U16 'B' All County Hurling Final
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Kickhams
8-17
St. Gall's
2-09
In perfect autumnal sunshine and with only a goal separating the teams at half time, it was all to play for in the second half of this all county U16 B final at Corrigan Park. However, a brace of goals early into the second half by Kevin Small put paid to the St Galls challenge. In the end the Creggan men ran out comfortable winners but they didn’t get things all their own way especially in the early exchanges.
Creggan got off to a great start clipping over four points without reply, Dermot Carey (3) and a real beauty from Morgan Nelson. However with the St Galls full back Callum Derby in inspirational form, the Creggan men had to resort to shooting from distance. With the St Galls pair Marcus Donnelly and Phelim Lennon dominating at midfield and their half forward line winning key possession, St Galls kept the score board ticking over with a number of excellent scores. However, the switch of Kevin Small to full forward changed things dramatically. Within minutes Small had fired home the first of his two first half goals. The relentless St Galls pressure did eventually pay off when they breached the Creggan defence with a super goal from Phelim Lennon. Small struck for his second goal late in the half and both teams traded a number of points to leave the Creggan men a goal to the good at half time.
The second half was in its infancy when Small struck for this third and fourth goals which effectively killed off the St Galls challenge. With Ciaran Rice now operating at full back and Kealan McCann revelling in his new role at centre half forward, the Creggan men were now in total control. However the Milltown men got just reward for their endeavours when the full back Callum Derby, now turned poacher, collected a high ball and raised the roof of the net. In the end the slicker passing and striking of the Loughshore men seen them stroll to victory.
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