Tir na nOg defeat All Saints in Winter Development Cup final

South West U23 Development League final

Tir na nOg .................... 3-7

All Saints ......................0-8

A strong second half saw Tir na nOg defeat All Saints in the inaugural Under 23 South West Winter Development Cup Final at Dunsilly last week.

In a competitive fixture, Tir na nOg ran out seven point winners though the final score line doesn’t reflect the balance of play.

The Randalstown side, backboned by nine of their senior Championship side were considered slight favourites coming into the game despite All Saints winning the earlier group stage fixture at Whitehill, with all the ingredients there for a real cracker.

The Saints started off brightly and played some good football in the opening half taking an early lead with a good point from Ciaran Campbell before Tir Na Og responded with a free from the reliable Aaron McNeilly.

The Ballymena lads dominated the early exchanges and went into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead with Shaun O’ Callaghan and Ronan McKillop points from play.

Tir na nOg struggled to get their game going and relied on a couple of converted frees from McNeilly to keep in touch but Cal O Brien then scored an excellent point to leave the Saints leading 0-4 to 0-3 at the end of the first quarter.

The Ballymena side then registered three more scores, with a McKillop free followed by a couple from play from O Callaghan before the Randalstown response came in the twenty eight minute with Ciaran O’Neill on target.

All Saints went in with a healthy four point advantage, 0-7 to 0-3 and looked loke repeating that group stage win.

Playing with the breeze in second half, Tir na nOg began to dominate the Saints kick out and registered the first three scores with good points coming from play from Joe McCormack followed by converted frees from Aaron McNeilly and Conor Hastings to level the game at seven each.

The game was now wide open although the Saints were struggling to register on the scoreboard and at the start of the third quarter were hit a devastating blow.

After losing possession in the opposition half, a long ball found Eamon Og McAllister who showed great pace as he raced forward and finished brilliantly to the Ballymena net. This opened up a three point advantage and gave the Whitehill side the lead for first time.

The Saints however continued to probe and closed the gap to two in the twentieth minute with a well taken free from McKillop which, unfortunately for them, proved their final score of the game.

The Slemish Park side then lost talisman McKillop to a black card for the final ten minutes as Tir na Nog struck again. Conor Hastings took advantage of a mistake in the All Saints defence and calmly slotted the ball to the net to open up a five point gap.

As the game approached the end of five minutes of injury time, things got a bit heated and All Saints lost two more players to straight red cards and conceded another late goal, finished to the net by Emmet Murray.

This proved to be a competitive and at times feisty encounter but both clubs will be happy with their performances in this Under 23 developmental competition.

Teams and Scorers:

Tir Na Og: Sean Og McAtamney, Ryan Crilly, Brandon McLarnon, Peter Cullen, Paul McCloskey, Ciaran O Neill (0-1), Ethan Higgins, Cormac Devlin, Oliver McAtamney, Aaron McNeilly (0-4), Eamon Og McAllister (1-0), Joe McCormack (0-1), Emmett Murray (1-0), Conor Hastings (1-1), Sean McKeown

All Saints

Ryan Stewart, Ryan Thom, Conall Killough, Michael Read, Matthew Downey, Patrick Ferris, Ronan Laverty, Cal O Brien (0-1), Cormac Lemon, Shaun O Callaghan (0-3), Darach Bradley, Jake White, Ciaran Campbell (0-1), Ronan McKillop (0-3 ), Charlie Metrustry

Replacements used: Brendan McDonnell, Oliver O Rawe, Conlin Neill, Kevin Brady

Referee: John Moran (Aldergrove)