UNIVERSAL GRAPHICS JUNIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL.
Blackhill 3-8, Drumhowan 2-8.
Last Sunday October 6th Blackhill regained the Junior football championship title that they last held in 2016 and in the process they ended Drumhowan’s record of being undefeated in Junior championship finals, when the sides met in this tough, hard hitting and at times even attritional contest in Sarsfield Park, Aughnamullen on Sunday afternoon last. Blackhill were only headed once in the entire contest and that after eleven minutes when. Drumhowan opened their account with a goal by John Paul O’Neill. Blackhill found the Drumhowan net in the twentieth minute through Michael Geehan and they went on to lead at half-time by 1-5 to 1-3, and might have been further ahead with a number of missed chances, although Drumhowan too were similarly culpable, particularly from a number of free kicks. A second goal for Blackhill six minutes into the second half gave them a seven points lead, but Drumhowan then roared back with an unanswered 1-5 between the fifteenth and twenty ninth minutes of the second-half, to reduce the deficit to the minimum. It was all hands to the pumps but four minutes into stoppage time. Blackhill effectively sealed it when Philip Donnelly registered their third goal and while Drumhowan registered the final score, a point by Ciaran Duffy Blackhill held out for what was on the day a deserved three points victory.
Conditions on the day were ideal although there was quite a strong breeze that favoured either side in each half and as spectators arrived hotfoot from the senior championship semi-final in Castleblayney to swell the attendance, there was a sizeable crowd present when matters got under way at 4:15 PM. Drumhowan were on the attack right from the off, but John Paul O’Neill was wide of the target within fifteen seconds of the start and a further attack saw David Millar fouled, but Colum Lambe’s free dropped short. Blackhill opened the scoring with a point by Tommy Geehan in the second minute, Philip Donnelly the provider, with Drumhowan responding almost immediately, but Barry McGuirk’s effort was short after Darren Duffy had come on a great break out of defence. Blackhill went two up in the fifth minute with a point by Michael Geehan after good work by Shane Courtney and Ryan Courtney. They had a chance immediately afterwards from a free but their’s too dropped short of the target and there were chances at both ends before Drumhowan opened their account with an opportunist goal by John Paul O’Neill when he got on the end 
of a centre by David Millar to give his side a one point lead. Within a minute though, Blackhill were level when Dermot Daly converted a free for a foul on Tommy Geehan with Drumhowan then wide of the target twice in quick succession, one from a free, and Patrick Quinn also had a shot blocked on the Blackhill line as the end to end nature of the exchanges continued but scores were difficult to come by, until the twentieth minute when Blackhill found the Drumhowan net through Michael Geehan after good work by Ciaran Courtney, to give the Emeralds a three points lead. A Drumhowan counter attack in the twenty second minute saw Darren Duffy fouled but Colum Lambe’s effort dropped short and they were then dealt a further blow when Darragh McElearney was dismissed on a black card in the twenty third minute. With six minutes of normal time remaining. Blackhill increased their lead to 4 with a point by Michael Geehan when he was placed from a quick free by Dermot Daly, with Drumhowan then registering their first point through Ciaran Duffy in the twenty fifth minute. They had two chances to increase their take but keeper Enda Duffy was off target from a forty-five and another free dropped short before Blackhill opened a four points lead a minute into stoppage time with an excellent solo point by Tommy Geehan. Drumhowan finished the half well though for points by Patrick Quinn in the thirty second minute and substitute Patrick Mulligan in the thirty sixth minute to leave Blackhill ahead by two at the break on a half-time score of Blackhill 1-5, Drumhowan 1-3.
Blackhill got off to a flying start to the second-half to register 1-2 in the opening six minutes to extend their half-time lead from three points to 7 points. Dermot Daly hit the opening point in the second minute when he was placed with an excellent pass by Jason Finnegan and then Finnegan himself was on target a minute later to put Blackhill four in front. Another well constructed move started by Ryan Courtney and involving substitute Andrew Burns saw the latter play an inch perfect pass to Anthony Courtney on the overlap and he blasted to the Drumhowan net in the sixth minute. Play was then held up for a time following an injury to Blackhill’s Gerard McArdle, who he was attended to by Civil Defence personnel and ultimately removed to hospital by ambulance with a suspected concussion. When play resumed Blackhill were on the attack but Michael Geehan was off target with Drumhowan then hitting a purple patch that saw them register 1-5 without reply between the fifteenth and twenty ninth minutes to come from being seven in arrears to closing the gap to the absolute minimum and the game now very much in the balance and the feeling growing that maybe Drumhowan could salvage their historic record. Patrick Quinn started that strong period with a goal in the fifteenth minute, Darren Duffy setting up the chance and they added points by Kieran Mooney in the eighteenth minute and then a brace from frees by Colum Lambe in the nineteenth and twenty second minutes to reduce the margin to 3. With four minutes of normal time remaining, Kevin Mooney finished off a well worked move, to reduce the margin to 2 with Blackhill, then suffering a blow when Donal Courtney picked up a black card for a foul on Kevin Mooney with Colum Lambe converting the free to reduce the margin to the minimum with one minute of normal time remaining and nine minutes of additional time announced. Blackhill rallied at this stage with Hugh Byrne working his way through but his effort at goal was deflected out for a forty-five and following consultation with his umpires the referee confirmed it was a forty-five but Blackhill failed to convert it. Four minutes into stoppage time Blackhill captain Hugh Byrne came on a strong run and set up, Philip Donnelly, who blasted to the Drumhowan net to restore Blackhill to a four points lead. Drumhowan responded and came on a counter attack that saw them awarded a forty-five which they opted to go short from with Paddy Mulligan placed from a good pass but his effort went over the bar when he was probably attempting a high centre in the search of an equalising goal. That proved the final score of the game as Blackhill finished on the offensive but were wide of the target from play and Andrew Burns was also off target from a ‘45 to leave three between them at the final whistle with Blackhill crowned champions and promoted to intermediate ranks for the 2020 season, much to the delight of their hugely partisan supporters in the big crowd.
Teams and Scorers: Blackhill: Michael Shevlin, Ryan Courtney, Donal Courtney, Thomas Courtney, James Daly, Shane Courtney, Anthony Courtney 1-0, Hugh Byrne, Dermot Daly 0-2 (1f), Philip Donnelly 1-0, Gerard McArdle, Tommy Geehan 0-2, Jason Finnegan 0-1, Ciaran Courtney, Michael Geehan 1-2. Subs: Andrew Burns for G McArdle, Paul Finnegan for D Courtney (Black card).
Drumhowan: Enda Duffy, Darren Duffy, Owen Quinn, Niall Duffy, Darragh McElearney, Barry McGuirk, Aidan Quinn, John Paul O’Neill 1-0, Patrick Quinn 1-1, Ciaran Duffy 0-1, Kevin Mooney 0-1, Kieran Mooney 0-1, Liam McGuirk, David Millar, Colm Lambe 0-3 (3f). Subs: Patrick Mulligan 0-2 for D McElearney (Black card), Christopher McGinnity for Kieran Mooney, Kieran McElroy for A Quinn, Aidan Duffy for C Duffy, Anthony Mulligan for C Mc Ginnity. Referee: Colin Murphy (Sean McDermotts).
