UNIVERSAL GRAPHICS JUNIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL.
Drumhowan 1-13, Blackhill 1-11.
Drumhowan showed amazing resilience and demonstrated the depth of their reserves of commitment, courage and sheer grit to come from being four points behind with 10 minutes of normal time remaining and down to 14 players, to fashion a fighting finish that saw them over turn both of those handicaps and clinch a dramatic victory at the end of this pulsating Junior football championship final that was played in front of two hugely partisan sets of supporters in the excellently appointed Grattan park, Inniskeen on Sunday afternoon last. In achieving that turn around Drumhowan kept up their record of never having lost a Junior football championship final but it was a result that was heartbreaking for Blackhill in that they had experienced defeat in the final for the second year in a row and afterwards their players, team mentors and supporters were visibly shattered. Played at a cracking pace throughout and in a very good spirit this was a game that ebbed and flowed at times and was in the balance right to the finish as Drumhowan fashioned their win but it has also to be acknowledged that Drumhowan’s goalkeeper Ends Duffy played a starring role, taking off a string of point-blank saves to deny Blackhill what looked like certain goals on at least five or six occasions. These were opportunities though that Blackhill will examine as chances where they could have opted for points and having been beaten by just two points they will rue a number of those squandered opportunities. Blackhill got off to the better start and opened a three points lead after some six minutes but by the halfway mark Drumhowan were a point in front with Blackhill failing to register a score for all of 19 minutes between the sixth and 21st minutes although in that time too, Drumhowan themselves saw a number of chances go amiss. Blackhill regained the lead in the early minutes of the second-half as the game built in intensity and they took a distinct advantage at the end of the third quarter with a goal that gave them a four points lead and at that stage they will look back on a period of dominance where they should have consolidated further. Drumhowan were then reduced to 14 players but the dismissal of Martin McElroy inspired them to greater heights as they went on to overturn their earlier deficit and take a three points lead and while Blackhill fought to the death Drumhowan held out in a frenetic finish to keep their great record in Junior football championship finals intact. Blackhill opened the scoring with a point by Stephen Courtney after just 40 seconds following good work by Hugh Byrne, Eamonn Byrne and Anthony Courtney. Two minutes later Anthony Courtney himself was on target after good work by Michael Geehan in keeping the ball in play and three minutes later still Ryan Courtney was on target following assists by Ciaran Courtney and Anthony Courtney to put Blackhill three up. Another sweeping Blackhill move saw Michael Geehan fouled but Colin Woods failed to convert the free in the eighth minute. A minute later Drumhowan began to settle and they opened their account through captain David Millar, Kieran McElroy the provider when he won possession from the kick out. Both sides were off target in quick succession before Millar registered Drumhowan’s second point in the 13th minute and two minutes later Anthony Mulligan made a good break before setting up Kevin Mooney for the equaliser. Drumhowan maintained their initiative at this stage and three points in quick succession from Kieran Mooney, Aidan Duffy the provider, Kevin Mooney, following good work by David Millar and Anthony Mulligan, and Colm Lambe from a free for a foul on David Millar saw Drumhowan take a three points lead after 20 minutes. Blackhill registered their first score for all of 19 minutes when corner back Shane Courtney drove forward, Colin Woods also involved, to end that barren spell and in the following minutes they should have added a couple more but Ciaran Courtney blasted wide when he was through for what looked like a good goal chance and Colin Woods was also off target to leave two points between them at the end of normal time in the first half. Going into stoppage time James Daly finished well following good work by Hugh Byrne and a minute into stoppage time Anthony Courtney brought the sides level but Drumhowan had the last say of the first half when John Paul O’Neill and Kieran Mooney conspired to create the chance for Colm Lambe who was then fouled and he converted the free to give Drumhowan the narrowest of leads at the break, Drumhowan 0-7, Blackhill 0-6. Within three minutes of the resumption Colin Woods reduced the deficit to the minimum when he converted a free for a foul on Ciaran Courtney and three minutes later Ciaran Courtney then slotted over after an initial effort by Hugh Byrne was blocked by Drumhowan keeper Enda Duffy. That point gave Blackhill the lead for the second time in the game but almost immediately Drumhowan equalised through Darren Duffy at the end of a quick counter attack. Blackhill substitute Dermot Daly converted a free after he himself had been fouled to restore his side to the lead in the eighth minute and Drumhowan were now forced to defend in numbers and goalkeeper Duffy came to their rescue twice as Blackhill built in momentum. That pressure eventually told in the 15th minute with a sweeping move involving Colin Woods, Hugh Byrne and Philip Donnelly that placed Ciaran Courtney in the clear and he beat Enda Duffy from close range to put Blackhill four points in front entering the final quarter. Blackhill continued their dominance of proceedings at this stage and should have added to their tally but were wide of the target on a couple of occasions while in others players simply took the wrong option and chances went a begging. Entering the final 10 minutes Drumhowan found themselves reduced to 14 players when corner back Martin McElroy picked up a red card following an incident involving Blackhill substitute Paul Finnegan as he joined the game, the referee consulting at length with his umpires before red carding McElroy and issuing Finnegan with a yellow card. This was a blow to Drumhowan’s prospects and possibly should have gifted a stronger initiative to Blackhill but as is so often the case the team that has been reduced numerically responds with spirit and Drumhowan were now galvanised into action to the extent that between the 23rd and 28th minutes they hit an unanswered 1-4 to come from being four points behind to going three in front with two minutes of normal time remaining. Colm Lambe scrambled the ball home from close range in the 23rd minute to start that flurry of activity, two minutes later he converted a free for a foul on David Millar, dissent seeing the ball moved to a more scoreable position and they then added points by Kevin Mooney and Kieran McElroy before Colm Lambe converted another free, again for a foul on David Millar, to put Drumhowan three points in front. Drumhowan goalkeeper Enda Duffy came to his side’s rescue again to deny Colin Woods for a ‘45 that was converted by substitute Andrew Burns to bring the margin down to 2 and when Woods was on target less than a minute later to reduce the deficit to the minimum the outcome was very finely balanced indeed. Drumhowan refused to panic and they set about keeping possession which they did to good effect with Anthony Mulligan then breaking through for a point a minute into stoppage time to leave them winners by two points when the referee Niall McKenna blew the long note.
Teams and Scorers: Drumhowan: Enda Duffy, Martin McElroy, Liam McGuirk, Barry McGuirk, Niall Mooney, Darren Duffy 0-1, Patrick Mulligan, John Paul O’Neill, Anthony Mulligan 0-1, David Millar 0-2, Kieran McElroy 0-1, Kevin Mooney 0-3, Kieran Mooney 0-1, Aidan Duffy, Colm Lambe 1-4 (0-4f). Subs: Aiden Quinn for P Mulligan, Michael Atkinson for A Mulligan.
Blackhill: Michael Shevlin, Gerard McArdle, Donal Courtney, Shane Courtney 0-1, James Daly 0-1, Ryan Craig,. Anthony Courtney 0-2, Eamonn Byrne, Hugh Byrne, Philip Donnelly, Ciaran Courtney 1-1, Ryan Courtney 0-1, Stephen Courtney 0-1, Colin Woods 0-2 (1f), Michael Geehan. Subs: Dermot Daly 0-1 (f) for E Byrne, Paul Finnegan for C Courtney, Andrew Burns 0-1 (’45) for Stephen Courtney. Referee: Niall McKenna (Emyvale).
REACTION. It was understandable that there would be contrasting reactions in the respective camps following the outcome of last Sunday’s final, Drumhowan euphoric in their celebrations and Blackhill simply devastated. Drumhowan manager Kevin Carragher spoke of the game exceeding expectations particularly in the dramatic finish. “I would say the very keen competitive nature of the game and the focus of every player in Drumhowan and Blackhill alike made for a great game from a competitive point of view and I would say you will not see a better final this year. Maybe from a purist point of view some of the missed chances and some passages of play that were maybe a bit untidy could be criticised, but that would be unfair because the sheer ferocity of the play from both sides was excellent and it mirrored for me particularly in the middle third some of what we saw in the All Ireland hurling final replay yesterday and just looking around there isn’t one player from Blackhill or Drumhowan who isn’t maybe struggling to breathe normally at the minute. It was also a game that was played in a very good spirit by both sides, both teams had opportunities to go on and win it by more than the margin at the finish but I’m glad we got over the line. We didn’t start all that well but then we settled down and we got our plan into action to squeeze the middle of the field, rather that middle third area, and then possibly after about 10 minutes the long running out of defence by Blackhill saw them struggling a bit to maintain that pace and we were then able to take over, because we were confident in our levels of aggression and in our tackling, and that did allow us to move forward. At the stage when we went six points to 3 up we possibly could have gone nine maybe 10 points to 3 up but we let Blackhill back into the game. Against that Blackhill then took over but then they let us back into the game when they looked to have put themselves in a position that was beyond us when they got the goal, but we fought back. The boys showed great strength of character but they have been tremendous all year, in particular in their attitude towards the championship and the buildup to this competition all year. What we have focused on all year and let me say this is a man’s game and our lads showed single-minded determination today and they got their reward. The Ulster Junior club championship is next but first of all we will take this cup home tonight, we’ll take a good look inside it and perhaps maybe even take something out of it and we’ll plan for the Ulster campaign later”.
DRUMHOWAN CAPTAIN David Millar. “It was a very special moment for me to lift the cup and I think that’s our sixth final to be in and we have won them all which is an excellent record and hopefully when we go intermediate now that will stand to us and we will kick on from here and hold our own at a higher level. That game was in the balance on a number of occasions but we finished strongly and there were a few intelligent switches maybe made on the line and I think getting a man sent off really spurred us on. We have been in that position before in matches, four or five points down and we have come through and I think that’s to do with the strength of character that is in the club that we can always dig it out. I have to say too we were helped by our goalkeeper Enda (Duffy) who has been in that position in quite a number of those finals and he has been superb. We now have a homecoming this evening and then we’ll turn our attention to the Ulster Junior club championship. We have a good record in that and you never know we hopefully could have another bit of silverware later on”.
BLACKHILL MANAGER: David Lennon. “This is a heartbreaking result particularly as we were in this game right to the end. Everyone had worked hard all year but to be honest on the day you cannot miss five or six one on ones with the goalkeeper and expect to win the Junior Champion final, particularly against a team like Drumhowan that has a great tradition of winning Junior championship finals. I have to give them credit though because we had all the momentum in the second-half and we were in a very strong position going into the last 10 minutes. They then got a goal against the run of play and when things happen like that the momentum switches and it’s very hard to get it back so I have to give credit to Drumhowan but I’m heartbroken for Blackhill. Looking back there were other times too when we could have gone for points and that last save by their keeper when we were four points up, a point would have put us five in front but we missed a couple of good goal chances in the first half as well but Drumhowan dug deep and I think their tradition played a part in the end. We now have the league to concentrate on but it’s going to be very hard to lift it, not only the lads but ourselves in the team management because this is two years in a row for them now to lose the Junior final. It’s gutting for the team management and its gutting for the players as well so we will get together now next Friday night because we have a match on Saturday but it won’t be easy. I will be asking them to give it one last push and I’m sure they will because they can go on now and win the league, but that’s entirely up to them”.
