St. Vincent 0-16 St. Ultans 2-9

St. Vincent’s and St. Ultan’s served up a cracker of a game in Ashbourne on a lovely Friday evening.  If sixty minutes wasn’t enough they threw in another twenty in what was a great advertisement for Junior Football in County Meath.  

The game was played at an incredible pace throughout a real credit to both teams.  St. Ultan’s were quickest off the blocks leading by 4 pts to 1 after 13 minutes.  That forth point from St. Ultan’s was to be their last from play in the sixty minutes.  At the water break it was 2pts v 4 pts.  St. Vincent’s scores coming from Martin Fox and Eoin Corry.  At this stage St. Vincent’s were on top in most areas but their shooting was way off having kicked 6 wides in the opening period mainly due to pressure from St. Ultan’s defence.  

The second quarter started with a 1 point each from Nigel Hand and Jack Byrne to level the score board.  St. Ultan’s free put them back ahead but 3 more points from Nigel Hand one of which was a free meant St. Vincent’s led 0-7 v 0-5 at half time. 

In the second half St. Vincent’s seemed to be taking control and by the 20th minute lead by 4 points 0-11 v 0-7 but St. Ultan’s hit back with a pointed free then came a 13 minute period were both teams kicked 7 wides between them.  In the 4th minute of injury time a missed placed kick out by Evan Connor in the St. Vincent’s goal fell straight to Cian McBride and he was pulled down going in on goal.  Penalty and it was all level 0-11 v 1-8  – extra time. 

St. Ultan’s struck first in extra time to go a point ahead but a  Nigel Hand free and a point from Tommy Fields meant St. Vincent’s were one up at the final break.  

Substitutes Tommy Fields and Stefan O’Neill put the Vincent’s 3 ahead again but then more drama as St. Ultan’s found the net to level it once more.  Robbie Lynch got a superb point for St. Vincent’s putting them one up.  An extra 5 minutes of football was played but no one could confined a score.  There was chances at both ends.  Evan Connor in St. Vincent’s goal redeeming himself with some superb catches under immense pressure.  

St. Vincent’s deservedly won this semi-final bouncing back twice from two goals.  An improvement will be needed before the final.  Hugh Durrigan will need to put the lads through some shooting practice as 14 wides is too many but he’ll know he has a team with lots of guts that are prepared to go that extra mile for him.  There was many fantastic performances for vincent’s . The mid field deserve a mention. They had to deal with what was said to be the best pairing in the county and Jack, Foxy and Leo won this battle. In goal Evan Connor showed great spirit to more than make up for his mistake. At the back there was superb performances from Gary Tute, Ciaran Brangan and Conor Harford. Up front Nigel Hand and the tireless Eoghan Corry were outstanding

St. Vincent’s: E. Conor, C. Brangan, D. Tallon, M. Crawley, G. Tuite, R. Hand, C. Harford, J. Byrne (0-1), M. Fox (0-1), B. Tallon , E. Callaghan (0-1), E. Corry (0-2), L. Corry, P. Arnold, N. Hand (0-7 5f).

Subs: T. Fields (0-2), S. O’Neill (0-1), C. White, N. Tallon, R. Lynch (0-1), J. Corry

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