Crettyard claim 2020 U-13 ‘C’ football honours after getting the better of battling Clough-Ballacolla

Crettyard 3-10 Clough-Ballacolla 1-3
2020 U-13 ‘C’ Football Championship Final

Crettyard claimed the 2020 U-13 ‘C’ Football Championship title in style with an emphatic thirteen point victory over Clough-Ballacolla at the LOETB Centre of Excellence on Sunday morning.

This is the second last of the outstanding 2020 juvenile finals – with just the U-13 ‘C’ hurling final between St Paul’s and Portarlington outstanding.

Right from the beginning, both sides were made work very hard for scoring opportunities, with Crettyard registering the game’s first score after nearly ten minutes of play, when Patrick Fox got on the end of a well-taken pass to palm the ball to the net to put his side three ahead.

Clough-Ballacolla responded with a point from CJ Brennan minutes later, but points from Michael Brennan and Daniel Dunne put Crettyard four points in front at the water break.

They followed up in the second quarter with three in succession from Tiernan Patterson, Elliot Rice and Dunne again to give them a seven point lead.

Clough-Ballacolla kept on fighting, with Crettyard goalkeeper Mark Dowling having to make a superb one-on-one save to deny Edward Slevin, who converted a free to reduce Crettyard’s lead to six.

Dunne grabbed his third point to put his side seven in front again, before Slevin sent over another free to leave Crettyard six ahead at half-time.

Crettyard began the second-half brilliantly with a well-taken goal from midfielder Kyle O’Reilly, but Clough-Ballacolla hit back when a neat passing move was finished to the net by John Coonan.

Then Crettyard were hit with a blow when midfielder Evan Dunne received a red card for a second bookable offence just before the second water break.

Despite being reduced to fourteen for the last quarter, Crettyard ploughed on with two points from O’Reilly and two more from Patterson and Dunne again, before Elliot Rice perfectly sealed the win with a last minute goal.

SCORERS – Crettyard: Kyle O’Reilly 1-2, Daniel Dunne 0-4, Elliot Rice 1-1 (one free), Patrick Fox 1-0, Tiernan Patterson 0-2, Michael Brennan 0-1 Clough-Ballacolla: John Coonan 1-0, Edward Slevin 0-2 (frees), CJ Brennan 0-1

CRETTYARD: Mark Dowling, Fionnan Brennan, Aaron Duignan, Cormac Brennan, Cian O’Sullivan, Fionn O’Sullivan, Jack Doyle, Evan Dunne, Kyle O’Reilly, Tiernan Patterson, Daniel Dunne, Michael Brennan, Patrick Fox, Elliot Rice, Sean Nolan Subs: Darragh Brennan for Cormac Brennan, Aaron Kearney for Fox, Aaron Brennan for Nolan, Dylan Kearney for Michael Brennan

CLOUGH-BALLACOLLA: Ben Holohan, Callum Hawkes, Sean Hayes, Callum Murphy, John Coonan, Jim Hyland, Killian Murphy, Eoin Duggan, Liam Ryan, Conor Saunders, Colm Brennan, CJ Brennan, Conor Whelan, JJ Hartford, Edward Slevin Subs: Fergal Brennan for Hawkes, Darragh Coffey for CJ Brennan, Cian Flaherty for Whelan, Eanna Cleere for Hayes

Referee: Pat Moran (Graiguecullen)

The post Crettyard claim 2020 U-13 ‘C’ football honours after getting the better of battling Clough-Ballacolla appeared first on Laois Today.

source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/06/27/crettyard-claim-2020-u-13-c-football-honours-after-getting-the-better-of-battling-clough-ballacolla/