St. Michaels 0-19, Duleek / Bellewstown 3-11

Duleek Bellewstown broke the hearts of the St. Michaels lads in Pairc Tailteann on Sunday afternoon with a stubborn and clinical late blitz, wiping out a four point deficit in the final 10 minutes to lift the John Moran Cup and Division 3 title.                                                                                                 

The St. Michaels management team will still be wondering how their team lost this final as they were in complete control for 50 minutes of the match but the old adage that goals win games applies to this contest as the winners bagged three of them, two in the opening half, the first from a penalty given for a foot-block and the other two from unforced errors, a bad kick-out over the side-line which was taken quickly leaving the St. Michaels defence at sixes and sevens and the keeper with no chance, the last goal came from a out field handling error.

In what was an ideal day for football, St. Michaels got off to the best of starts with four back-to-back points in the opening four minutes from Daithi Regan (2) and Ronan Lynch (2). Duleek Bellewstown followed up with a pointed free and the converted penalty in the seventh minute and they drew level a minute later.
For the next 20 minutes the St. Michaels men could do no wrong racing into a 0-12 to 1-2 lead with points from Regan (2), Lynch (2), Ben Farrell (2) and one each from Paddy Tobin and Kevin Cassidy. Duleek Bellewstown pulled one back on 26 minutes and their second major came from the resultant kick-out and they added their final point of the half in the seventh minute of injury time to leave St. Michaels with just a two point advantage at the interval, 0-12 to 2-4.

Jamie Farrelly opened the St. Michaels second half account with a fine point from play but the winners replied with a converted free, Ronan Lynch put Paddy Tobin through for their sides second point of the half but again Duleek Bellewstown replied in kind. St. Michaels once again regained control and had built up a 0-17 to 2-6 lead by the 40th minute, however Duleek Bellewstown regained composure and went on the attack forcing two great blocks from Daithí O'Reilly and replacement keeper Lee Morris but their pressure finally paid off with a 1-3 tally in a 10 minute spell to draw level for the second time and two points in as many minutes gave them the lead for the first time on 57 minutes. Ronan Lynch pulled one back two minutes later but time ran out on the Carlanstown Kilbeg combination as Duleek Bellewstown weathered the storm and lifted the trophy. Along with the scorers St. Michaels had good performers in Mark Stafford, Paddy Callaghan, Lee Morris and father and son combination Daithí and Ciaran O'Reilly and substitute Harry Dunne.

St. Michaels team & scorers: Gavan Sweeney; Adam O'Brien, Daithi O'Reilly, Scott Doyle; Ciaran O'Reilly, Jamie Farrelly (0-1),  Ben Reilly, Paddy Callaghan, Mark Stafford; Paddy Tobin (0-2), Ronan Lynch (0-5), Lee Morris; Ben Farrell (0-3), Daithí Regan (0-7), Kevin Cassidy (0-1).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Subs: Cian Sheridan for Sweeney injured 28 minutes, Harry Dunne for Doyle 30 minutes, Paddy Clarke for O'Brien 50 minutes.                                                              

Report and photo by Pascal Reilly PRO.

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