Offaly crowned All-Ireland U20 football champions

August 15, 2021

Offaly's Jack Bryant scores a goal against Roscommon. ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne.

There were jubilant scenes at the full-time whistle as Offaly became U20 football champions for the first time since 1988, defeating Roscommon 1-14 to 1-11 in an exciting final.

Having dethroned Dublin in the Leinster final before overcoming Cork to reach this afternoon's All-Ireland decider at Croke Park, the Faithful County completed a memorable campaign by producing a stunning performance to lift the Clarke Cup.

Declan Kelly's charges led by seven points with ten minutes of normal-time remaining when full-forward Jack Bryant, scorer of 1-2 over the hour, placed his shot to the top corner of the net past Roscommon goalkeeper Conor Carroll.

But Offaly supporters had a nervy finish as Adam McDermott raised his fifth green flag of the season at the other end and the Rossies reeled them back to just two points as the game progressed into injury-time after Adam Doory split the posts.

However, Morgan Tynan opened the scoring for Offaly and they were never headed thereafter while the midfielder also closed it when he fired over a late free to settle his side.

Roscommon were guilty of missing at least four goal chances in the opening half as they trailed 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval.

Aaron Kellaghan, who contributed four points, two in each half, and man-of-the-match Cathal Donoghue were key figures for the winners.

The biggest cheer of the day in headquarters came when Offaly captain Kieran Dolan was brought on in the closing stages after recovering from a hamstring injury that ruled him out of their previous two outings. 


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