Great scenes of celebration in Bansha on Sunday last ensued after our second under 15 team claimed county honours with a hard fought win over Ballinahinch/Templederry.

Early scores by Dylan Condon and Jack O'Dwyer and super goal by Ciaran Kenny got the boys in white off to the perfect start with Liam Peters and Seb Hopkins in defence keeping the rearguard safe at the other end. Joint captain, Oisin Mannion, as he has done all year carried the fight to the opposition all throughout alongside Ben Murphy and a lively Jayden Waters.

At the break, a four point lead felt justified with perhaps some lingering regret of missed chances. Upon the resumption, Ballinahinch/Templederry stormed into the game and narrowed the gap back to two points only for some long range scores by Jack O'Dwyer retorting for the Mary's side.

Next came what felt like the turning point of the game, Joseph Gartlan burst through a couple of challenges, raised the ball at speed and finished low and hard to the net. However the Combo came back strong again and a long range free went straight to the net to leave just 3 points between the sides once more.

A great point combined by the two yellow helmets in the forward line ended with Jayden Waters feeding Dylan Condon for a well taken score with Ballinahinch/Templederry responding in kind with a well taken free.

The decisive score of the game came via a long clearance from the Mary's defence and that man, Joseph Gartlan collected the breaking ball and went for glory stitching the ball into the top corner for the winning goal.

When the referee blew the whistle for the final time, a six point deficit in Mary's favour saw the cup fall into the hands of Ben Murphy and Oisin Mannion who gleefully accepted on behalf of their jubilant teammates.

This was a great team performance with Tom Dunphy and Eoin O'Gorman tenacious in the defence behind a strong showing from Darragh Prendergast. Up front, Shane Hannon, Patrick Phelan, and David Ryan all played vital roles while at midfield, the non stop running and tackling from Shay Scully proved invaluable to the team despite a couple of hard bangs throughout.

Special mention to Alex Judge who made a return to action after almost 18 months out of action due to injury and to Conor Corcoran who togged out with a broken finger.

Congratulations to the entire squad and our mentors on a great victory and a fantastic season of games.

https://www.stmarysclonmel.com/photos?photoset_id=72177720312002344

A full selection of photos from the day are available in the above link to our website courtesy of Paul Carroll.