County Under 21 'B' Final (Saturday 3-May-97)

Lahardane......................1-14
Ballintubber....................2-6

To win your first major title is always a moment to be treasured. To win it with style and class makes it extra special, and Lahardane, and their huge following in Kiltimagh, on Saturday evening, will treasure this county under 21 'B' title victory over a highly rated Ballintubber side.

Ballintubber will argue, and with a lot of justification that their big names did not perform on the day, but in this kind of mood it was going to take more than a few players turn in big games to deny a Lahardane side who played with cohesion, strength, hunger and spirit which Ballintubber only matched occasionally.

And for a while it seemed that Lahardane would fail for the same reason as they had been denied in the past - atrocious finishing - as they compiled over a dozen wides, a figure which seemed much too exorbitant for a final, and certainly way too generous against quality opposition like Ballintubber.

But it was what Lahardane scored in the end that counted and when it came to putting the scores away they had a couple of class acts, notably J.J. Leonard and their tidy forward Declan Leonard who helped himself to 1-4.

They also had a very strong midfield partnership in James Gillespie and Shane Blake, the former scoring four tremendous points, while at the back the name Marley appeared three times on the teamsheet, Adrian, who was involved with St. Gerald's college great title, Trevor, the team captain who scored 0-2 and Mervyn who will be very familiar to pupils of Davitt College where he plays football.

All three, along with Anthony McDermott and Anthony Irwin, ensured Ballintubber found scores hard to come by.

In defence the defence came under such pressure in the first half that they conceded two goals, both well executed by Kieran Lally in the 20th minute and, the second from Lyndon Reilly, which came at the worst possible time for Lahardane - on the stroke of half time.

An interval deficit of 2-4 to 0-6 was a daunting task, particularly when you had sufficient chances to be much closer.

But if ever a team rolled up their collective sleeves and upped their performance for a second half it was this Lahardane side who really took control at midfield and held Ballintubber to just two second half points, both of them coming inside five minutes of the restart.

The scores, from Kieran Lally and Brian Donnelly, extended Ballintubber's lead to five points, but by the 17th minute of that second half, Lahardane had not only reeled Ballintubber back in, but went ahead by two points - 2-6 to 1-11.

J.J. Leonard (two points), a superb fifty from Gillespie and a Declan Leonard point along with a powerful goal from the same player transformed the game.

Ballintubber did have a chance to pull back an important point but Lyndon Reilly's effort came off the post and that only provided further evidence for Lahardane that it was to be their day but not before their hearts stopped for a moment when Ballintubber were awarded a penalty which would have tied the game with five minutes to go after Alan Staunton was fouled in the square, but Daire Nolan got down well to save and hold Lyndon Reilly's penalty.

Declan Leonard and Trevor Marley polished off a fine team performance with a point each as Lahardane's richly deserved day in the sun arrived.

Ballintubber will be disappointed at failing to collect the trophy for the second successive year, but they came up against a much hungrier team on a day when the Ballintubber stars failed to shine despite the laudable efforts of John Feeney, Patrick Lally, Richard Molloy, Lyndon Reilly, Brian Donnelly and Kieran Lally.

Lahardane: D. Nolan, A. Marley, A. Irwin, T. Marley (0-2); A. McDermott, M. Marley, J. Gillespie (0-4); Shane Blake (0-1); J. Rowland, Damien Kelly, J.J. Leonard (0-2); Declan Leonard (1-4); Vinnie Cawley (0-1).

Ref.: J. Walsh (Claremorris).