Brennan bags brilliant hat-trick in U16 final win for Éire Óg
Captain Cormac Murphy leads the celebrations for Éire Óg after their Under 16 Division 1 final win
Éire Óg are the Carlow Under 16 Football Division 1 champions as they produced a match winning first half performance to see off a brave Palatine side at Netwatch Cullen Park on Monday.
Playing with the wind, the hot favourites struck as early as the opening attack from the throw-in when Keelan Brennan raided down the right towards the O’Hanrahan end. His pace took him inside the Palatine defence and he finished well. Adam Haughney added a point for the YIs as a young but willing Palatine side tried to stem the tide. Ronan Dooley landed another point before Palatine opened the scoring thanks to an Owen Fitzharris point from play. He and Donnacha Moran (free) raised further white flags before half-time but, in the meantime, Éire Óg built up a big lead.
By the interval, Keelan Brennan had scored three goals while Oisin Rice also found the net as the eventual winners led 4-7 to 0-3 on the resumption.
In an excruciating disappointing second half, Éire Óg played a possession game failing to do what they had done so well in the first half. Playing into the strong wind had to be a factor but they totally and utterly opted to hold possession. They were physically superior so they were able to do it without too much effort. After 50 minutes all they had to show for was a solitary point and while they would add another two, it was hard to watch.
Instead Palatine kept their opponents honest and came up with two two-pointers one each from Danny McMahon from play and Bobby Mulhern on target from outside the D.
It was a final which Éire Óg were never going to lose but they could well be accused of winning “sans panache” while their opponents died on their shields.
K Brennan 3-0, C Murphy 0-5 (2fs), O Rice 1-0, R Dooley, A Haughney, S Sheehan, S O’Grady, C O’Brien 0-1 each
O Fitzharris 0-3, D McMahon 0-2 (2p), E Mulhern 0-2 (2p), D Moran 0-1.
Cathal Kennedy; Aajay Lawlor, Dan Culleton, Peter Parle; Jamie Doody, Darragh Casey, Callum O’Brien; Brian Louw, Ronan Dooley; Adam Haughney, Cormac Murphy, Senan Sheehan; Keelan Brennan, Jack Travers, Oisin Rice. Subs: Shay O’Grady for Parle (h/t), Zack Kelly for Rice (41), Cian Hennessy for O’Brien (42), Evan McGrath for Travers (47), Sean O’Brien for Lawlor (47).
Joshua Crosby; Alex Broderick, Josh McGrath, Justin Carbery; Cian Dolan, Ben Nolan, Alex McGrath; Nathan Walsh, Conor Whelan; Bobby Mulhern, Owen Fitzharris, John O’Neill; Danny McMahon, Paddy Doyle, Donnacha Moran. Subs: Jack McDonald for Carbery (h/t), Paidi Breen for Whelan (55), Eddie Keenan for Broderick (55), Niall Egan for Doyle (55), Sean Nolan for Fitzharris (58).
Lar Murphy
