Good Counsel are Leinster U14 ‘A’Football Champions
Good Counsel College 7 – 9 ………. St Mels 3 – 5
Good Counsel College blitzed St. Mels with a stunning second half display in O Moore Park, Portlaoise to capture the Leinster juvenile ‘A’ football title. Good Counsel regained the title for the first time since 2002. The game started at a frantic pace with St. Mels forward division looking very dangerous. St. Mels didn’t take long to raise the first flag. Within two minutes Mels had raced into a 1-1 to no score lead. St. Mels no.11 drove through the centre of the Counsel defence to score a fantastic goal. St. Mels completely dominated the first 15 minutes of the game. Mels full forward was proving very hard to handle. Good Counsel slowly began to get a foothold in the game with some great work for Counsel’s Lee Norris who defended well and drove out of defence with the ball on a number of occasions. The winners’ first score came in the form of a free from Aaron Diskin who at this stage was deployed as an extra man in defence to curb the effect of the threatening Mels forwards.
The Winning Squad
This score from Diskin settled the Good Counsels nerves and they went onto finish the first half strongly. Captain Dylan Carthy Walsh started to exert his influence around midfield and made a couple of very strong runs into the heart of the Mels defence. One such run was rewarded with a fantastic individual goal on 22 mins for the captain. Three minutes later Good Counsel scored their second major of the game after great work by midfielder Sean Stafford who found Michael Bolger who finished to the net in sublime fashion. Good Counsel led 2-1 to 1-3 with the first half drawing to a close, when referee Christy Cooney awarded St. Mels a very soft free after Counsels wing back Adrian Redmond had made a perfectly time tackle to win the ball from Mels no. 12. From the resultant free St. Mels took the free short and the dangerous full forward kicked for a point but the resultant shot dropped short and after a mix up on the Counsel goal line the ball ended up in the net. Mels went in at half time leading by 2 points on a score line of 2-3 to Good Counsels 2-1.
Good Counsel didn’t take long to get into their stride on the resumption of the game. They had three quick chances but put all three wide. St. Mels broke up the field once and their no. 13 scored a good point. At this stage one would not believe what was about to unfold. Good Counsels defence completely sniffed out any threat Mels threw at them and all six of the Counsels backs must take credit for their fantastic defending. It was in midfield where counsel had two men (Carty Walsh and Stafford) who were to be a real driving force and won a lot of possession for their team. Up front Good Counsels forwards took the game to Mels. The forwards work rate and tackling was a joy to watch and this was matched with some cool finishing.
Ten minutes into the second half and Michael Bolger was on the end of a long ball to flick the ball to St. Mels net. This tonic really kicked Good Counsel into gear. Within 3 minutes Pierce Doyle and Aaron Diskin had two good points on the board. It was all one way traffic at this stage and Mels troubles were further compounded when the opportunist, Liam Fennelly, scored another one of his trademark goals. St. Mels could not get out of their own half at this stage as Good Counsel really piled on the pressure. Good Counsel raised another green flag 5 minutes later with a wonderful piece of skill from Counsel’s full forward Cathal Bolger who beat his man with style and the finish to the net was just as stylish. At the stage the large Good Consel following were ecstatic in the stands. However, this was short lived as St. Mel’s no. 13 scored a good goal to leave the score 5-7 to 3-5.
A determined Adam Diskin shakes off his opponent
This score only proved to drive Good Counsel on again. They responded with three brilliant points from the hard working Pierce Doyle and Adam Diskin and the pick of the points was Michael Bolger’s great finish after a wonderful pass from Aaron Diskin. In the final two minute, Good Counsel completely finished the game as a contest when Dylan Darthy Walsh scored his second goal of the game and Cathal Bolger rounded of the scoring with Counsels seventh goal of the contest.
Following the final whistle, Good Counsel’s large following rushed onto the pitch to embrace the newly crowned Leinster champions after a heroic second half display. To name out individuals for their performances would be unfair as all of Good Counsels players, from one to fifteen, can be very proud of the fine display especially in the second half. Chairman of the Leinster Council presented Good Counsels College captain Dylan Carthy Walsh the Blackthorn cup.
Scorers – Michael Bolger 2-1, Dylan Carty Walsh 2-0, Cathal Bolger 2-0, Aaron Diskin 0-5, Liam Fennelly 1-0, Pierce Doyle 0-2, Adam Diskin 0-1.
Team:
Kevin Murphy, Darren Carthy , Donncha O’ Connor , Liam Hennessy, Lee Norris, Robert Vallejo, Adrian Redmond, Sean Stafford, Dylan Carty Walsh (Captain), Michael Bolger, Aaron Diskin, Adam Diskin , Pierce Doyle, Cathal Bolger, Liam Fennelly .
Replacements:
John Walsh, Cian O Donoghue, James Kinsella, John Caulfield, Dale Flynn, Luke Kent, John Martin Carroll , James Furlong, Dean Kehoe, Christopher Cullen , Stephen Stafford, Patrick Trainor, Garrett Mahon , Garrett Browne, Stephen O Gorman, Michael Rowe, Daire Barden, Laurence Roche, Patrick Roche, Niall Stafford, Luke Kent.
