Carnaross 1-21
St Mary's 3-13

Carnaross and St Mary's served up a thriller in Dunganny in this Coolrite Under 19 Division 5 Championship Final.

It was the perennial game of two halves with Carnaross dominating the first half. Opening scores from the marauding Conor Finn and captain Charlie Murphy settled the nerves. Sean Martin opened his account with his first of two on the night, before Murphy doubled his. Mary's were struggling against the wind but managed 0-3 to keep tabs with their North Meath opponents. Then the two point floodgates opened with The Hoops landing an incredible 6 two pointers in a 10 minute whirlwind. Central to this period of dominance was the elusive Michael Hoey. The Kilmainham talisman was imperious landing 3 of these from distance. His midfield partner , Oisín Yore, began to grab hold of the midfield sector landing his own two pointer.  The wing forwards of Paddy Morris and Hugh O'Reilly completed this purple patch. It left the half time score 0-17 to 0-06 at the turn of ends.

The second half began brightly with Hugh O’Reilly defying the elements with an outside of the boot two pointer. Charlie Murphy followed this with another point as Carnaross looked out of sight. However St Mary's exploded into life utilising the elements, wrestling control of the contest. A quickfire 1-5 from the men in red and green was only cancelled out by a fortuitous goal by a Michael Hoey long ball, that Charlie Murphy wrecked havoc with. The Mary's tails were up and they simply couldn't miss. They reduced the deficit to 5 points with 5 minutes remaining. The gap might have been less were it not for the tigerish defending of Eoin Ennis, Drew Donaghy and Liam Farrelly. The strength of the bench shone through when we lost influential senior players Feidhlim Farrelly and John Reilly but Edward Farrelly and Kian Farrelly were more than up to the task. Charlie Murphy led by example to push the lead back out to 6 but Mary's weren't finished yet. A goal and a point reduced the deficit to 2 points as the game entered additional time. Conor Yore , Drew and Oisín gathered some vital possessions in the middle from the calm Darragh Smith in goals before the referee blew for full time, much to the delight of the Ross faithful.

It was a truly entertaining final that twisted and turned constantly with St Mary's refusing to lie down. Carnaross forwards did the damage in the first half with the backs stemming the flow in the dying embers in the second half.

Huge credit must go to our Kilmainham trio of Michael Hoey,  Lewis Curran and Jake O'Rourke. The addition of these young Kilmainham ambassadors added to our team immensely and we wouldn't have won without them.

Tonight was a crowning moment for this young team whose attitude, ability and determination was evident to see on the biggest stage. They're carving out their own path ensuring the future is bright in the parish of Carnaross.

Carnaross: Darragh Smith, Liam Brady, Feidhlim Farrelly, Conor Finn (0-1), John Reilly, Eoin Ennis, Drew Donaghy, Oisín Yore (0-2), Michael Hoey (1-6), Hugh O’Reilly (0-4), Liam Farrelly, Paddy Morris (0-2), Conor Yore, Charlie Murphy (0-4), Sean Martin (0-2). Subs: Edward Farrelly, Kian Farrelly, Lewis Curran, Jake O'Rourke, Oisín Ennis, Lucas Smith, George Yore.

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