O’Loughlin Gaels 1-15
Young Irelands Gowran 2-10
An injury-time goal seemed to have rescued Young Irelands & brought the match to extra-time, but O’Loughlin Gaels grabbed two late points to deny the Gowran boys as their Championship hopes ended following a thrilling contest at a packed St. Johns Park this evening.
In a low scoring first-half, scores were at a premium during the opening quarter as O’Loughlins led 0-3 to 0-1.
The game opened up afterwards & three pointed frees by Jim Conlon had drawn Young Irelands level by the 23th minute, but moments later an O’Loughlins goal regained the lead & they led 1-5 to 0-6 at the interval.
O’Loughlins slowly started to gain supremacy throughout the third quarter, & they built up a 1-8 to 0-7 by the 41st minute.
However, the Gowran boys kept plugging away & with Matthew Murray, David Langton & Jake Kelly leading the way, they narrowed the gap to a solitary point with a brilliantly taken goal in the 42nd minute.
The city boys responded & over the next 15 minutes, they outscored Young Irelands 0-5 to 0-1 to build up a 5 point lead entering the last few minutes with victory appearing to be virtually assured. 1-13 to 1-8
However, Young Irelands showed great fighting spirit throughout & points from a Conlon(free) & Billy O’Keeffe narrowed the gap to three points, & after Michael Keating agonizingly missed a goal chance when shooting wide into the side net, they made amends with the levelling goal. 1-13 to 2-10
It was O’Loughlins though that had the final say, as they conjured up two late points to grab victory that they just about deserved.
The Young Irelands U-15 B Team are in Championship action tomorrow night(Thursday) away to John Lockes of Callan at 6.45pm.
