Cavan Gaels reach fifth Ulster minor final

St Paul's Ulster Minor Tournament semi-final

Cavan Gaels 1-7

Mayobridge 1-5

AET

Cavan Gaels will face Four Masters from Donegal in the final of the prestigious St Paul’s Ulster Club Minor Football tournament on New Year’s Day following this thrilling extra-time win over Down champions Mayobridge in the semi-final on St Stephen’s Day.

The sides were tied at 1-5 apiece at the end of normal time but the Cavan Town boys were the stronger in extra time, landing a free from Ben Tully and a superb individual point from Joshua Shehu to secure a two-point victory.

The Gaels, who defeated Mullahoran in the county final to win the Cavan Minor Championship for the first time since 2010, have made the final of the St Paul’s tournament on four previous occasions – 1991 (lost to Bellaghy by a point), 1999 (beat Slaughtneil by five), 2000 (lost to Pearse Óg by a point) and 2006 (lost to Coalisland by a point).

The last Cavan team to make the final was Southern Gaels (Lacken-Gowna), who lost after extra time to Glen Watty Grahams from Derry in extra time.

The Gaels beat Irvinestown in the quarter-final relatively comfortably but had a tougher encounter here. The Cavan side led by a point with normal time almost elapsed but Mayobridge managed to force extra time with a superb Darragh Poland point.

In recent seasons, Cavan teams at all levels have struggled to close out such matches but the Gaels bucked the trend here as they dominated extra time and made sure of their passage to the decider.

Cavan Gaels captain and playmaker opened the scoring when he won and converted a free. Early on, Mayobridge were on top but missed some chances, the best of which saw Ryan Coulter’s goalbound effort cleared off the line after Poland’s free struck the upright.

A foul on Tully was punished with a close-range Shehu free as the Gaels soaked up more pressure; Mayobridge eventually opened their account through Poland.

Scores were hard to come by and the Down lads struck again to make it 0-2 apiece seven minutes before the break when Patrick Woods registered.

Tully, leading by example, broke through before half-time but goalkeeper Michael Gallagher deflected his rasping shot over the bar for a point. Mayobridge also carved out another good goal chance when Corey Clerkin went round goalkeeper Emiliano Vennettilli but the defence scrambled well to avert the danger as the sides went in deadlocked at 0-2 apiece.

Tully was again involved in the next score five minutes into the second half when he laid off for Cormac Crotty to fire over but, true to form, Mayobridge struck back immediately as Corey Clerkin split the posts.

Twelve minutes into the second half, a good Cavan Gaels move was finished by Finn Crowe but a missed goal chance followed for the full-forward and the Mourne lads hit back to lead for the first time when Patrick Woods showed a neat turn and finished low to the net.

That major made it 1-3 to 0-4 and when Clerkin knocked over a free, the momentum was very much with Mayobridge.

But the Gaels showed their character approaching the home stretch. When Mayobridge coughed up possession, Fionn McNamara pounced and he found Tully, who showed a poacher’s instinct to rattle the net and leave it all square at 1-4 to 1-4, setting up a rip-roaring finale.

With four minutes of normal time remaining, Tully again stepped up, this time sending over a free as Ed O’Hanlon’s charges regained the lead.

Deep in injury time, Mayobridge managed to pinch a Gaels kick-out and Poland made no mistake with an exceptional point to force extra time.

The Gaels, rejuvenated, went for it in the additional period but missed a number of chances. Often, in such situations, the misses can come back to haunt a team but the Cavan Town side were in no mood to accept a moral victory and at the end of the first period of extra time, Tully won and converted a free to make it 1-6 to 1-5.

On the resumption, the Gaels came up with one of the scores of the tournament when Shehu gathered the ball in heavy traffic around the middle, laid it off, continued his run and sold two sublime dummies before stroking over an inspirational point.

While the Gaels lost sub Daniel Olude to a late red card, they held on, defending resolutely, to secure their place in the final.

Cavan Gaels: Emiliano Vennettilli, Daniel Somers, Conor Doyle, Eivanas Griksas, Ciaran Galligan, Bobby Hanly, Martin Anthony Quinn McDonagh, Ben Tully (1-3, 3f), Michael Monaghan, Cormac Crotty (0-1), Joshua Shehu (0-2, 0-1f), Fionn McNamara, Jacob Jaskiewicz, Finn Crowe (0-1), Josh Dunne

Subs: Simon Kolimar for C Galligan (18), Daniel Olude for D Sommers (49), Samuel Clarke for J Dunne (53), Marcel Holko for J Jaskiewicz (53).

Mayobridge: M Gallagher, R Magone, B Kelly, J Keenan, O De Rose, D McMahon, C Colhoun, D O’Keeffe, C Keenan, D Carr, C Clerkin (0-2, 1f), P Woods (1-1), R Coulter, D Poland (0-2), C McPolin.

Ref: Brendan Toland (Antrim)