Rostrevor
win U16FC
Colm Fitzpatrick
County under 16 FC Final
REDS SHINE IN SECOND HALF
Rostrevor 1-17 Downpatrick 3-3
Rostrevor came into Saturday’s final as
strong favourites to lift their first
county under 16 final in 14 years, and
so it proved in the end with the South
Down champions pulling clear in the
second half to record an emphatic
victory in wretched playing conditions
at Castlewellan on Saturday afternoon.
BATTLE
But they found themselves in a real
battle for the opening thirty minutes
against a brave and spirited Downpatrick
side who were really up for this
decider. And that was despite a dream
start from the South Down double champs.
It couldn’t have looked more ominous or
Hops as Sean Mackin skilfully fly-kicked
the only goal of the game straight from
the throw-in, and then struck a magical
point after having bamboozled the
Downpatrick defence on the left wing six
minutes later. But that was the last big
contribution we saw from the Rostrevor
star who struggled to cope with the
treacherous conditions, and was
well-contained by the splendid defending
of Sean Bell. With Rostrevor unable to
impose their rhythm, Downpatrick drew
level in the 25th minute when
Jarlath Brannigan ripped the ball off a
Reds defender to set up Gerdy Collins
for a good goal, and they even went 2-2
to 1-4 in front just before half time
when a Jarlath Brannigan effort took a
deflection on its way past Brendan
O’Hare.
TURLEY GALLANTRY NOT ENOUGH
Both these goals had been the
end-products of long raking deliveries
from Damian Turley, who had laboured
strenuously to match the influence of
Declan and Damian Magee in the middle of
the park. The thing about the Magee
twins, however, is that there are two of
them. At least! The longer the game wore
on, the more difficult it proved to get
the ball past the increasingly dominant
Rostrevor pair, who ended up with six
points between them, five of them to
Damian. Of the next fourteen points
scored after the Brannigan goal in the
30th minute, Reds hit
thirteen of them. Downpatrick did stay
in the contest in until the 36h minute,
with the clever Stephen Galbraith
equalising after Stephen McVeigh had put
Reds in front once more at the start of
the second half. They even had the ball
in the net, from Garrett Trainor, only
to find it disallowed as a “square
ball”, but anytime they did make it over
the halfway line after this, they made
no impression at all against powerful
central defenders, Gareth Clarke and
Eddie O’Hare.
REDS PULL CLEAR
By the 45th minute, Rostrevor
were comfortably ahead 1-11 to 2-3,
following points from Stephen McVeigh
[2], Declan Magee, Damian Magee and Sean
Mackin, and Downpatrick were lucky not
to have conceded three goals to the
eager Richie Reynolds in the final
quarter. Reynolds had to settle for
points on all three occasions, but by
then it didn’t matter. Hoops did manage
a consolation goal in the final minute,
reward for neat play from Stephen
Galbraith, and they might even had had
another couple in the dying minutes, bit
long before that it was clear that
Rostrevor were worthy champions.
SUPERIOR
Rostrevor were superior in all areas of
the park. Eddie O’Hare and Gareth Clarke
were outstanding at the back.Declan and
Damian Magee commanded midfield. The
hard working Nicholas Mills was the top
performer in attack, with corner
forwards Micheal Mackin and Stephen
McVeigh always threatening.Downpatrick
did some trojan defending in the first
half, especially Mark Slevin, Sean Bell,
James O’Hare and Ciaran Deeney. Damian
Turley got through a power of work in
the middle of the field, while Stephen
Galbraith and Jarlath Brannigan made the
most of what ball came their way. But it
wasn’t nearly enough.
Rostrevor scorers; Damian Magee [0-5];
Sean Mackin [1-2]; Richard Reynolds
[0-3]; Stephen McVeigh [0-2]; Declan
Magee [0-1]; Gareth Clarke [0-1]; Sean
Magee [0-1]; Dermot Morgan [0-1];Kevin
O’Kane [0-1].
Downpatrick scorers; Stephen Galbraith
[1-3]; Gerdie Collins [1-0]; Jarlath
Brannigan [1-0].
Rostrevor team; Brendan O’Hare; Kevin
Mooney, Eddie O’Hare, Paul Burns; Shane
Murney, Gareth Clarke, Sean Magee;
Declan Magee, Damian Magee; Dermot
Morgan, Nicholas Mills, Sean Mackin;
Micheal Mackin, Richard Reynolds,
Stephen McVeigh.
Sub used; Kevin O’Kane for P.Burns.
Downpatrick team; James Deeney; Mark
Slevin, David McAuley, Chrissy Curran;
Eoin Boyle, Sean Bell, James O’Hare;
Neil Cunningham, Damien Turley; Garrett
Trainor, John Connolly, Gerdie Collins;
Stephen Galbraith, Jarlath Brannigan,
Ciaran Deeney.
