Ballymore Eustace was the venue for the Coiste na nÓg league finals. The opposition for Ballymore was Kill who had gone through their league campaign unbeaten with an average winning margin of 22 points so this was a daunting task for the home team. Kill raced into a two point lead before Ballymore pulled one back, the Kill keeper then pulled off a magnificent save with Ballymore scoring a point from the resulting 45. Kill pushed on again and scored a further goal and a point before Ballymore pulled back a point to stay in the game. Kill put over another two points before Ballymore found the back of the net to loud cheers from the Ballymore supporters. The teams traded further points before half time: BME 1.4 to Kill 1.6.

The second half started with Kill pressing hard but some desperate Ballymore defence kept them at bay, however, the pressure finally told and Kill scored two goals within five minutes of each other. It was now backs to the wall for Ballymore and a succession of Kill points looked to have ended the game as a contest. However, Ballymore weren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. A goal and a point provided a chink of light and Ballymore were pushing on again. Kill put over another point before Ballymore scored their third goal of the game, however, Kill responded with a goal of their own and closed out the game with another couple of points.

This was a valiant effort from Ballymore against a really top team with the home team never giving up despite the scoreline getting away from them. The support from the home crowd was absolutely phenomenal with everyone cheering and encouraging the team to the very end. Congratulations to Kill, they were worthy winners and will no doubt enjoy their victory as Ballymore certainly put it up to them and they know they earned the trophy. Final score: BME 3.5; Kill 4.14

A big thank you to Bernie & Eoghan Barrett and Mick Byrne for all the work they did in preparing the pitch and equipment as well as the traffic management, especially considering Academy training was also taking place.

The Ballymore team are:

Adam Foley; Eoghan O’Neill; Thomas Evans; Oisin McGrath; Evan Haslam; Ryan O’Neill;Aaron McEvoy; Declan O’Brien; Lucy Flynn; Caoilinn Cooke; Adam Carroll; Maddox Meade; Charlie Murphy; Tom Gill; Evan Clohessy; Jervis Doolan; John Headon; Max Rigney; Joe Williams; Peter Horan; Thomas O’Keefe; Chloe Flynn