Pearses 1-9 Fr Joe Walsh‘s 0-10
Report by Martina Donnellan
Pearses were victorious in the Minor B1 County Final played in Duggan Park, Ballinasloe yesterday afternoon. Pearses haven’t had too many titles to contemplate at this grade in recent years. 2007 was the last year Pearses minors were crowned county champions. Emmet Ward lifted the cup that day. The framed photo still holds pride of place in the clubhouse. In 2007 many of this years minors weren’t even born. The starting team fielded with 5 U17s, 5 U16s & 5 U15s who all added medals to their U15 county shield final victory earlier in the year.
And what a hurrah yesterday was. From a Minor B1 group that looked like it was promising very little to Pearses after the loss in the group to Salthill Knocknacarra & the drubbing by Fr Joes(Meelick/ Eyrecourt & Killimor amalgamation) in the last group game, yet Pearses with great ‘bite’ battled hard to reach the county final & sought to revenge the drubbing received from Fr Joes in the last group game. Pearses certainly came prepared for this battle & what an exciting joust the sides produced.
The game started off at a hectic pace for Pearses when David Walsh was upended on 40 seconds & Darren Moran tapped over the resultant free. Conor Walsh fired wide from play & Fr Joes were wide with a 65’ as James Queeney, Dillon Roche & Jonah Donnellan put on the pressure in the backs which forced that 65’. There was 6mins on the clock before Fr Joes registered their first from play. 2mins later James Queeney’s line ball fell to Darren Moran who fired over a beauty from under the stand. Another line ball found Diarmuid Ryan & Tadhg Harte worked to create for Jack Kenny who fired over the first of his trio of points from play.
Sean Óg Larkin brought it back to the bare minimum with a nice point from play to make it 0-3 to 0-2 midway through the first half. Then on 19mins Pearses seized the initiative, a long Donnellan free into the square, resulted in a shemozzle and a perfect flick on the ground by Diarmuid Ryan found the back of the net for a tonic goal. There was a momentary pause in celebrations though as the ref had to consult his umpires but the goal was legit & the green flag was raised. David Walsh pushed Pearses further ahead with a point from play following a lovely stick pass from James Queeney.
Pearses were unable to further push on as Tadhg Harte fired wide & Jonah Donnellan’s long range effort came off the post & hit the umpire on the nose as the ball went wide while Darren Moran fired into the goalies hands. In a low scoring encounter, there was some tenacious battling as every lad put his body on the line. An interception from James Queeney was vital as Fionan Fitzgerald looked dangerous & even though Queeney did his job, the spilled ball was latched onto by Fr Joes who fired over to leave it 1-4 to 0-3 at half time.
The 2nd half started similar to the first & within 20 seconds Tadhg Harte linked up with Jack Kenny who fired over his 2nd of the day. Serious battling from Jack Kenny culminated in Darren Moran winning a free & well within his scoring range, he himself stood over the ball with his usual demeanour of twisting the hurl a few times in his hands, he made a neat job of raising a white flag. There was a long stoppage due to an injured Fr Joes player & soon on the resumption, Moran tapped over his 3rd free, won by Sean Kelly & 4th point overall to make it 1-7 to 0-3 on 38mins. The ensuing puck out was won by Fr Joes & their midfielder pointed to put 0-6 between the sides.
Pearses then had a scatter of wides as Fr Joes were battling their way back into the game. A spilled ball from a brave block down from Daniel Lydon fell to Fr Joes & the ball just had the legs to carry over as it dipped on top of Tommy Nutley’s net. Brian Madden added another for Fr Joes from the embankment side of Duggan Park & suddenly there was only 0-4 between them. Conor Walsh & Sean Kelly combined to set up Jack Kenny with his 3rd from play to help keep a gallant Joes at arms length. But from here on Fr Joes hit back with 0-3 on the bounce. Damien Burke nailed 2 65’s sandwiched by a point from Fionan Fitzgerald.
Suddenly there was only 2 between the sides with only 10mins to go 1-8 to 0-9 & Fr Joes crowd sensed robbery. Darren Moran & Kyle McDonagh battled hard to free up David Walsh but his low effort whizzed across the face of the goal. Thankfully up the other end, Joes wasted a few chances from frees & from play. There was a late exchange of points as Conor Walsh put in a gutsy tackle to win a free, injuring his wrist in the process, just as 5mins injury time was indicated. 14 year old John Parker was introduced as Jonah Donnellan raised a white flag with the resultant free. Straight from the puck out Joes kept 0-2 between them when their midfielder put over from play.
The last few minutes were intense as Pearses backline of Padraic Kelly, Dillon Roche, Conor Hillary, Eoin Ryan & James Feeney were under a severe degree of pressure. Joes had chances but were off the mark as our backline stood tall. The final play saw a free in awarded to Joes which they lobbed dangerously into the square but there was great relief to see the white helmet of Jonah Donnellan emerge with the ball & with it the welcome sound of the refs whistle. It was a victory as sweet as they come, well grafted by a superb bunch of lads, with mostly underage lads thrown in the mix. Final score in Duggan Park: Pearses 1-9; Fr. Joes 0-10.
Jonah Donnellan was awarded Man of the Match & captain Conor Hillary accepted the cup on behalf of his teammates. In his speech he thanked Fr Joes for such a splendid game, the match officials & groundsman of Duggan Park, all the parents for their commitment all year & the team management & backroom team of Adrian Queeney, Michael Kelly, Tony Walsh, Martin Barry, Gerry Dwyer, Dean Reilly & Clare Mitchell Harte who nursed many injuries throughout the season. Special mention to 2 lads who were plighted with injury this season – Fionn Donohue & Ciaran Hogan.
Scorers: Darren Moran 0-4 (0-3f); Diarmuid Ryan 1-0; Jack Kenny 0-3; David Walsh 0-1; Jonah Donnellan 0-1 (f).
Pearses Panel: Tommy Nutley, Padraic Kelly, Dillon Roche, Conor Hillary, Eoin Ryan, Jonah Donnellan, Daniel Lydon, James Queeney, Jack Kenny, Conor Walsh, Diarmuid Ryan, Darren Moran, Tadhg Harte, David Walsh, Sean Kelly, Riain Donohue, James Feeney, Kyle McDonagh, Luke Mitchell, James Somers, Stephen Murphy, John Parker, Fionn Donohue, Ciaran Hogan.
So a little bit of history to throw out there. Pearses last minor title was 2007, the only other one before that was 1977. We can now add 2024 to the mix, so it’s easy see why yesterday was one of the greatest ever Pearses hurling days in just one hour, only a 3rd ever minor title for the club. No wonder the party went on for a while.
A cavalcade of almost 25 cars went on a victory tour of the parish afterwards to blazing bonfires. Some even got lost, Hey Marty! Thanks to the many people who nearly set their villages & townlands in a blaze. It was a memorable night for this squad which they will savour for some time to come.