4-10 to 1-5 in Round 1 of the U15 Championship played in Gort yesterday morning.
The 1st half opened with two fairly evenly matched teams. Both teams traded scores early on: the hosts first & then David Walsh from play within the first 2 mins. There wasn’t a score again until the 18th minute when Jonah Donnellan tapped over a free when Kyle McDonagh was fouled. In that intervening period Diarmuid Ryan & Dillon Roche were commanding in defence as Conor Hillary, Cathal Hynes, Fionn Donohue, Conor Walsh and Darren Moran got themselves on plenty of ball while Gort displayed some wayward shooting. Gort levelled matters on 21mins when Roche’s man was first to a 50:50 ball & fired over. Donnellan pushed Pearses 1 up with a free from midfield but Gort quickly responded to restore parity with one from play. Donnellan kept Pearses in front from play after a fine catch and 3mins before the break some confusion in the back saw a Pearses clearance fall to an unmarked Gort player who hit low & hard past Tommy Nutley to raise their first green flag of the contest. Half Time: Pearses 0-4: Gort 1-3.
Both teams pointed from play soon after the restart: Gort first although some spectators thought it had dipped under the crossbar & Jonah Donnellan responded after a good run when he carved open the defence. That was as good as it got for Pearses as Gort gained a foothold from there Gort kicked on for the next 25mins. Pearses took gloss off the scoreline with a consolation goal from a free late on as Jonah Donnellan latched on to a long range Diarmuid Ryan free, cut in across the goal before being fouled. He drove the resultant free to the net but it was Gort who had the final say when their No. 8 converted a late free to finish well worthy winners.
Pearses players perhaps enjoyed the local St Patricks Day parade on the way home and some grub to mark the festive green day that was in it.
Scorers: Jonah Donnellan 1-4 (1-2F), David Walsh 0-1.
Panel: Tommy Nutley, Daniel Lydon, Dillon Roche, Eoghan Ryan, James Queeney, Diarmuid Ryan, Cathal Hynes, Jonah Donnellan, Conor Hillary, Darren Moran, Fionn Donohue, David Walsh, Kyle McDonagh, Conor Walsh, Cian Burke, Sean Kelly, Robbie Lydon.