Tory Gaels brought some early Christmas cheer to the neighbouring parishes of Crecora/Manister & Croom following their success over Galbally, in the U21 “A” County Football Final on December 18th, in Bruff. Given the heavy underfoot conditions, the breeze blowing into the town end and with two gifted teams, this was always going to a close encounter. Tory played with advantage of the breeze in the first half and set about building up a solid lead. A string of points throughout the half were well taken through Conor Laffan(0 – 2), Mark Reidy, Micheál Ó’Neill, Conor Burke Gary O’Connell and Cormac Flanagan. Mark O’Kelly and Dean Shinners combined beautifully to create a goal scoring opportunity which just failed to come off. Galbally, with a sweeper system, defended well and tacked three points of their own. Our free man, Kevin Laffan was prominent in these opening exchanges. Would the half-time advantage of 0 – 7 to 0 – 3 be sufficient or would Tory Gaels rue the missed opportunities from the first half?
A key feature of the second period was the excellent work in the mid-field area by Cormac Flanagan, Micheál O Neill and Mark Reidy. This combined with the ball carrying skills of Conor Laffan ensured that Tory stayed on the front foot and took the game to Galbally. Going into the last six minutes, we had opened up a 0 – 11 to 0 – 5 advantage thanks to further scores by M. O’Neill(0 – 1) and Conor Laffan (0 – 3). The expected Galbally fightback resulted in a goal by Michael O’Donovan and thus closed the gap to two points. With the pressure on, our defence was excellent, with Tim & Evan Moloney and Brian Cregan unyielding in the full back line in front of the steadfast Shane O’Connell. Great composure was shown by our youthful half back line of David Macken, Eoin Cregan and Darragh O’ Farrell who consistently worked the ball out of defense. We closed out the game in the opposition’s half and took the County Title on a scoreline of 0 – 11 to 1 – 6.
Captain Tim Moloney, on accepting the Cup from Seamus Twomey, thanked Bruff GAA for their facilities, the referee, Tory Gaels’ coaches, supporters and acknowledged a sporting Galbally side. The win may have come late in the season but “Success comes to those who will and dare”. Well done lads.
Team: Shane O’Connell, Brian Cregan, Tim Moloney, Kevin Laffin, David Macken, Eoin Cregan,Darragh O’Farrell, Micheál O’Neill(0 – 2), Mark Reidy(0 – 1), Gary O’Connell(0 – 1), Cormac Flanagan(0 – 1), Conor Laffan(0 – 5), Dean Shinners, Conor Burke(0 – 1), Mark O Kelly, Evan Moloney for Kevin Laffan, Ryan O’Shea for Mark Kelly, Liam Quirke for Dean Shinners, Shay Dunworth.
