Minors suffer heavy defeat in final

Post date: Oct 01, 2011 3:51:53 PM

MFC final:

Edenderry 0-2 3-16 Ferbane

Edenderry minors suffered a very heavy defeat on Saturday in the minor final at the hands of Ferbane in O'Connor Park, Tullamore. From start to finish Ferbane were the far superior side and there can be absolutely no arguments regarding the outcome.

Edenderry never got going and it took 32 minutes of play before they registered their first score. Ferbane made a strong start to the game and with nine minutes on the clock they held a four point to no score lead. In the thirteenth minute Ferbane hit their fifth point of the day after a goal line clearance from Cormac Hurley. Perhaps the score of the game came in the twenty first minute when a short free kick to midfielder Leon Fox resulted in a huge kick from distance and Ferbane now held a six point lead. Two minutes later Ferbane completed their first half scoring with another point but two minutes later Sean Doyle had very strong claims for a penalty turned down when he was clearly fouled. In the thirty second minute of play Sean Moriarty was fouled and this time the free was awarded to which Sean Doyle made no mistake. The half time whistle went and despite the six point lead held by Ferbane, Edenderry certainly didn't feel the game was over at this stage.

Half time:

Edenderry 0-1 0-7 Ferbane

The second half started similar to the first half and with just ten minutes played the game was over as a contest and it was more about damage limitation. The opening ten minutes saw Ferbane score 1-4 without reply, three of those points from frees. Sean Doyle scored his and Edenderry's second in the twelfth minute but the pressure began to pile on Edenderry as Ferbane simply carved them open with ease. In the sixteenth minute Cormac Hurley produced another fantastic save but three minutes later Ferbane did find the net, not once but twice. With the score-line now reading a very grim 3-11 to 0-2 the reds knew it was not to be their day and things got worse in the final four minutes when Ferbane hit another five points without reply.

Full time:

Edenderry 0-2 3-16 Ferbane

In what was a great year for the minors having been written off from day one it was a fantastic achievement to reach the final but on the day their performance was simply not up to scratch and Ferbane were fully deserving of their comprehensive win. Cormac Hurley in the goals pulled off numerous saves as he has done throughout the year and had he not been on such good form, this result could have been even worse.

Referee: Fergal Smyth

Team Sheet:

Cormac Hurley, Aaron O'Connell, Shane Cronin, Matthew O'Grady, Gary Blong, Peter O'Neill, Daniel Nolan, Evan Kelly, Cian Lawton, Sean Moriarty, Aaron McDonnell, Andrew Forde, Mark Nolan, Sean Doyle(0-2), Oran Lawton.

Subs used: Mikie Clear for Mark Nolan, Ross Mangan for Mikie Clear, Mark Nolan for Oran Lawton, Jamie Dolan for Shane Cronin(inj), Ciaran Farrell for Matthew O'Grady(inj)

Subs: Alex Kenny, Eoin Kelliher