Pearses 0-3; Caltra 1-7: Report by Martina Donnellan. Gaelic Football has probably struggled for prominence in the shadow of hurling in Pearses for many years but things are now looking up with the adult footballers working their way up the ranks from Junior C to Junior A in 2 years, last year’s U12s winning the shield final and this evening our U12’s lost to a stronger Caltra side in the U12 Group 8 Shield Final in Barnaderg.
Pearses started off on good footing as Diarmuid Ryan made two good saves within the first 4mins while a high lobbing free from Jonah Donnellan was fetched by Conor Hillary who worked the ball out to Darren Moran whose effort deflected off the crossbar and out wide. The opening score came on 7mins when Caltra found the net from an acute angle as their forward ran in along the end line and palmed the ball to the net. Then Pearses goalie Diarmuid Ryan after fetching a high lobbing ball was deemed to have over carried and they duly tapped over the resultant free. Sean Butler tapped over a lovely point from play to extend Caltra’s lead as he got on the end of Daniel Keating’s sideline.
Pearses put wide after a great passage of flowing football when Ross Lally’s clearance was knocked down by James Feeney into the path of Fionn Donoghue who fed Jonah Donnellan in the corner but his effort swept across the face of goal and out wide. Further tenacious battling by Pearses star man Fionn Donoghue found Conor Hillary and his effort also deflected off the crossbar, was kept in play by Darren Moran who won a 45’. The 45’ was taken quickly by Jonah Donnellan to Ross Lally and back to Donnellan and his effort sailed over from a good distance out to leave the score at half time: Pearses 0-1; Caltra 1-2.
Caltra got off to the best possible start to the 2nd half with 4 points within 6mins. No. 7 pointed from play within a minute; the towering height of Diarmuid Ryan assisted in deflecting a Caltra free over the crossbar; Sean Butler scored a lovely point on the run while Diarmuid Ryan deflected another effort from No. 7 over. Sandwiched in between; Conor Walsh and David Walsh scooped the ball off the goal line on two separate occasions. Caltra pointed again in a well worked move from the back with 2 mins to go. Pearses responded with a close range free kicked off the ground and bulleted over by Jonah Donnellan to finish: Pearses 0-3; Caltra 1-7.
The 4 points in quick succession after the restart gave way to a much more leisurely second half performance but Pearses deserve credit for hanging in there against a strong traditional football side with superb displays from young James Feeney, Kyle McDonagh and Fionn Donohue.
Panel: Diarmuid Ryan, James Queeney, Cathal Hynes, Fionn Donohue, Conor Walsh, Kyle McDonagh, Conor Hillary, Padraig Kelly, James Feeney, Ross Lally, Darren Moran, Jonah Donnellan, David Walsh, Dylan Roche, Daniel Lydon, Eoghan Ryan, Patrick O’Neill, John Parker, Oisin McDonagh, Jamie Nutley, Ciarán Hogan, Niall Grady, Dylan King, Matthew Finnerty, Joe Carroll, Rian Donohue, Tadhg Hart, Tommy Nutley, Stephen Murphy, Luke Mitchell, Robbie Lydon, Mark Kilkenny.