Ulster Junior Football Championship Twinning Final: Naomh Padraig, Uisce Chaoin (Donegal) 4-10 Tara GFC (London) 1-8
A confident and dominant showing by Naomh Padraig saw them keep their championship alive in the English capital as they beat Tara 4-10 to 1-8 in the AIB Club Championship Ulster Junior Football Twinning Final at McGovern Park on Sunday.
Played against the backdrop of wind, snow and rain, the club from Donegal dominated the early stages of the first half and took the lead in the second minute thanks to Caolan McColgan’s opening score, which was followed up by scores from Cathal McColgan and Kevin Lynch.
The club from Muff showed a clear desire to book a place in the last four of the All-Ireland and outclassed their London counterparts early on and seemed to win every second and loose ball.
Their high press deep into the Tara half made life very difficult for the Londoners and forced the London junior and All-Britain champions into sloppy mistakes and earned a couple of frees.
Kevin Doherty and a Lynch free made the gap between the two teams five points before Shay Rafter finally got Tara going just as the game started to run away from them, although they took more than long enough to get on the scoresheet, 15 minutes to be exact.
Naomh Padraig responded with scores from Cormac McColgan and Lynch to restore a comfortable lead as the first half progressed.
Rafter would add two more to keep his side in the game and just as Niall Quinn’s men started to grow into the game they would find themselves heading straight back to square one when Drew McKinney found the net in scrappy fashion for Daniel McCauley’s charges and Naomh Padraig were in full control once more.
However, a little bit of gloss would be taken off their first goal as the influential Lynch was black-carded needlessly, leaving his side to play the remainder of the first period a man down.
It would give their west London opposition a mini boost as half-time approached and Conor Redican made sure Tara were still in the contest at the break as they trailed by five as he pointed a well-struck free.
Tara came out looking like a team galvanised and ready to take the game to their opponents, but despite scoring the first point of the second set of 30 minutes, they faded against a well-organised and well-drilled Naomh Padraig outfit, and soon the task Tara had in hand would start to look daunting.
Naomh Padraig would pull away in the second half, and two goals in two minutes put the game to bed when McKinney punished Tara for not clearing their lines.
Caolan McColgan added a third goal for the visitors when Tara’s defence was split open by an excellent Naomh Padraig counter-attack in which a number of Padraig players were given the freedom of west London; they were in so much space as goal number three rattled the Tara net.
After looking promising at times, Tara were starting to fall apart; Ronan Hoy then punished a lapse in concentration from Tara goalkeeper Mark Terry to put the result beyond doubt.
Oisin McIntyre would also join in the scoring action with a nicely taken point to show for his efforts.
Despite the gap growing between them and their opponents, Rafter and Redican added to their team’s tally, in fact, the 11-point difference between the two teams is probably harsh on this Tara side that has a sizeable amount of talent in their panel, a panel that is almost made up entirely of London natives.
But after winning both the London junior football and All-Britain championships, Sunday’s game was unfortunately just a bridge too far as they struggled to deal with the likes of joint top-scorers McKinney and Caolan McColgan.
Despite going down to a sizable defeat, they were able to finish the day with a consolation goal late in the game from captain Michael Cunniffe, who got the final touch; the ball dropped into the square just as the board went up for additional time.
The result means the Ulster junior champions can now look forward to an All-Ireland semi-final as their quest for All-Ireland glory continues.
Tara (London): Mark Terry; Jack Power, Daniel Gallagher-Henry, Thomas Connolly; Eoin McGivney, Michael Cunniffe (Captain), Conor Redican; Sean McCabe, Kieran Harte; Luke Morahan, Euan Finneran, Aidan Harte; Sean Howley, Shay Rafter, Niall McGivney
Tara Substitutes: Margen Dyrmishi for Luke Morahan (43’), Aidan Bradley for Daniel Gallagher-Henry (51’), Colm McSheffrey for Aidan Harte (52’), Frankie Finnerty for Thomas Connolly (59’), Conor Harte for Niall McGivney (62’)
Tara Scorers: Shay Rafter (0-6,3f), Michael Cunniffe (1-0), Conor Redican (0-2,1f)
Naomh Padraig (Donegal): Oran McCauley; Drew McKinney, Caolan Harkin, Darragh McIntyre; Michael McCarron; Jonathan Toye, Jason McCallion; Eunan Mullan; Cormac McColgan; Oisin McIntyre; Kevin Doherty, Ronan Hoy; Joseph McCauley, Kevin Lynch, Caolan McColgan
Naomh Padraig Substitutes: Cormac Kelly for Michael McCarron (H/T), Eunan Keaveney for Joseph McCauley (43’), Andrew McCarron for Kevin Doherty (50’), Cathal McColgan for Caolan Harkin (51’), Dermot Keaveney (Captain) for Jason Mccallion (54’)
Naomh Padraig Scorers: Drew McKinney (2-0), Caolan McColgan (1-3), Ronan Hoy (1-0), Kevin Lynch (0-3,1f), Cathal McColgan, Kevin Doherty, Cormac McColgan and Oisin McIntyre all (0-1)
Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow)
