St: Eunan’s College, Letterkenny 3/1 De La Salle College, Waterford
Chris Flanagan (10), Cathal McDaid (16), Michael Millar (80) Connor Whittle (76)
ST: EUNAN’S COLLEGE, LETTERKENNY were crowned Umbro FAI Schools All Ireland Junior Boys Champions this afternoon following a close encounter with Waterford’s De La Salle College at the Oscar Traynor Complex, Coolock:
Both teams began the contest well but it was Michael Harkin’s side that took the lead in the tenth minute when Chris Flanagan volleyed the ball into the top corner, leaving keeper Paul O’ Sullivan stunned: The Northern side were one goal to the good: De La Salle went looking for an equaliser and responded positively with Joshuah Aimiuhi acting as the danger man: Unfortunately his efforts on goal were wide of the target for the Waterford student:
It wasn’t until six minutes later that St: Eunan’s doubled their lead with Cathal McDaid receiving a loose ball from a lacklustre De La Salle midfield: His left footed shot beating the keeper once more:
De La Salle fought back bravely with some excellent link up play between underage International Connor Whittle, Andrew Phelan and Aimiuhi: It was Aimiuhi that came closest to scoring next for the Waterford side, his header going narrowly wide on 27 minutes:
Some strong running by Cathal McDaid saw St: Eunan’s narrowly miss out on a third of the afternoon moments before the interval
2/0 at half time
De La Salle came out a much stronger team in the second half with mentor Maurice Brady giving some encouraging words at the break: A scramble in the box five minutes into the half saw Whittle and Niall McCabe striking goal/ward however the St: Eunan defence were well coached in dealing with such threats and averted the danger impressively:
The Waterford students continued to apply the pressure, and their hard work eventually paid off with four minutes remaining when Connor Whittle headed home from an in swinging corner kick: Could the final minutes produce an equaliser for the Brady bunch?
Nervous times for the St: Eunan’s fans as time ticked on:
De La Salle had an opportunity scorned to produce a wonderful equaliser as the lively Aimiuhi came one on one with Eunan’s shot stopper Sean Patton: The young Finn Harps keeper, who has had a fantastic season so far, was alert to the challenge and produced a magnificent save: The ball was deflected out to goal scorer Jack Hale but his pressure shot went skyward:
De La Salle were now throwing everything at the Eunan’s defence as they mounted a marvellous comeback in the dying minutes of the game: However, St: Eunan’s absorbed the pressure and got them on the break when substitute Michael Millar produced the Donegal sides third in the eightieth minute, capping off an impressive performance from the Saints:
ST: EUNAN’S COLLEGE, LETTERKENNY: Sean Patton, Eoin Barrett, Daire McDaid, Sean Hume, Jordan McBride, Dale Gorman, Aidan Sweeney, Chris Flanagan, Jason Doherty, Ryan Rainey, Cathal McDaid:
Subs: Jason Quinn, Thomas Grant, Ronan Sweeney, Luke Bonnar, Michael Millar
Teachers: Michael Harkin & Gerard Faulkner
DE LA SALLE COLLEGE, WATERFORD: Paul O’ Sullivan, Shane Mackey, Jack Maher, Dylan Foley, Jack Hale, Connor Whittle, Andrew Phelan, Dessie Hutchinson, Niall McCabe, Joshuah Aimiuhi, Daniel Pender:
Subs: Aaron O’Connor, Maurice Shanahan, Sean Keswick, Evan O’Donnell, Stephen Doheny
Teachers: Maurice Brady & Kevin Moran
REFEREE: Keith Thornton (Dublin)
Report courtesy of Dean Brownless