Lissycasey steady the ship to win classic U-14A final

Lissycasey 8-5
Éire Óg 5-8
In a 13-goal U-14A football championship final at Cusack Park on Monday evening, Lissycasey repeated their Féile final win over Éire Óg to win the Liam Kelly Memorial Cup.

The late Liam Kelly was a former club secretary with Lissycasey.
The trophy was presented by his family in his memory and Liam’s nephew Sean presented the cup to the winning Lissycasey captain Conor Finnucane.
This was a cracking final in which Lissycasey came from being 13 points in arrears at the end of the opening quarter to win by six.
The game had everything – great scores, outstanding performances, goalmouth incidents and some of the best goals that will be seen at any level in the county this season.
Conor Finnucane gave Lissycasey the lead when he pointed after 12 seconds but then Éire Óg took over and goals from Jack Keating, Conor O’Halloran from the penalty spot and a brace from the outstanding Evan Courtney saw the Ennis side go 4-2 to 0-1 in front after 15 minutes.
Lissycasey were clearly rattled but they steadied and got on top for the final 10 minutes of the half. Goals from Conor Finnucane and Michael O’Malley brought them back into contention and when the half-time whistle sounded the margin was down to two goals, 4-3 to 2-3.
Lissycasey made a number of changes at the interval that were to play a big part in their win.
Goalkeeper Killian Normoyle switched to an outfield role with Ciaran Doohan taking over goalkeeping duties while Cathal Fitzgerald came into the attack. Normoyle and Doohan excelled after switching roles.
O’Malley started the second as he had finished the first with an excellent goal to close the gap to three points.
Three Éire Óg points restored the six-point advantage before Finnucane struck twice in a minute for goals that tied up the game at 4-6 for Éire Óg to 5-3 with 16 minutes to play. Points from Mark Connolly and Cathal Lynch had Éire Óg two points clear with 10 minutes to go.
A great Lissycasey move ended with an excellent goal from Seamus Collins and the champions were in front for the first time since the opening minute.
It was a shortlived lead, as Éire Óg were awarded a penalty two minutes later and, just as he had done in the opening half, Conor O’Halloran made no mistake.
Still, Lissycasey refused to throw in the towel and team captain Finnucane struck again with four minutes to go for what was his fourth goal of the evening. Brian Cahill followed with a point before Niall Meere rounded off a great move involving Finnucane and Normoyle with the final goal of the evening, a minute from the end. Meere had the final say a minute later with a great point.
There were stars throughout the field in both sides on the evening.
The Lissycasey full-back line was in all sorts of trouble in the opening 10 minutes but the Griffin brothers and Niall McCarthy settled to play leading roles in the victory. Elsewhere, Levi Howard, Conor Finnucane, Brian Cahill, Michael O’Malley, Seamus Collins, Gary Stephens and Killian Normoyle stood out.
Dara Walsh, Martin D’Arcy, Conor O’Halloran, James Woods, Conal Ó hAinifein, Mark Connolly and the outstanding Evan Courtney stood out for Éire Óg.

Lissycasey: Killian Normoyle; Roy Griffin, Ryan Griffin, Niall McCarthy; Levi Howard, Ciaran Doohan, Ronan Grace; Conor Finnucane (4-1), Brian Cahill (0-1); Gary Stephens (0-1), Michael O’Malley (2-0), Seamus Collins (1-0); Darragh Hanrahan, Gary Hill (0-1), Niall Meere (1-1).
Subs: Cathal Fitzgerald for Hanrahan; Oisín Hanrahan for Hill.

Éire Óg: Brian Flanagan; Patrick Chesser, Dara Walsh, Andrew Kelly; Cian Kelly, Martin D’Arcy, Michael Moloney; Conor O’Halloran (2-0), James Woods (0-1); Conal Ó hAinifein (0-2), Evan Courtney (2-2), Liam Lynch; Jack Keating (1-0), Mark Connolly (0-2), Cathal Lynch (0-1).
Sub: Conor O’Dwyer for L Lynch.

Referee: Pat Cosgrove, Corofin