Slane 6-12; Summerhill 2-08

Slane came into this u19 Final with 2 wins against Duleek/ Bellewstown and Ratoath and 1 loss against this same Summerhill team they faced in the final. It was a really pleasant spring afternoon in Toddy Harding Park as referee Stephen Murphy threw in the ball. Slane came out of the blocks like a Rothweiller let off a lead and set off at a terrific pace. Stephen Grogan, Senan Duffy and Ethan Harding netted within the first seven minutes and this was accompanied by a pint from Sennan Duffy. Summerhill were rocked and tried their best to get back in the game moving their full back to midfield and their centre half back pushed continuously at the Slane defence. The Slane defence was excellent in this half with the full back line of Nathan Kenny, Charlie O’Neill and Kevin O’Neill not giving an inch and Shane O’Sullivan leading the half back line with Aarron Griffin Wall and Zak McConnon either side and playing with great intensity. Special mention must also be given here to the half forward line of James Grogan, Senan Duffy and Ryan Weldon who had huge demand put on them as they funnelled back to set up a defensive zone when Summerhill attacked. They were ably assisted by Kyle Flynn and Cormac Dunne in the middle of the field who had some terrific high fielding and worked tirelessly. Ethan Harding chipped in with an additional 3 points in this half and James Grogan split the posts with a terrific score from the centre. Senan Duffy added Slane’s 4th goal with a screamer from left of the posts while Ethan Harding put Alex O’Neill through for Slane ‘s fifth goal of the half. The halftime score sat at 5-06 points to 3 points from Summerhill which was hugely down to Slane’s defensive workrate.

When the game resumed after halftime, Summerhill showed that they had not travelled to Slane for the fun of it and they registered 4 points before Alex O’Neill flicked a clever hopping ball over the bar from close range. Alex followed that up with a terrific 2 pointer from a free outside the 40yd line and this was followed by 2 further points from Ethan. A young u17 man not mentioned yet but who was putting in a huge shift was Conor Duffy who really was acting as a link man when Slane broke from defence and tried to feed the ball into Ethan and Alex.  Donncha Heavey in goals had made 2 fabulous saves early in the half to tame the Summerhill early onslaught but as the Slane legs tired, there was nothing he could do to save 2 screamers of goals in the fourth quarter, Slane brought in fresh legs through Noah Murray, David Akinla, Joe Mc Cann, Eoin Marron and Conor Doggett and the battle resumed with Summerhill taking a point and Ethan finishing off the scoring for Slane with a terrific point from the left.

The U19 coaching team Andrew, Paddy, Cillian, Mickey and Peter would like to extend a huge thank-you in particular to the lads, but also to the Adult Management Team and U17 coaching team who helped to assemble this terrific group of lads and to Julie Marron and our physio Emma who did everything possible to help the squad. Thanks also to all who helped with Tea’s and sandwiches. We would also like to acknowledge Jack Tully who was out of the country for the final and put in a fabulous shift against Ratoath and to Eoin Smith, Tom Logan and Jack O Brien who were missing on the day.

Slane: Donncha Heavey; Nathan Kenny, Charlie O’Neill; Kevin O’Neill; Zak Mc Connon; Shane O’Sullivan; Aarron Griffin Wall; Kyle Flynn; Cormac Dunne; James Grogan (1-01); Sennan Duffy(1-01); Ryan Weldon; Conor Duffy (1-00); Ethan Harding (2-06); Alex O’Neill (1-04); Noah Murray; David Akinla; Joe Mc Cann; Eoin Marron and Conor Doggett

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