Late penalty seals the U20 Patrick Dinsmore Cup for Mayobridge
Patrick Dinsmore Down U20 Championship Final: Mayobridge 1-11 Liatroim 0-12
Mayobridge celebrated with abandon at a rain-drenched Fontenoy Park on Sunday where they retained their Patrick Dinsmore U20 Championship title with a last-gasp win over Liatroim.
A late-late penalty secured the victory over a heartbroken Liatroim side who led from the start right up until that stoppage time winner.
A couple of two-point scores saw the Fontenoys go into the break two points to the good - 0-7 to 0-5.
They stretched the advantage to four in the second half against the heavy favourites but the last quarter was a ferocious battle, with both mud-covered sides giving it their all.
The Bridge clawed their way back, narrowing the margin to a point with 60 minutes on the clock, but Brian Grant saved the day for the Sky Blues when he scored from the spot in the dying seconds.
Mayobridge were playing into the wind and driving rain in the first half but they opened the scoring courtesy of a John Joe O’Hare free in the first minute.
Liatroim almost had the ball in the net moments later but it was put out for a ‘45 that DJ Farrell sent between the sticks. The same player converted a free out of his hands and then raised the first orange flag of the day to give Liatroim an 0-4 to 0-1 lead.
The Bridge were playing catch-up for the rest of the half, with three more O’Hare frees cancelled out via another two-point score from Chris Kelly McEvoy and a point from Joe McCrickard.
A goal chance came and went for the Bridge just before half-time when a ball in by Grant dropped dangerously into the square where it was fisted away for a Darragh O’Keefe point. That made it 0-5 to 0-7 at the short whistle and Liatroim extended their lead to five after the restart when McEvoy nailed another two-point free and McCrickard added a single.
The Bridge battled back bravely however, aided by the introduction of some new legs including the influential Corey Clerkin. He missed his first point effort but scored his second from a free, followed by a two-pointer off the boot of Daniel Clarke with 47 minutes on the clock.
McEvoy replied at the other end with a superb run and score but O’Keefe went one better raising an orange flag to narrow the margin to a point 0-11 to 0-10.
It truly was an epic finish to an excellent hard-fought game of football, with both sides battling for every ball as the clock wound down. Traded points between Manus Middleton and Clerkin kept Liatroim in front by the minimum but the championship-winning penalty was won in a goalmouth scramble a minute into the two added on and Grant booted into the roof of the net leaving Darragh McCrickard with no chance of a save.
The whistle blew moments later and Mayobridge were presented with the Patrick Dinsmore Cup once again.
Scorers
Mayobridge: JJ O’Hare (04,4f), B Grant (1-0), D Clarke (0-2,1tp), C Clerkin (0-2,2f), D O’Keefe (0-3, 1tp)
Liatroim: C Kelly McEvoy (0-5, 1tp, 1tpf), DJ Farrell (0-4, 1tp, 1f,1’45), J McCrickard (0-2), M Middleton (0-1)