Eire Og turn on the style to take title
A GRAND SLAM for Eire Og as the same bunch of talented players who had won U-12 (2006) and U14 (2008) in style added the 2010 U-16 FC with yet another outstanding display of attacking football.
However on this occasion one must reserve almost as much praise for brave Tinryland who though they have been runners-up to Eire Og on each step of the grand slam have been closing the gap with each passing year.
8-8 to 0-0 in Kildavin four years ago, 5-11 to 0-6 in the 2008 U-14 final, a riot of similar proportions looked on the cards on Wednesday when the town boys romped into a 2-5 to 1-0 lead after just ten minutes.
However with a 13 minutes to go the scoreboard read just 2-10 to 2-6 in Eire Og's favour, the momentum very much with Tinryland who were unlucky not to have procured a third goal.
However Eire Og through alert substitute Kelvin Chatten turned the kick-out after Tinryland's sixth point, the ball worked to dangerous full-forward Jamie Bolger who billowed the net for the clinching goal.
That goal brought Bolger's personal tally to 3-1, his first two goals coming as early as the 6th and 10th minutes, the first when he punched a Ronan O'Brien hand-pass to the net after Ross Hennessy had initiated the attack, the second a real rocket having latched on to a clever Cathal Kelly pass.
In between those goals Tinryland had struck for a green flag of their own, Ciaran Townsend ghosting inside the defence to collect a perceptive Marcus Lawlor delivery and dispatch a low shot to the scoreboard end net.
Come half-time Eire Og led 2-8 to 1-2 and the expected easy victory was still 'on' especially as Ronan O'Brien (free) and Mark Furey tacked on early second half points.
Tinryland, though, refused to die and playing with real fire and renewed self belief scored a blistering 1-4 without replay in a six minute burst of brilliance between the 41st and 47th minutes, opportunist Ciaran Townsend accounting for 1-3, the goal, having gathered a long ball, expertly taken.
While Jamie Bolger's third goal stemmed the tide, equally important to Eire Og's survival at that juncture were a couple of crucial interventions by their centre half back Niall Swan.
Apart from a short siesta mid-fielders Chris Blake and Mark Furey were prominent at mid-field for the champions while Ross Hennessy and Cathal Kelly either side of Swan completed an excellent halfback line. The Eire Og attack played the attack football for which the club is famous with Cody Geoghegan kicking three exceptional points from play while Jamie Bolger took the chief scoring honours with that 3-1.
Tinryland the brave will have taken much heart from this performance, they would have been forgiven, given past history, had they lay down but the opposite was the case and for that each and every one of them is to be lauded for coming so close to a major upset. Make no mistake, had the boys in the blue and white hoops scored a third goal during their period of dominance that upset was on.
- LEO McGOUGH At Dr. Cullen Park
