Clonmore 3-16
Tinryland 0-9

By Kieran Murphy

A SUPERB second-half team performance carried Clonmore to this U16 Division 2 final success in Netwatch Cullen Park on Thursday. Their opponents put it up to them in the opening half but Tinryland had no answers in the second period.
The eventual winners opened brightly with a point each from Rory Maguire and Jake Hickey. Inspired by the classy looking Ronan Curran who found the posts on two occasions Tinryland found their feet. Dinny Farrell and Cormac O’Brien did well while Maurice Lawler in goal made one great run out the field, linked with a colleague and as he finally made his way back between the posts the Tinryland crowd roared their approval.
Their optimism carried into the players and they held a 0-5 to 0-2 lead on 14 minutes.
The pre-match favourites refused to be rattled as they hit back with an equalising goal from Daniel Cashen. Dylan Doyle then picked out Keith Bowes whose point nudged Clonmore ahead. It began to look ominous for Tinryland when Doyle himself and Eoin Byrne pointed. O’Brien hit back for Tinryland while Curran built for himself a six-point tally from frees and play in the first half.
A Jordan Tallon successfully converted free, which he drew on himself, helped Clonmore into a 1-8 to 0-8 interval lead.
It could possibly have been more as a number of goal chances were not taken.
It took Clonmore a few minutes to establish themselves after the break. Eoin Byrne and Curran swopped points but from the time Byrne extended the lead with a 38th minute goal there was no stopping the Wicklow-border side. Tallon converted a free and Sean Deay casually knocked over another point as
confidence visibly ebbed from Tinryland. Clonmore were not going to lose this one. Byrne scored his second goal as he completely bossed the half-forward line in the final quarter. He added two points but this was very much a Clonmore team performance.
A great win and one which was cheered to the echo by their large band of supporters.
Clonmore: Melvin Kinch; Sean Tomkins, Rory McKiernan, Oisin Mulvany; Jordan Tallon (0-4, 2fs), Cormac Connolly, Rory Maguire (0-1); Matthew Cullen, Sean Deay (0-1); Jake Hickey (0-1), Eoin Byrne (2-4), Luke Connolly; Dylan Doyle (0-4, 1f), Daniel Cashen (1-0), Keith Bowes (0-1). Subs: Billy Lawlor for Mulvany (39 mins), Robert Bulmer for Hickey (52 mins), Eoin Connolly for Bowes (57 mins), Ciaran Mooney for Doyle (57 mins). Other panel members: Sean Moran, Sean Mulvany, Cooper Sharpe, Jonathan Smith, Conor Mooney
Tinryland: Maurice Lawlor; Mark Walsh, Ben Murphy, Dannan de Burca; Eoin Gannon, Fiach Millward, Jack Murphy; Jonah Dunne, Neung Kelly; Cormac O’Brien (0-1), Dinny Farrell (0-1), Kostya Cahill; Ronan Curran (0-7,5fs), Pavel Cahill, Brian McGrath. Subs: Patrick Regan for McGrath (h/t), Sam Byrne for Walsh (50 mins), Brian Geoghegan for P. Cahill (53 mins), John Dempsey for K. Cahill (53 mins), Adam Nolan for O’Brien (55mins), Rory Walsh for Curran (56 mins). Other panel member: Mark Johnson
Referee: Pat Murphy (Ballinkillen).