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Red Hughs
U13’s brought home the Club’s second piece of silverware in a week when
they defeated Milford in Hibernian Park, Burt to retain the Plate which
they captured in 2009.
After good performances in recent weeks
the boys would have been quietly confident about their ability but they
nevertheless faced a Milford team who qualified from a strong section and
dispatched of Glenswilly in the semi-final.
The management of Paul Byrne and Damien
Wilson gave young Odhrán Callaghan a starting
berth at corner forward, his impact was similar to that which Dermot Molloy
had for Donegal in Sunday’s Ulster Championship clash. He’s
settled the team’s nerves after 5 minutes, splitting the posts with a well
taken point. Both teams were looking promising in the opening
quarter, with good flowing football being played.
Milford replied with a point, before
Red Hughs grabbed a rather fortituous
goal, Justin McBride launched the ball from 45 yards towards the goal,
however after a handling error it drifted into to corner of the net, this
was a massive boost for the Hughs and minutes
later when the ball fell to Callaghan he tucked the ball to the corner of
the net at his ease. Callaghan added another point before the
intelligent Conor Gallagher side stepped his
marker before hitting the ball low and hard past the keeper from all of 20
yards.
Red Hughs
left the Milford boys stunned, after 20 minutes the score line read 3-2 to
0-2.
Despite their comfortable lead, Red Hughs had to be vigilant. Their backs were
extremely sharp anticipating every Milford attack. Jason Sweeney
pulled off a few fantastic reflex saves which maintained their
lead. Ben Browne and Matthew McConnell in particular were simply
outstanding at wing half back.
Keelan McGill
effectively killed the tie after his shot dipped below the crossbar and
into the net.
All of the Hughs
substitutes made good impacts, when Ryan Dullaghan
was sent through on goal, he showed amazing composure and stroked the ball
into the top corner of the net, much to the delight of the large band of
supporters that Red Hugh’s brought with
them. Dullaghan was not finished there, moments later when bearing down on goal, he took
the sensible option and effortlessly sent the ball over the black spot.
Jason Dullaghan had a very good game in
the backline, he intercepted a lot of balls and supported his passes out of
defence. The full back line were extremely solid and read the
game very well, Michael McColgan who has come on
leaps and bounds this year was a rock at the back along with the already
mentioned McConnell.
Cathal Doherty was as
solid as ever at centre half back, he made a number of bombing runs up the
field and looked solid defensively. Odhran
Doherty clocked up a lot of miles at wing half back, while Ben Browne was a
strong contender for man-of-the-match. Justin McBride played out
of his skin and really caused a lot of damage to Milford in the opening
quarter, along with Dillon Irwin they showed great leadership and kept
driving the team on.
Although Stephen McMenamin
started with number 14 on his back, he soon drifted out around the middle
and his experience was a telling factor in the victory. He was
quite literally everywhere.
Peter Sweeney, was had a terrific
campaign hit one of the scores of the evening when he registered a super
score from the extreme right in the 1st half. Conor Gallagher has been nothing less than a scoring
machine for the U13’s this year. He
bagged a remarkable 11-5 in just 7 games this year. A tally any
player would be proud of considering how much he contributes also from
general play.
Corey Gallagher put in a lot of hard
graft throughout and although he was unusually held scoreless he showed a
lot of promise throughout the campaign and seems to be a real
prospect. Keelan McGill done well
throughout and being able to strike comfortably with both feet made him
hard to mark. All the subs made telling contributions when they
entered the fray. Despite their tender years, they will have
gained valuable experience when they play in this grade next year again.
Joe Maxwell led the victory parade from
Killygordon, through the Curragh
and back to Monellan Park.
Well done to all involved and it was
good to see a reward for all their hard work throughout the
year. Many of the boys can now look forward to the start of the
U14 Division 1 league where they take on St. Eunan’s.
Team & Scorers: Jason
Sweeney; Jason Dullaghan, Michael McColgan, Matthew McConnell; Odhran
Doherty (0-1), Cathal Doherty (0-1), Ben Browne;
Justin McBride (1-0), Dillon Irwin (0-3); Conor
Gallagher ( 1-0), Peter Sweeney (0-2) , Corey Gallagher; Keelan McGill (1-0), Stephen McMenamin,
Odhrán Callaghan (1-2); Jason Callaghan, Ryan Dullaghan (1-1), Tómas
Doherty, Ryan Wilson, Anthony Dillon, Aiden Gallen.
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