Dunboyne 1-17 Kiltale 2-10
The two best teams in the Division Two minor hurling championship met in the final on a heavy Ratoath pitch and served up a brilliant hour of entertainment. Both teams having remained unbeaten coming into the final meant this game was going to go down to the wire. It was a repeat of the 2019 decider where Kiltale ran out winners against Sean Callanan’s charges in Pairc Tailtean.
The first quarter belonged to the Dunboyne men. In the 2nd min Peter Connolly took a quick free to Daire Rohan who had drifted out unmarked to right half forward. Daire sent the ball in towards the Kiltale goal and somehow ended up in the back of the net. The lively Josh Harford was pulled down twice in the next two minutes with Rohan converting both placed balls. In the 6th minute Rohan pounced on a loose ball and again split the posts off his left. Dunboyne were in control of the game at this point and Evan McCrudden won a great ball in defence, found Shane McCormack on the right wing who was brought down before he could get into his galop. Kiltale got their first score in the 9th minute curtesy of a free from sharp-shooter Conor Quinn, leaving the score at 1:03 to 0:01 on 10 minutes. Kiltale were beginning to settle into the game at this stage and midfielder Vinny Walsh got the next score off his right, followed immediately by a neat turn and strike by Rohan, knocking over another point for the Black and Amber lads. But from the resultant puck-out Quinn popped up again to pull one back for Kiltale. Dunboyne finished the first quarter on the front foot and the strong running centre-forward Daniel Boyd was beginning to cause problems and it was his flick to Shane McCormack which set up a scoring opportunity and McCormack tapped over a lovely point. Shortly afterwards Harford was again brought down and Rohan didn’t miss the resultant free. Going in for the Sos Uisce the men from Dunboyne led 1:06 to 0:03.
The second quarter was evenly split. Shane McCormack started the scoring with an audacious point from an impossible angle out on the Left Hand Side, score of the game. In the 21st minute Harford was fouled again and Rohan stepped up knocking over another point for his side. 3 minutes later Kiltale’s Quinn pointed another free followed by a nice score by tidy corner forward Sean Lynch. In the 25th minute Boyd set up Rohan for another one from play for Dunboyne, but it was Kiltale who finished the half the strongest. Strong-running midfielder Darragh McVann popped up with two points, one either side of a Kiltale goal, which was scored by Lynch, giving Dunboyne Goalie Jamie McCormack no chance. The half time score showed Dunboyne up by 2 points, 1:09 to 1:07.
Kiltale came out after the break with their tails up. And they got off the mark with a goal in the 1st minute of the new half when a dangerous side-line cut by Sean Lynch into the square ended up in the back of the net following pressure by Vinny Walsh on McCormack in the Dunboyne goal. They followed this up with another Quinn free, pushing them 2 points ahead. Dunboyne didn’t panic and Daire Rohan settled things down with another free on 6 minutes and another one 4 minutes later to level matters at 1:11 to 2:08. Rohan pushed them ahead with another free on 14 minutes and Josh Harford got the score he deserved 1 minute later following a great offload by the strong running Conor Deering. This left matters at the water break Dunboyne leading by 2 points, 1:13 to 2:08.
Dunboyne were pressing up on the Kiltale puck out now and this resulted in Daniel Boyd gaining possession, feeding McCormack, who was hauled down as he headed straight for the Kiltale goal. Rohan converted the free before Quinn pulled one back for Kiltale from another placed ball. On 21 minutes McCormack, who was causing havoc on the inside line for the Dunboyne team, was hauled down again and the resulting free was converted by Rohan. Quinn pointed another free on 24 minutes only to be followed by another from Rohan. Dunboyne were controlling possession at this point when John Harkin caught a great ball, clever offload to Donal Dempsey, who popped over a sweet score off his left hand side. This put Dunboyne 4 points in front and was the last score of a pulsating game. Sean Gahan blew the final whistle and Dunboyne were crowned Div. 2 champions for 2021, winning on a final score line of 1:17 to 2:10.
After the game the cup was presented to Dunboyne captain, Daire Rohan, to kick start great scenes of celebration for the Black and Amber players and supporters.
Dunboyne: Jamie McCormack; Conor Leonard; Cathal Melody; Ronan Hayes; Evan McCrudden; Adam Smyth; Donal Dempsey (0:01); Caolan Howard; Conor Deering; Daniel Boyd; Josh Harford (0:01); Cillian Murphy; Daire Rohan (1:13, 10f); Shane McCormack (0:02); Subs: Cian Rohan for Conor Leonard; Jack Maher for Cillian Murphy; John Harkin for Caolan Howard; Conor Murphy for Donal Dempsey; Cathal Kissane; Stephen Leonard; Luke Loftus; Cian Duggan;
Kiltale: Tom Ryan; Senan Maher; Cathal McCormack; Harry Dwyer; Mark Flaherty; Craig Gilsenan; Malik Assani Ryan; Daragh McVann (0:02); Vinny Walsh (0:01); Ryan Daly; Luke Gallagher; David Reagan; Sean Lynch (2:01); Noah O’Dea; Conor Quinn (0:06, 5f); Subs: Luke O’Halloran; Liam Deegan; Cormac Dunne; Michael O’Shea;
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