drogheda’s former Town Clerk) also doing well. O. Judge and J. McQuillan formed a sound centre-field while J. Judge (although he was opposed to P. Coleman). Oliver Devlin, and O. Taaffe. played well in attack. Inter-county man. Kevin McArdle brought off a few fine save in goals.
Apart from Coleman, Ardee had other lively defenders in full-back. O. Reilly, and left-full, Gerry Higgins. Aiden McGuinness, on his second half performance alone, must rank high in the list of successes with Paul Sharkey, at full-forward, and centre-field, doing a lot of useful foraging. Jim Roe, Eamonn Keenan and M. Lynch were the danger men in the attack.
ARDEE : P. Gaynor. T. Murray O. Reilly, G. Higgins, P. Curtis Patsy Coleman, Peter Coleman, A McGuinness, A. Cox, Teddy Murrav J. Roe, E. Keenan, T. Daly, P Sharkey, M. Lynch.
NEWTOWN BLUES : K. McArdle, J. Kelly, O. Bohill, D. Kerr O. Johnston, J. Sheils. J. Carr, O Judge, J. McQuillan, O. Taaffe, J Judge, F. Pagan, P. Beraghty, J Brannigan, O. Devlin.
Referee—Mr. V. Duffy, (Haggards town).