County U-16s are too strong for Wexford as 1-1 from Eli Rooney in closing stages seals victory at Pearse Park
Fr Manning Cup
U-16 Tournament – Final Sligo 2-12 Wexford 2-5
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LIGO continue to progress as an inter-county force in underage GAA. Last year’s Kilcoyne Cup (Connacht GAA Minor Football Championship), June’s Feery Cup (U-17 hurling competition) and now another Fr Manning Cup (U-16 Gaelic football).
Sligo’s defeat of Wexford last Saturday in the Fr Manning Cup decider is the third time in five campaigns that a Sligo side had won the country’s longest-running intercounty juvenile tournament (which was first played for in 1965). Sligo were also runners-up last year.
There were merits to those wins in 2018 and 2019, just as there are a multitude of positives to be harvested from a seven-point win, 2-12 to 2-5, at a Longford Pearse Park that was literally baking.
Sligo were always in front and, given their decisiveness, it was a case of how much would they win by, not would they win (which has so often never been the case for Sligo teams in this age group). Although six points up at half-time, 0-10 to 1-1, and eight points clear after Michael Carroll’s 34th minute goal, Sligo still required a soothing injection of 1-1 from Eli Rooney – the full-forward who was named Player of the Match – to wrap up this win. Rooney followed up his 25th minute point free with a superb individual goal and this score was, given the hot conditions and the possibility of a Wexford comeback, akin to the combined benefits of a chilled drink, a 99 ice-cream, a cool breeze, a walk in shallow water and an hour in the shade.
Wexford, who overcame Leitrim with a late score in the semi-final, twice hinted that they might pose problems when they scored a goal in each half in a temperature of around 27 degrees Celsius. Brandon Stafford’s powerful shot for a 14th minute goal – after Sligo corner-back Clyde Regan was unlucky not to foil one of Wexford’s best players – briefly cut Sligo’s advantage to a point, 0-5 to 1-1. Sligo reset almost immediately and were back in the groove when Eli Rooney’s perceptive pass set up
Conor Walsh for a fine point – the first of five scores without reply from the Connacht county.
Wexford were boosted again when substitute Jamie Pepper goaled in the 37th minute – a rebound finish after a shot from Rory Gilbert Dobbs, who had found a way through, was blocked. Pepper’s goal came three minutes after Sligo’s first goal of the warm afternoon. Aaron Lang lofted a high ball into Wexford’s goalmouth and Sligo’s other corner-forward, Michael Carroll, punished lax defending to fist the ball home.
There was a sticky spell for Sligo after Wexford’s second goal. By the 52nd minute Wexford had reduced the gap to three points, 1-11 to 2-5, and Sligo, remarkably, were wobbling. David O’Neill’s charges only scored once in 18 minutes – a tidy point from Niall Kenny, who foraged well in the second-half – and that’s why Eli Rooney’s late flourish was so welcome. Rooney, who also played for Sligo in this year’s Connacht GAA Minor Football Championship as did team-mate Cian Carty, was part of an agile and smart full-forward line that supplied 2-6 of Sligo’s 2-12 total. Along with Rooney’s tally of 1-3, there was 1-2 from Michael Carroll and a point by Aaron Lang. Sligo, for whom midfielders Eoin Tuffy and Conor Walsh were excellent, with defender Eamon Keane also excellent, could – and should – have put this game to bed by the interval. Having scored 94 points (12-58) in their four wins to reach this stage, Sligo’s firepower wasn’t in doubt. A return of 10 scores from the firsthalf, one in which there was a water break midway through, just like the second-half, appeared decent.
They set down a marker inside the opening minute when Eli Rooney was fouled and Cian Carty, one of 12 Eastern Harps players in the extended panel, pointed the free awarded by
Longford referee Aiden Dowler.
But in the heat Sligo also kicked seven first-half wides, misses that included a brace of goal shots from Cian Carty. The centre-forward’s first goal attempt came after 17 minutes when Eoin Tuffy and Eli Rooney astutely worked the ball into his grasp. In the 24th minute Cian Carty was through on goal again, this time from an Eoin Tuffy pass, but he just missed the target.
Aside from these goal chances not taken, Sligo’s general use of the ball, with numerous options for the player in possession, was too much for Wexford to cope with.
Along with Sligo’s work-rate was the capacity for accomplished scores – Eli Rooney’s eighth minute point was a brilliant finish following endeavour by Eamon Keane, Eoin Tuffy and Cian Carty.
Rooney, comfortable as a playmaker or a target man, made the assist for a Michael Carroll point, with the move started by Liam Higgins. Another one of Sligo’s better points was Cian Carty’s sole effort from play. Restricting Wexford to just two firsthalf scores was due to Sligo’s defensive alertness – an example of this was Oran Harte’s big challenge that forced a Wexford turnover, with Eamon Keane leading the charge later on that smothered a Wexford attack.