Templeport 2-11
Denn 1-10

Templeport tore up the script this evening at Kingspan Breffni to see off Denn and collect their first junior football championship title in six years.

Close to 11 months after defeating Knockbride to book their place in this final, the Bawnboy men stood up in spades to upset their Crosskeys counterparts and get their hands on the coveted Sean Leddy Cup.

Denn had settled in well enough in this postponed decider, originally down for October 4, 2020, by shooting over the opening two points but they were outscored by 1-5 to 0-1 in the run up to the first-half water break.

Eoin Doonan’s 17th minute penalty would be backed up by the livewire attacker hammering into Denn’s net again on 24 minutes, leaving the men in maroon seven adrift and with a mountain to try and scale in the second-half.

Ben Conaty’s early goal was the ideal restart for Denn and they’d go on to cut the margin down to two points before some insurance scores at the other from Eoin McCaffrey made sure of Templeport’s return to the intermediate ranks.

Thomas Edward Donohoe’s point had Denn up and running within four minutes of this pulsating decider prior to Mark McSherry doubling the lead three minutes later.

Dillon Raythorne would have the Bawnboy lads level come the ninth minute and they’d hit the front on 16 minutes after points via Liam Galligan and Doonan (free) outweighed one from Donohoe at the other end.

A minute later and the ball was in Denn’s net after Doonan stroked home a coolly taken penalty before adding a point that rocked the favourites in the run up to the water break, with Templeport leading 1-5 to 0-3.

It got worse for the Crosskeys men as Doonan got in for his second goal that had Denn chasing an eight-point deficit with six minutes to go until half-time.

Donohoe’s point in added time left it at 2-5 to 0-4 at the interval and Denn made the best possible restart thanks to Conaty bagging a quick 1-1 within three minutes of the resumption.

The diminutive attacker’s goal would come after poking to the net from a scramble in the square and, while the westerners responded with points from Conor Galligan and Doonan (2), Donohoe’s fine score on 45 minutes ensured a nail-biting third quarter was in store in Cavan Town. 

Cavell Keogan sailed over a free that had the scoreboard reading 2-8 to 1-8 come the second water break.

McCaffrey and Keogan traded singles after the break and Oisin Kiernan would have the Denn deficit down to just two with six minutes left on the clock.

Crucially, McCaffrey steadied the would-be winners’ ship with a sweet point two minutes later, as they’d lose black-carded substitute Benjamin Kelly just minutes after coming on.

In desperate need of scores, Denn poured forward down the home stretch but couldn’t breach Templeport’s stingy rear-guard as McCaffrey provided what proved to be the insurance point with a minute to go.

The victory marks Templeport’s seventh overall success in the competition and first since winning the 2015 final against Cornafean, who, ironically, they will be playing in their return to the intermediate championship in just a couple of weeks' time. 

Templeport: Joe Kiernan; Brendan McGoldrick, Sean Dolan, Jack Kelly; James Rudden (0-1), Oran Duffy, Gavin Donohoe; Eoghan Martin, Dillon Raythorne (0-1); Liam McAweeney, James Murphy, Liam Galligan (0-1); Conor Galligan (0-1, 1f), Eoin McCaffrey (0-3), Eoin Doonan (2-4, 1 pen, 1f). Subs: Luke Donohoe for J Kelly (50mins), Benjamin Kelly for Murphy (53).

Denn: Mark Fegan; Cormac Cusack-Smith, Tomas Corr, Micheál Gaffney; James Brady (0-1), Bernard Gaffney, Mark McSherry (0-1); Brandon Keogan, Oisin Kiernan (0-1); Conor Smyth, Thomas Edward Donohoe (0-3), Cian McCann; Sean Donohoe, Cavell Keogan (0-2, 2f), Ben Conaty (1-1). Subs: Jamie Reilly for Smyth (HT), Eoin Reilly for Kiernan (58mins).

Ref: Kieran McCarville (Cootehill Celtic).

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