Abbey Rangers U16s Secure Silverware!

Post date: Sep 16, 2019 6:17:16 PM

UNDER 16 D CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL - ABBEY RANGERS v MILLTOWN - HAWKFIELD - 13th September 2019

On Friday night Abbey Rangers continued their remarkable achievement of winning a county title every year since the Kildangan / Ballykelly amalgamation was formed five years ago. Our Under 16 footballers took on our old rivals Milltown and finished the night with the Abbey Rangers name engraved on yet another cup.

Having just about overcome the same opposition in the last of our round-robin games a week earlier, we knew Milltown would be a difficult proposition in the final. After a competitive opening five minutes Daragh Byrne opened our account with a free after Rory McGrath had been taken down. Ciaran Byrne doubled our lead with a long range point soon after but that was to be our last score for almost fifteen minutes as Milltown took control of the game.

Six unanswered points left us trailing by four and battling to stay in the game. On the right side of our defence Cormac Finnegan and Cole Grattan were being put under constant pressure but they fought hard to limit the Milltown threat. It looked like the situation was about to get much worse when the Milltown corner forward was put through for a goal but Sean Fitzgerald dived to his left and managed to turn the ball outside the post with a fantastic save.

Joe Walsh and Mark O’Donovan managed to get our scoreboard ticking again but Milltown quickly restored their four point advantage as the half was coming to a close. Joe Broughall then broke down a Milltown attack and set Mark O’Donovan off on a winding run that ended with Jack Curran passing to Stephen Whyte who blasted the ball to the net to leave us just a point down at the break.

On the re-start Milltown stretched their lead to two before they had a man black carded for a foul on Mark O’Donovan. Our lads took full advantage of their temporary disarray and scored three points in quick succession to go one ahead. Milltown to their credit rose again and scored three on the trot to restore their two point advantage. John Kelly and Russell Grattan were battling hard in the heart of our defence and these two players started a move that ended with Ciaran Byrne reducing the deficit to just the minimum once more.

With just five minutes left Milltown went two ahead again and Oisin Irvin came close to getting an all important goal but his shot went just outside the post. As we missed a couple of scoring chances it looked like the game was slipping away from us but the real drama of the night was just about to unfold.

Eoin Callan pounced on a break from a Milltown kick out and broke the ball to Mark O’Donovan. Mark weaved his way through the Milltown defence before putting the ball in the top corner of the net to put us one ahead as we entered injury time.

A free from the resulting kick out was pointed by Cian Murtagh and Daragh Byrne made sure of it with our final score to leave it 2.10 to 0.13 in favour of Abbey Rangers as the final whistle blew.

This was an enthralling contest from start to finish as the balance of power shifted marginally from one side to the other. While the 1.2 in the dying minutes obviously clinched the game for us, Stephen Whyte’s goal just before half time and Sean Fitzgerald’s save when we were four points behind were both critical moments in the winning of the game. This was a superb victory and the lads deserve great credit for their commitment and ability.

Abbey Rangers

Sean Fitzgerald, Cormac Finnegan, John Kelly, Joe Broughall, Cole Grattan, Russell Grattan, Eoin Callan, Ciaran Byrne (0.2), Daragh Byrne (0.3), Cian Murtagh (0.2), Joe Walsh (0.2), Mark O’Donovan (1.1), Stephan Whyte (1.0), Jack Curran, Rory McGrath. Subs: Oisin Irvin, Danny Holohan, Conor Callan, Stephen Murtagh, Cian O’Dowd (injured) & Josh Wallace (injured).

Report by Declan McGrath