St Gall’s dominate Club football final

AIB GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final:
St Galls (Antrim) 0-13  Kilmurry-Ibrickane (Clare) 1-05

St Gall’s crowned their centenary year by claiming the AIB GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Club title following a 0-13 to 1-5 victory over Kilmurry-Ibrickane at Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day.

The Antrim champions recovered after conceding an early goal to dominate a one-sided encounter. They led 0-8 to 1-1 at the break and were never stretched in the second half as Kilmurry failed to deliver on the big stage.

The Clare side were utterly reliant on the excellent Stephen Moloney, whereas every one of Gall’s forwards, including their two midfielders, managed to get their names on the scoresheet.

Following the heartache of losing the 2006 football decider and their defeat at the final stage in the Intermediate hurling competition at the same venue last month, it was probably no more than the Belfast Club deserved.

Their stand-out performers on the day included the effective Kevin Niblock, and the McGourty brothers, who tormented the Kilmurry defence with their pace and movement throughout.

The game began in whirlwind fashion as Gall’s opened the scoring with their first attack. Kieran McGourty won the ball and without as much as a thought unleashed a towering left-footed shot which sailed over the bar.

If Gall’s had caught the late arrivals at Croke Park on the hop, Kilmurry rocked Headquarters to its foundations a minute later. Johnny Daly won a long ball delivered into the full-forward line, offloaded to wing-back Declan Callinan who in turn fed the rampaging Stephen Moloney who rifled a low shot under Ronan Gallagher to the back of the net. The sizeable crowd from the west coast, needless to say, were in raptures.

CJ McGourty, Galls’ attacking talisman, was given an early test of his form from placed balls; the 21-year-old, as his wont, stroked over a ’45 to leave a point between the sides.

The frenetic early pace inevitably waned, with both sides guilty of some wayward shooting. Kilmurry-Ibrickane introduced Evan Talty, the hero of their Munster final win, to their attack in place of Michael Hogan after just 12 minutes in a sure sign that they were already having doubts about the potency of their attack.

Kilmurry’s goalkeeper, Dermot O’Brien, was then forced to make a dramatic sliding intervention with his feet after Niblock won a fine ball and attempted to pick out a team-mate on the edge of the small square. Aodhán Gallagher was not to be denied in the 16th minute when he levelled the game with a score for the Antrim champions.

There were worrying signs for Kilmurry as they were being dominated in midfield and the Gall’s forwards were discomfiting their full-back line with some brilliant movement. Those fears were borne out when Gall’s kicked three unanswered points in the next five minutes. CJ McGourty landed another free before he ghosted in behind the Kilmurry defence to carve out a great goal-scoring opportunity, but he was blocked brilliantly by Shane Hickey when he looked set to deliver a potentially fatal blow.

In between, Anthony Healy had complimented the Gall’s attack by streaking up the pitch from centre-back to pop the ball over the bar, while Kevin McGourty grabbed the best score of the half when he sliced through the Kilmurry defence to give his side a 0-6 to 1-0 lead in the 24th minute.

Kilmurry, alarmingly, had gone 25 minutes without a score when Daly landed a free to nudge them back into the game. However, they had been comprehensively outplayed in the first half, and it was Gall’s who finished the half the stronger, with Terry O’Neill and Kevin McGourty adding further points to leave them 0-8 to 1-1 ahead at the break.

The Clare champions needed a good start to the second half and got just the opposite. Niblock was causing mayhem at full-forward and he tapped over the opening point of the half when he was left in acres of space by an AWOL Kilmurry defence. Niblock turned provider for CJ McGourty minutes later and Gall’s had opened up a six-point lead within two minutes of the restart.

As if to emphasise the gulf in class between the sides, and the equity with which the scoring burden was shared by the St Gall’s team, Séan Burke became the eighth Ulster man to get his name on the scoresheet. CJ McGourty nearly added a goal to his tally in the 43rd minute, but he took too much out of the ball and was blocked when put clear through on goal.

Kilmurry finally registered their first score of the half when Moloney added a point to his earlier goal. Gall’s immediately went up the other side of the field and Rory Gallagher became the last of their starting forwards to hit the target, fisting over the bar when he might as easily have hit the back of the net.

To sum up a miserable day for the Clare side, Odhran O’Dwyer, so often the man they have called upon in dire situations, raced through the Gall’s defence and struck a post, damaging his hamstring in the process.

Stephen Moloney finished with 1-2 for Kilmurry, but he remained their only forward to score from play until Michael O’Dwyer stole in for a late point in injury time.

The game finished as it had played out for the previous 60 minutes with Gall’s showing their greater class in attack as Niblock sent over his second point of the game to secure a 0-13 to 1-5 victory for the Ulster men.

Kilmurry Scorers: S Moloney 1-3 (0-1f), M O’Dwyer 0-1, J Daly 0-1 (0-1f).

St Gall’s Scorers: A Healy 0-1, S Burke 0-1, A Gallagher 0-1, T O’Neill 0-1, R Gallagher 0-1, K McGourty 0-2, CJ McGourty 0-3 (0-1 ’45, 0-1f), K Niblock 0-2, K McGourty 0-1.

Kilmurry-Ibrickane: D O’Brien; D Hickey, M Killeen, M McMahon; S Hickey, E Coughlan, D Callinan; P O’Connor, P O’Dwyer; M Hogan, I McInerney, S Moloney; M O’Dwyer, J Daly, N Downes.

Kilmurry-Ibrickane Subs: E Talty for M Hogan ’10, O O’Dwyer for E Talty ’33, M McCarthy for P O’Connor ’41, B Moloney for M Killeen ’51, P O’Dwyer for N Downes ’53.

St Gall’s: R Gallagher; P Veronica, A McClean, C Brady; M Kelly, A Healy, S Kelly; S Burke, A Gallagher; T O’Neill, R Gallagher, Kevin McGourty; CJ McGourty, K Niblock, Kieran McGourty.

St Gall’s Subs: K Stewart for T O’Neill ’46, S Burns for S Burke ’55, S Kennedy for P Veronica ’61.

Referee: Derek Fahy (Longford)

Attendance: 34,357