This u15 div. 3 final between Bective and Carnaross was keenly anticipated and proved to be worth the wait with a tightly contested match in excellent conditions in Grangegodden.
Playing against the breeze Carnaross got off to a bright start with a point after 2 minutes. Bective started to get some traction around the middle third and midfielder Ferdia Maguire fired to the net on 4 minutes. Carnaross responded with a goal of their own on the 8th minute and added a further point on 10 minutes. Bective’s Joey Mullen pointed on 11 minutes and left a point between the teams before the water break. Both defenses were on top, for the next 10 minutes with tight tackling and turnovers making scoring difficult. James Dowdall was introduced into the full forward line. Mullen broke the drought with a fine point on 26 minutes and the teams were level at half time.
On the resumption the intense tackling continued but David Donnelly broke through for a fine point on 4 minutes. But it was Carnaross that dominated the scoring for the next 15 minutes and added a further 3 points. Midfielder James Donnelly, centre back Dylan Kieran and backs Cormac Gorman, Harry Smith and Max Greif led their troops to ensure Carnaross didn’t stretch their lead. A black card to James Donnelly on the 16th minute looked ominous for Bective but they clawed their way back into the game with a point from Maguire on 22th minute. But Carnaross struck over 2 points and time was running out for Bective now down to 14 players. Great excitement from both sets of supporters spurred their teams on to greater efforts and Maguire delivered his second goal on the 29th minute to draw the game. Both teams battled for every ball but Carnaross had the final say with a worthy match winning long range point on 33 minutes to seal victory.
Carnaross 1 – 8, Bective 2 -4.
This was a disappointing result for this team and mentors after showing great heart and effort all year, but their skills and match play improvements will stand to them as they move on through the next age groups.
Bective team:
Sean Fitzpatrick, Max Greif, Cormac Gorman, Harry Smith, Adam Cully, Dylan Kieran, Seamus O’Neill, James Donnelly, Ferdia, Maguire, Sean Manning, David Donnelly, Alex Connick, Niall Tully, Oisin Deens Crooke, Joseph Mullen, also Conor Flanagan, James Dowdall, Lucas Kubinec, Aaron King, Sean Crinion, Reece Gargan, Conor Traynor, Patrick Gorman and Anthony Dwyer.
