ST FECHINS……………2-8
GLEN EMMETS………..2-6

An outstanding injury time goal from starlet Eoghan Duffy handed St Fechins an unprecedented treble on Friday night in Clogherhead were they added the Division 4B league title to the McArdle Cup and Kevin Mullen Shield.

In truth the Fechins could have had this game wrapped up at half time only for some very poor finishing in front of goal, but it was the Glen Emmets who had their scoring boots on in the first half as they took an early lead with points from Paul McGroarty and Keith Rooney, the lead soon swapped over to the Fechins following a well taken goal from Duffy and a Jamie King point. The lead could have been extended even more for the sea-siders only for a host of missed goal chances with Niall Devlin and King being particularly guilty.

With 20 minutes on the clock Rooney doubled his tally with another point and soon after Joey Carolan tucked away a controversial goal, after Referee Paul Burke blew for a free for the Tullyallen side but then waved play on much to the dismay the Fechins and to the delight of the Emmets forwards who played in Carolan to easily slot home. The Termonfeckin side were clearly rocked and the Emmets added two more points from Ronan Grufferty and a fine Brendan Monaghan effort with Fechins ending the half with a point from Duffy to trail by 1-5 to 1-2 at the break.

The second half started similar to the first with the Fechins causing problems for Emmets defence with the pace of Devlin and Duffy stretching them no end, an early Devlin point and a Ryan Sheridan free closed the gap to a single point, but again Fechins could not take goal chances when they arrived and again Carolan made them pay, a long ball over the Fechins defence was gathered up by the full forward and he showed all his experience by calmly rounding the Fechins keeper to give the Emmets a four point lead with 12 minutes remaining.

Two more frees from the accurate Sheridan narrowed the gap but Paul McGroarty kept a three point gap with a good point and should have put the game beyond doubt only to see his shot dragged wide of the Darren O'Neill's post. Again Fechins responded and this time never looked back Duffy pointed, followed by Sheridan with a close-in free to put a point between the sides with only injury time remaining. Then the moment of magic from Duffy which gave the title to St Fechins, a breaking ball was gathered by substitute Sean McBride and he layed it off to Duffy who gathered it on the half way line and went on a fantastic solo run true the middle of the Emmets defence and finished it perfectly to the right hand side of Liam O'Connor's net, much to the ecstatic delight of the Fechins support.

With seconds left Anthony Duff was given his marching orders for an off the ball incident while Glen Emmets had one more attack but was snuffed out by a packed Fechins defence. Paul Burke's final whistle ended a great year for the south Louth club while Glen Emmets can only dream of what they could have been, as for long parts of the season they looked like they were on course for a historic year.

For the winners O'Neill, Kirwan and McCabe looked solid in defence while Cunningham impressed in midfield for the winners and Duffy, Devlin and Sheridan caused problems all night for the Emmets defence. For the unlucky Emmets, Keith Lynch caused problems up front with his strong running, McGroarty and Mooney battled hard and Keith Rooney looked lively throughout.

ST FECHINS: Darren O'Neill; Conor Haughney, Ronan Kearney, David Kirwan; Niall McCabe, Harry McArdle, Conor Phillips; Dermot McConnell, Leo Cunningham; Paul King, Eoghan Duffy 2-2, Fergal McNally; Ryan Sheridan,0-4, Niall Devlin 0-1, Jamie King 0-1. Subs: Anthony Duff for McConnell, Sean McBride for Jamie King.

GLEN EMMETS: Liam O'Connor; Derek Johnston, Frankie Carolan, Noel OBrien; Darren O'Brien, Andrew Mooney, Danny Whyte; Ronan Grufferty 0-1, Paul McGroarty 0-2; Brendan Monaghan 0-1, Keith Lynch, Keith Farnan; Keith Rooney 0-2, Joey Carolan 2-0, Noel McCarron. Subs; Damien Grimes for Darren O'Brien and Anthony Murray for McCarron

(2010 Division 4B Winners St Fechins) Tweet

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