Fantastic finish guides Gallen CS to Leinster title

Gallen Community School Ferbane have realised their dream of a provincial crown after putting in a scintillating performance to beat Mountmellick Community School in a fantastic Leinster senior football D final.

Leinster Colleges SFC ‘D’ Final

Gallen Community School Ferbane 0-13

Mountmellick Community School 1-5

The sides were in the picturesque surrounds of Heywood College, Abbeyleix on Saturday afternoon, where both teams did themselves proud.

The turning point in the game came ten minutes from time, when Adam Hunt was sent off, tipping the scales in favour of Ferbane. Mountmellick badly missed Hunt’s dynamism and physicality in the final passage of the game and Ferbane took full advantage.

The Offaly school showed their pedigree in the previous round, running out 18-point winners over Dublin school, St Joseph’s Rush on an astonishing scoreline of 2-15 to 1-0. Mountmellick, meanwhile, came into the game as the newly crowned South-Leinster champions.

The Laois school were quick out of the traps and almost had a goal inside the first 30 seconds, only for the crossbar to deny Hunt, but a free from Rory Lawlor opened the scoring soon after.

Ferbane had plenty of chances to get off the mark, but their shooting deserted them in the early goings. Mountmellick were putting 12 players behind the ball in defence, and Ferbane struggled to break them down.

A free from Hunt extended the Mountmellick lead before they raised the game's first and only green flag in the 16th minute when Oisin Lawlor forced the ball over the line after a nervous goalmouth scramble.

Ferbane were awarded a penalty just two minutes later, but Ruairi Woods' shot was excellently saved by Roy Lawlor, who got right down to the bottom corner with a strong right hand.

But the miss flicked a switch in the Ferbane psyche, who scored six points without reply in the final eight minutes of the half to lead by one at the break. A free from Luke Kelly got the ball rolling before Lee Moore, Conor Grennan, and two from Colm Egan brought the sides level.

Another free from Kelly right on the stroke of half time gave the Offaly school a lead of 0-6 to 1-2.

Adam Hunt brought Mountmellick level four minutes after the restart, but it was cancelled out almost immediately by his opposite number, Eoghan Grennan. Ferbane picked up the tempo midway through the half as Lee Moore and Brian Carroll kicked their team into a three-point lead.

Mountmellick were beginning to mount a fightback, but were reduced to 14 men when Hunt was shown the red card in the 50th minute, which proved to be decisive. Colm Egan dropped to the ground after an incident off the ball. The referee conferred with his linesman and after careful deliberation, produced the dreaded red card.

Niall Lawlor pointed a free moments later as Mountmellick refused to lay down, but Ferbane replied with three points on the bounce thanks to Kelly, Egan and Luke Fitzgerald. Mountmellick pushed for a goal towards the end and almost had the ball in the net thanks to Rory Lawlor, but Ferbane cleared the ball off the line for the second time in the game.

The sides traded a free apiece, and after seven minutes of injury time the final whistle blew to give Ferbane the victory. Captain Conor Grennan was the man of the match and got his hands on the trophy to close out a historic day for his school.

SCORERS - Gallen CS Ferbane: Colm Egan 0-4 (one free), Luke Kelly 0-3 (all frees), Lee Moore 0-2, Conor Grennan, Luke Fitzgerald, Eoghan Grennan and Brian Carroll 0-1 each. Mountmellick CS: Oisin Lawlor 1-0, Niall Lawlor (two frees) and Adam Hunt (one free) 0-2 each, Rory Lawlor 0-1 (free).

GALLEN CS FERBANE: Eoin Coughlan (Ferbane); Jake Maher (Ferbane), Darragh Manion Shannonbridge), Brandon Delaney (Pullough); Eamon Maher (Ferbane), Luke Fitzgerald (Doon), James Wren (Ferbane); Conor Grennan (Ferbane), Michael Spillane (Ferbane); Ruairi Woods (Ferbane), Eoghan Grennan (Ferbane), Luke Kelly (Doon); Colm Egan (Ballycumber), Lee Moore (Ferbane), Brian Carroll (Ferbane). Subs: Senan Hanniffy (Doon) for Woods (23), Gavin Egan (Ferbane) for Spillane (45, inj), Rory Dunican (Ferbane) for Mannion (54).

MOUNTMELLICK COMMUNITY SCHOOL: Roy Lawlor; Darra Grehan, Ben O’Keeffe, Tom O’Connell; Niall Lawlor, Robbie McEvoy, Sean Lawlor; Jim Scully, Rory Grehan; Ryan Conran, Adam Hunt, Aidan Byrne; Corey Holohan Lawlor, Rory Lawlor, Oisin Lawlor. Subs: Niall Conroy for Holohan Lawlor (52), Michael Hyland for Conron (54).

REFEREE: Lee Moore (Kildare).