The proverbial, beaten by a better team was the consensus following Saturday’s Ulster Final of The Paul McGirr Competition. The young blues, who entered the competition as Down County U16 Champions had already made club history as the first team in 30 years to lift the County Championship title and bring it back to the ‘Point.’ Manager Darren Rice had most certainly got his men in tip top form throughout the league and Championship campaign and their motivation, dedication and passion for the game could not be questioned.
The young team, management and their loyal army of supporters made the long journey to Dromore Co. Tyrone, four Saturday’ in November/December to compete in the prestigious Paul McGirr Competition, something with the management and team were very proud to be part of. The boys competed at the top of their game and for many of them, they were juggling this along with schools football and All Star Trial Campaigns giving every minute they had to football.
On Saturday 3 December the team, along with a massive crowd of loyal supporters made the final Journey to Dromore to take to the pitch as Ulster Finalists, nerves were at an all time high, but paired with excitement the team were ready to take on the biggest game of their young playing careers. Upon throw in the boys knew they were up against some very stiff competition and within the first 15 minutes the Donegal men went 1.02 up against a scoreless Warrenpoint side who had already kicked four wides. However some excellent defending by Shea Madden stopped two more goals and the blues opened their scoring with a fine point from skipper Eoghan Byrne again following some excellent defending from young Sean O’Hare. Conor Lavery also got his name on the score sheet following a close range point to leave it 1.05 to 0.02 after 27 minutes. Not giving up, on the brink of half time, the magnificent Carr drove the ball into the back of the net following a superb pass from Eoghan Byrne to put the young blues right back in the game. Following brilliant defensive play from Jamie Lynch and Shea Madden the point boys held the Donegal men to a 1.06 to 1.02 scoreline at half time.
No doubt the management team had some strong words to have with the boys at half time and following this half time talk the young blues came out on the pitch to try and right some of their five first half wides. The point started strong and were again denied by the woodwork in the first few seconds of the half and another attack from Letterkenny was denied on the goal mouth by Shea Madden followed by a superb save by keeper young Ryan Haughey who has had a fantastic season in nets for the team. At this stage key player Sean O’Hare was replaced due to injury and the point boys quickly gathered themselves.
Ten minutes into the second half saw disaster strike as the St Eunan’s men found the net twice in seconds to put them 3.06 to 1.02 ahead. Conor Lavery opened the second half scoring for the blues with a classy point after 12 minutes, but it was apparent at this stage that it just wasn’t the Point’s’ day when key man Jamie Lynch was taken off injured and after 53 minutes the score was 4.09 to 1.03. The point men kept fighting and points from Aaron McBurney and Eoghan Byrne left the final score 6.10 to 1.06, a scoreline which most certainly did not reflect the workrate of our County Champions.
Following the game, manager Darren Rice spoke of his immense pride in the team, management and the club for their support. “Nothing was too much, anything we asked for we got from the players, the club, the parents. It is amazing how the whole community pulled in behind us, the support has been unreal, nothing we ever imagined. It’s hard, today is a tough pill to swallow, we seen it, it was within our grasp but we were beaten by a better team. We couldn’t have asked the boys for anything else, they put their heart and soul into that jersey, that team, they left everything they had on the pitch and for the we eternally proud.” Darren went on to congratulate St Eunan’s Letterkenny on their win and thank all involved in the tournament, “ it was a privilege to be involved in such a well run, prestigious and truly GAA tournament which has at its heart all things good about the GAA. We thank the McGirr family and all at Dromore GAA for their hospitality and professionalism this past few weeks and hope to see them again soon.”
Congratulations to Darren, Daniel, Conrad, Gary and Martin who lead this team to a County Championship and an Ulster Final, a team to watch out for.
