All Britain Junior Club Football Final - Thomas McCurtains (London): 1-11, Glasgow Gaels (Scotland): 0-07

 

Thomas McCurtains will be celebrating their centenary as the All Britain Champions after overcoming Scottish Champions Glasgow Gaels in Leeds on Sunday. They are the first London team to capture the title since Fulham Irish in 2006. The game was nip and tuck throughout and the scoreline does not reflect the fact that it was very much in the balance right up to the final few minutes with McCurtains pulling ahead as the game veered towards injury time. The telling difference was the impact of the McCurtains bench with the introduction of the experienced Kevin Delahunty and captain John McGuigan before a late goal by his brother Paddy McGuigan put the seal on a famous win for the Essex side.

 

Glasgow were quickest off the mark with a point in the second minute thanks to their centre forward Dawson. A good period of pressure from McCurtains saw them take the lead with two points from the Rafferty brothers (Peter and Johnny). Glasgow responded once again with a point from full forward O’Sullivan. The game would continue in this manner the for the rest of the half. A free from Coffey put McCurtains one ahead, before Dawsons second put Glasgow back on level terms. O’Sullivan would put Glasgow ahead by one again before Peter Rafferty got his second from wing back to peg them back once more. A second free from Coffey had the East Londoners back in front however Glasgow drew level yet again after a fine run and shot from midfielder Duffy. The umpires could not decide if it was over but an intervention from the linesman confirmed the ball was inside the post. McCurtains had the final say after Coffeys third free of the match gave them a one point lead at the break.

 

The second half was slow to get going with the early highlight being a huge collision between Duffy and Hourihane. It was Glasgow who would get the first score of the half on seven minutes with a fine point from Greene put the teams level for the sixth and final time. The game continued to be scrappy with both defences very much on top and scores hard to come by with McCurtains guilty of being slightly more wasteful. It wasn’t until the twentieth minute that they registered their first score of the half when Coffey pointed from another free. Another point from Coffey then put McCurtains two up, at this point the McCurtains subtitutes began to make their impact, a fine run and shot from midfielder Tommy Clarke put the Macs three ahead as the game ticked over to injury time. But this was far from the last action as both teams then swapped scores with a Johnny McGuigan point from McCurtains cancelled out by Greenes third. As Glasgow pushed forward for an equaliser McCurtains began to catch them on the counter and Johnny Rafferty fired over for his second after good work from Winters to score the insurance point. Paddy McGuigan rounded off the proceedings as he surged forward from centre back to get on the end of a great team move and gave the keeper no chance as he slotted it in the back of the net from close range.

 

In their long history there will not have been many better days than Sunday for McCurtains and it was a fitting way to round off their 100 years of existence. Ellis and Moran were tigerish at the back with Paddy McGuigan and Ryan providing good cover to their full back line. Tommy Clarke was the pick of the four midfielders with man of the match Colm O’Neill and Johnny Rafferty being the pick of the forwards. For Glasgow a disappointing end to what has been a great year after they ended Connollys long reign as Scottish kingpins and this years run no doubt stand to them in the coming years, Murphy and Ryan were outstanding in the full back line, whilst up front they were best served by Dawson, Greene and O’Sullivan.

 

Teams: Thomas McCurtains: C Mulrennan; R Ellis, D Ryan; C Moran; B Hourihane, P McGuigan (1-0), P Rafferty (0-2); T Clarke, N Coffey (0-5, 5f), S Murphy, J Rafferty (0-2), C O’Neill; M Clarke, C Murphy, P O’Neill. Subs: J Winters (for S Murphy 30); J McGuigan (0-2, for M Clarke 40); K Delahunty (for Hourihane 49); N Daly (for O’Neill 52); J Breen (for C Murphy 55).

 

Glasgow Gaels: P Ferris; S Ryan, D Kellegher, J Murphy; E Leonard, A Kerlin, JP Langan; P Duffy, C Curran; S O’Brien, A Dawson (0-3), D Greene (0-3); S Holland (0-1), J O’Sullivan, R Stevenson. Subs: I Feerick (for O’Sullivan 35); J Stewart (for Langan 45); J O’Brien (for Holland 49); R Slavin (for Kellegher 56).

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