RESULT UPDATE

North board Championship Final

Glinsk 0-11 St Micheals 1.11. (After Extra time)

Our Championship run came to a end on Saturday evening after a titanic battle against St Micheals. Played in Tuam stadium on a excellent surface but in terrible conditions. The 80 plus minutes of entrawling football that both teams delivered was credit to both clubs.

Glinsk facing a strong wind in the first half had thier work cut out, but controlled the ball for the 1st quater and in truth should have been further ahead. Eamon Trayers was denied a Goal by a excellent save in the opening minutes and Jason Connelly had another effort just blaze over the bar. Other scores during that period came from the boot of Morgan Neary. Our defence was touch thight and forced a number of turnovers. St micheals were always going to have a purple patch and that came in the second quater where they took the initiative and scored 4 unanswered points to leave the score 4 points to 3 in favour of St micheal at half time. After the break St Micheals took the fight to us and added 3 points without reply to leave us with a mountain to climb with 15 mins remaining, but this Glinsk team is made of stern stuff and gradually began to eat into the 4 point lead and with each point that went over the roar from the fantastic Glinsk Support grew louder. Glinsk scored 5 points in a row, from Eamon Trayers, Brian Donohue, Fergal dowd and a fantastic point from substitute Cathal dowd to lead by 2 points as the clock ticked towards 60 mins. But the drama was far from over… Glinsk Conceded a soft free before St Micheals scored the leveller as the clock headed towards 3 minutes of injury time played. From the resulting kickout we won a free kick ourselfs but from a very acute angle the ball squeezed agonisingly wide of the left upright. And with that the referee blew his whistle for full time. Players were suffering fatigue now from thier efforts and Pete Lohan and Dermot Morgan were introduced to the action. The 1st half of extra time was a cagey affair with both teams looking to land a decisive blow. St Micheals hit 2 points With Glinsk adding 1 to leave the score at half time in extra time St Micheals 11 points , Glinsk 10 points. Light was fading fast now and the conditions getting worse but still both teams worked hard to try and win the cup for thier team. Fergal Dowd struck a 45 to level the scoreboard for a 5th time and this game looked like it was heading for a penalty shootout. However with 3 minutes remaining the final blow of this epic battle was landed when St Micheals were awarded a penalty which they dispatched to the net. We did force a couple of half opportunities after that but St Micheals held strong for the win.

Naturally our lads were devasted to lose out, especially after falling at the same stage last year but they can take great pride in thier efforts all year and were unlucky not to win this game in normal time. The support we received on Saturday is another example of just how much pride is in our small little club and community. We thank each and every one of you who supported us along the way. Glinsk Gaa would like to acknowledge the kind words from St Micheals captain Frank Daly as he paid tribute to our physio and friend Oleg Doroshkevich who very sadly passed away last week, Oleg would have been with us last saturday and his presence and expertise was missed. We also remembered the late James shevlin in our team talks before the game and we know James would have been looking down with Pride.

Our management team of Stephen Brennan, Tom Dowd, Gordon Sirr deserve massive credit for all they have done for the club and the lads this year, no stone was left unturned. Pete Lohan, Ray Cummins, Emma Curley and Alan Barlow worked tirelessly in the background making sure everything was right for the team for the past 8 months and we thank them also.

A special word of thanks to Gerry Fahy who came in during the year and offered his years of experience and knowledge to the team, something the players responded to very well. Our hardworking committee deserve credit for making sure everything was out in place to help the team to be successful. To our Sponsors ECC Timber, Mervyn Feeney Plant Hire and Central Switchgear a big thank you, This Club is very lucky to have companies such as these supporting us. Finally a word of thanks to Micheal Tiernan and Anthony Brennan for keeping our own pitch in top condition this year.

Team and Panel

A Brennan

D Mannion, K Morgan, C Trayers

R Coyne, P o Boyle, K Kilcommins

B Donohue (0.1) F Dowd (0.2)

G Hegarty, J Fannon, E Trayers (0.2)

J Connelly (0.1) M Neary (0.4) J Connaughton

Subs used – C Dowd (0.1) P lohan, D Morgan.

Panel – D Rattigan (injured) , K Gunning (Injured), A scanlon (injured). A coyne, S Giblin,

E Kilheeney, A connelly, M Connelly, L Reddin, J Feeney.