Manor boys conquer Abbey in rare Leitrim win
Dylan Flynn of Gortnor Abbey is surrounded by a trio of St Clare's players during the Mezzino.ie Connacht GAA Post Primary Schools senior 'C' football championship final at Enniscrone last Friday night. Picture: David Farrell Photography
Not since 2014 had a Leitrim school won a Connacht senior football title at any grade – A, B, C or D – so it’s little wonder the boys of St Clare’s Comprehensive in Manorhamilton celebrated their victory over Gortnor Abbey with gusto, in bitterly cold Enniscrone last Friday night.
That they had the energy left to do so was a feat in itself because they had been pushed to the absolute max by a heroic Gortnor Abbey team that had restricted their opponents to just three points in the second-half despite reduced to fourteen players.
The 21st minute dismissal of full-forward Mark Sheerin for something that escaped most of those in attendance but which referee John Gilmartin and a linesman determined a red card offence, curtailed the challenge of the Crossmolina school. That it happened when they were already seven points in arrears but lost by just two speaks volumes about how the Gortnor boys responded to the adversity.
At half-time, Gortnor Abbey had reduced their arrears to three points and opened the second-half in determined fashion; centre-back Diarmuid Barrett took on practically the entire St Clare’s defence and unleashed a ferocious shot that warmed the hands of ‘keeper Sheridan who palmed over the bar. Supplemented by other points from Kobe McDonald, Josh Moyles and Luke Maloney, a free, 14-man Gortnor were level after 41 minutes. Unfortunately for them however, that was their scoring done for the night.
Within two minutes, man-of-the-match Jack Kelly had added two more points to his and St Clare’s tally, both from placed balls, and that too was where the Manorhamilton school’s scoring concluded.
Gortnor's first-half goal-scorer McDonald soloed 50-metres in search of a second but that effort was deflected narrowly wide, as the Mayo boys tried desperately – and to no avail – to overtake their opponents.
