18/09/05 South Antrim U16 Football Final - St. Pauls

Gort na Mona 2:09 (15) St. Johns 0:11

Gort na Mona won the South Antrim U16 Football title on Sunday by four points over near neighbours St.Johns. This was a game where the strong wind played a large factor in the pattern of play. The first half saw a wind assisted Gort na Mona steadily climb into a strong lead. Two well worked and well taken goals by Gort na Mona’s Joe McDonald and substitute D.McNally in the fifteenth and twenty first minutes put the Gorts in a strong half time lead of 2:06 to 0:03. But the second half saw a strong resurgence from St. Johns in the first quarter but three misses from very pointable frees were to cost them dearly. Gort na Mona held their defense strongly during the second half and repeatedly beat off St. John’s attacks which relied too heavily on Brian Neeson.

Gort na Mona’s attack showed greater sharpness and penetration in the last quarter of the pitch and the two first half goals from McNally and McDonald were to prove the vital strikes on the day. Gort na Mona had good performances from Brendan Cousins, Padraig McHugh, Kevin Campbell, Dermot McVeigh, Stephen McCaffrey, Jim Donnelly, Joe McDonald and D.McNally. St. Johns had good performances from Declan McVeigh, Aodhan Mulholland, Adrian Downey, Conor Kearney and Brian Neeson.

Gort na Mona :1.John McCoubrey 2.Denis Austin 3.Brendan Cousins 4.Gavin McKenna, 5.Kevin Campbell 6.Gary Doyle 7.Padraig McHugh 8.Sean Hyland 9.Jim Donnelly 10.Gareth Armstrong 11.Dermot McVeigh 12.Dessie Lennon 13.Stephen McCaffrey 14.Joe McDonald 15.Sean Paul Crothers Substitutes: 22 D.McNally for 15.Sean Paul Crothers 10 minutes.

Gort na Mona Scorers: Joe McDonald 1:03, Stephen McCaffrey 0:04(1f), D.McNally 1:0,Dermot McVeigh 0:01.Jim Donnelly 0:01(1f)

St. Johns 1.Jimmy Darragh 2.Tommy McDonald 3.Aodhan Mulholland 4.Adrian Downey 5.Paul Austin 6.David McGarrity 7.Tomas Shannon 8.Eoghan Caldwell 9.Declan McVeigh 10.Brian Neeson 11.Anthony Moore 12.Gerard Carberry 13.Conor Kearney 14.Gary Stone 15.Pierce Donnelly

Substitutes:16.Stephen Tierney for Tommy McDonald 40 minutes.. 17.Sean Lawell for Gerard Carberry 45 minutes. Substitutes Not Used: 18.Niall McGlinchey, 19.Ciaran Lavery, 20.Daire Maskey 21.James Smyth 22.David Holland 23.Danny Best 24.Joe Joe Garland, 25.Francis McCrudden 26.Conal McGlade.

St. Johns Scorers: Brian Neeson 0:09(7f) Anthony Moore 0:01, Gerard Carberry 0:01.