Kildare beat Galway to lift Fr. Manning Cup
Kildare captain Sean O'Carroll lifts the Fr. Manning Cup Photo: Ger McNally
Galway have long been a county to hold the Indian sign over Kildare but history proved no barrier for this young Lilywhite side as they held on to win an exciting Fr. Manning Cup Final in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, Longford this afternoon.
This long-standing competition sees Under 16 inter-county teams pit their wits against each other and is seen as the ideal preparation for the following season’s Minor Football Championships.
Kildare reached three finals in a row in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and it was third time lucky as they enjoyed their only success when an Alex Beirne and Paddy McDermott led team beat Roscommon in the ’17 decider.
The current year’s squad, managed by Johnny Donnelly, added a second Fr. Manning Cup for the county after a high scoring final. The win perhaps should have been a little more comfortable for Kildare after they led by nine points at half-time but they had to withstand a strong Galway second-half onslaught before getting over the line.
Galway started on top with a goal through Andrew Finnerty and a point by Ethan Downey the opening two scores of the game.
It didn’t take long for Kildare to get on top, however, as impressive midfield duo Ollie Hanniffy and Peter Dunne took a stranglehold of the game.
While they won the possession, Kildare had a forward line that was itching to cause problems and after Conor Bagnall and Finnerty swapped points, Kildare went on a run of six successive points.
Eventual man of the match Alan Thompson scored two of those, and had a hand in a couple of others as Kildare showed an impressive swagger while pushing forward. They should have had at least one goal during that spell as well but both Hanniffy and Daniel Britton Milner were denied by Galway goalkeeper Fionn Higgins.
Influential Raheens forward Thompson was provider when that goal did eventually arrive when he fed the ball inside and wing-back Aidan Killian shot low to the bottom corner of the net to make it 1-9 to 1-4 after 24 minutes.
Kildare got their second goal three minutes later. Once more Thompson was at the heart of it and after a lovely jinking run along the end line, he punched the ball across the face of the goal and Jack O’Connell was able to palm in at the back post.
Galway almost replied instantly with a goal of their own but goalkeeper Charlie McCaffrey was quickly off his line to block Finnerty’s shot.
There was still time in the closing stages before the referee’s half-time whistle for Kildare to land the best point of the half. Needless to say, Thompson was the provider but really it was all about the finish as Castledermot forward Tadhg O’Gorman curled over a delightful shot from near the left sideline and Kildare headed to the dressing room with a 2-12 to 1-6 lead.
Galway proved to be a very dogged opponent through the second-half, although they got the benefit of a very marginal call that earned them a penalty after 38 minutes which Brían Adair duly tucked away.
For much of the second half, the Connacht side struggled to close the gap below five points and the Lilywhites surged ahead once again in the 45th minute. Bagnall and O’Connell combined and after scoring Kildare’s second goal, O’Connell fed a similar ball lofted to the Galway back post and this time it was Dean Hanniffy Murnaghan who arrived in time to palm the ball home, to make it 3-14 to 2-8.
There were some real key moments in the final quarter for Kildare. A 52nd minute point by Thompson came in the face of a real spell of Galway pressure and showed his class again. After Galway struck for their fourth goal in the 59th minute, Peter Dunne showed incredible leadership to win possession from the mark, secure possession and make sure that Galway couldn’t build momentum.
Fittingly, it was Thompson who kicked Kildare’s final point of the game to push them three points ahead but there was still some defending to do and one block by full-back Cameron Cullen stood out as a top-class piece of defending when it came to the stage of the game to throw bodies on the line.
Adair scored an injury-time free but there was no more time for Galway and these young Kildare players held on for a landmark win that will hopefully be just the first of many in a county jersey.
Charlie McCaffrey (Sarsfields, 0-1’45); Sean O’Carroll (Round Towers), Cameron Cullen (Ballymore Eustace), Oscar Chatten (Castledermot), Cillian Delaney (St Kevins), Tadhg Murnane (Castledermot), Aidan Killian (Sallins, 1-0); Ollie Hanniffy (Moorefield), Peter Dunne (Athy, 0-1); Dean Hanniffy Murnaghan (Moorefield, 1-1), Daniel Britton Milner (Raheens), Jack O’Connell (Rathangan, 1-0), Alan Thompson (Raheens, 0-4), Conor Bagnall (Allenwood, 0-4, 1f), Tadhg O’Gorman (Castledermot, 0-5, 2fs). Subs: Cillian Gilroy (Ballymore Eustace) for McCaffrey, h/t; Jimmy Anderson (Aylmer Gaels) for O’Connell, 51; Kyle Ward-Byrne (Athgarvan) for Murnane, 53; Roan Walsh (Rathangan) for Britton Milner, 56.
Fionn Higgins; Conor Lardner, Oliver O’Suilleabhaín, James Colleran 0-2, Noah Griffin, Ruairí Daly, Cian Maloney; MacDara Donnellan, Fionnán Kelly; Noah McGowan, Andrew Finnerty 1-2 (1m), Ethan Downey 0-2, Brían Adair 1-4 (1-0pen, 4fs), Luke Barry, Cóil Mac Con Iomaire 1-1. Subs: Niall McHugh 1-0 for Barry, h/t; Jamie Butler for McGowan, 45; Eoin Healy for Maloney, 50.
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While this game was being played in Longford, a second group from the same grade beat Wexford in the O’Donovan Cup in Manguard Park by 1-14 to 1-7 with the scores by Ryan Byrne 1-1, Eoin Nugent 0-4, Charlie Holohan 0-3, Neil Redmond 0-2, Zac Kearney 0-2, Sean Óg Finn 0-1, Daniel Moran 0-1.
