GLEN EMMETS 3-7
JOHN MITCHELS 1-8
Kealan O’Neill was the toast of Tullyallen as his hat-trick inspired Glen Emmets to the Junior Championship title.
The Man of the Match display helped his side overcome the determined challenge of the John Mitchels as his side booked their return to the Intermediate ranks.
The Emmets went into the game as strong favourites and at times in the first half it appeared that they would emerge with a comfortable win. However, the Mitchels never gave up and a goal from Gareth Kane had them right back in the mix entering the final quarter, only for O’Neill to strike the decisive goal as he completed the hat-trick to ensure victory for his side.
The game began in explosive fashion as O’Neill opened the scoring with his first goal of the game after just three minutes, and when Conor Grimes and Andrew Mooney added points it looked like the Emmets were cruising.
However, the Ballybailie side gathered themselves and responded with two points from John Gallagher and although Ronan Grufferty pointed at the other end, Gallagher and Kane responded to cut the gap to 1-3 to 0-3 at the water break.
Gallagher followed up with another point to cut the deficit to two, but no sooner had the Mitchels given themselves real hope than O’Neill struck a second goal on 25 minutes. Grimes and Grufferty added points to give their side a commanding 2-5 to 0-4 lead at the break.
When O’Neill stretched the advantage to eight early in the second half, there appeared to be no way back for the Mid Louth side but once again they showed great character to get back into contention. Gallagher fired over two points before Kane found the net on 37 minute to leave just three between the teams.
It remained that way at the second water break, but with 11 minutes remaining O’Neill completed his hat-trick to put his side back in contention.
This time there was no way back for the Mitchels despite Gallagher adding two further points, with Andrew Mooney’s late score sealing a memorable win for the Emmets.
GLEN EMMETS: Conor Kelly; Tom Grimes, Sam Kenny, Cathal Maguire; Keith Boylan, Daniel Grimes, Shane Noone; Andrew Mooney 0-2, Sean Byrne; Davy Bracken, Ronan Grufferty 0-2, Evan English; Eoghan Maguire, Conor Grimes 0-2, Kealan O’Neill 3-1. Subs: Keith Lynch for D Grimes, Robbie Byrne for T Grimes.
JOHN MITCHELS: David Anderson; Aaron Kane, Niall Carroll, Anthony Coyle; Mikey Nulty, Emmet Farrell, Mark Gorman; James Clarke, Carl Courtney; Kevin Gallagher, Trevor Matthews, Andrew Bingham; John Bingham, John Gallagher 0-7, Gareth Kane 1-1. Subs: Leigh Ross for A Coyle, Stephen Campbell for K Gallagher, Conor Reilly for A Bingham, Aaron Keely for G Kane, Alan Mackin, Robert Coyle, Brendan McMahon, Steven Coyle, Stephen Bingham, Michael Quinn, Rory Durnin, Liam Devitt, John Devitt.
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