Lisnaskea claim historic win

AIB GAA Football All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship final
Linaskea Emmetts (Fermanagh) 1-16 St James’ (Galway) 0-15

Lisnaskea Emmetts became the first Fermanagh club team to win an All-Ireland title when they beat St James’ of Galway in the decider on Saturday night at Croke Park.

It was a fairly epic victory, too, as they came from three points down to force extra-time with a last-gasp free and then cut loose in the second period to send their large contingent of fans into rapture.

It was an engrossing match that swung this way and that from first whistle until last, and St James’ deserve praise, too, for their contribution to 80 minutes of highly entertaining football.

They went home to Galway feeling hard done by because they were adamant that Paul Conroy’s free late in normal-time, which was waved wide, was actually a point. It was certainly a very marginal call.

Lisnaskea went straight down the field after that reprieve to win the injury-time free that brought the match into extra-time, so you could understand if the St James’ players felt aggrieved.

Nothing should take away from Lisnaskea’s achievement though. They played some wonderful attacking football at times and displayed real character to somehow find the late charge that brought the match into extra-time.

In the first half, it didn’t look like they would need such last-gasp heroics because they were playing the better football and looked a more well-balanced team than St James’.

Their full-forward line of Shane Ingram, Paul Curran and Daniel Kille were a real threat and all three got on the scoreboard to help the Fermanagh team into a 0-6 to 0-4 half-time lead.

St James’ enjoyed their best spell of the match in the first 15 minutes of the second half when they scored five unanswered points to go three ahead and with nine minutes of normal-time remaining, they still led by 0-10 to 0-7.

Lisnaskea dug deep, though, and after Ingram gave them hope, Kille held his nerve to knock over two late frees that brought the match into extra-time.

And in the first period of extra-time, Lisnaskea went three ahead only to be pegged back, before they finally shook off the St James’ challenge in the second period of extra-time when a goal from Niall McElroy secured a famous victory.

Scorers —
Lisnaskea Emmetts: D Kille 0-8 (5f), N McElroy 1-0, S Ingram 0-2, M Smyth, J Woods, B Og Maguire, M Little, S Carters, P Curran 0-1 each.
St James’: S Donnellan 0-4, E Concannon 0-4 (2f), P Conroy 0-3 (2f), J Duane (’45’), R O’Connell, A O’Donnell, D O’Connell 0-1 each.

Lisnaskea Emmetts — B McGoldrick; M Smyth, P Collins, K Curran; J Woods, M McKenna, N McElroy; B Og Maguire, C Curran; M Little, S Carters, A Little; S Ingram, P Curran, D Kille.
Subs: R Glancy for A Little (53), D Graham for M Smyth (64), P Connolly for P Curran (74).

St James’ — J Egan; S Coughlan, A Deacy, C Glynn; J M Burke, J Duane, T Walsh; P Conroy, M Kelly; M Elwood, E Concannon, S Donnellan; R O’Connell, A O’Donnell, B Dooney.
Subs: S Boyle for C Glynn (18), D O’Connell for M Elwood (43), M McCormack for B Dooney (66).

REF — P O’Sullivan (Kerry).

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AIB GAA Football All-Ireland Junior Club Championship final
St Mary’s (Kerry) 3-13 Swanlinbar (Cavan) 1-5

A slick St Mary’s, Caherciveen side shot the lights out in the second half to beat St Mary’s, Swanlinbar on Saturday.

Swanlinbar had started the match positively and led by 1-3 to 0-2 after 15 minutes, but from that point on Caherciveen assumed control of the match.

Kerry star Bryan Sheehan was inspirational at midfield and they out-scored Swanlinbar by 0-5 to 0-1 before the break to draw level at half-time.

Corner-forward Sean Cournane always looked dangerous and he scored two fine goals in the second half to put the result beyond doubt.

Scorers —
St Mary’s, Caherciveen: B Sheehan 1-7 (1-6f), S Cournane 2-0, P O’Donoghue 0-2, J Golden, C Quirke, A Walsh, D Daly 0-1 each.
St Mary’s, Swanlinbar: M Cunningham 1-1 (0-1f), G McKiernan 0-2, R Prior (1f), C Curran 0-1 each.

St Mary’s, Caherciveen — D Horgan; B Curran, S Curran, I Casey; JA O’Sullivan, D O’Sullivan, N O’Driscoll; J Golden, B Sheehan; C Quirke, A Constable, A Walsh; D Daly, P O’Donoghue, S Cournane.
Subs: S Horgan for A Constable (48), G O’Driscoll for I Casey (51), L Sheehan for C Quirke (58), A O’Sullivan for JA O’Sullivan (59), R Keane for S Cournane (60).

St Mary’s, Swanlinbar — G Leydon; T O’Brien, M Cunningham, P Prior; D Leydon, J Cunningham, P Leydon; M Curran, G McKiernan; C Curran, P McGovern, D McGovern; M Cunningham, K Brennan, R Prior.
Subs: A McGoldrick for D McGovern (17), R McBarron for R Prior (46), P McManus for P McGovern (50), S Prior for K Brennan (58), P Brennan for T O’Brien (59).

REF — B O’Shea (Dublin).

Reports: independent.ie