Na Fianna's Luke Kelly

South Meath success in u-21 finals

There was plenty of early Christmas cheer at Pairc Tailteann this afternoon for Na Fianna and Ballinabrackey as the south Meath sides claimed the u-21 A and B FC titles respectively.

Two purple patches midway through each half proved to be decisive as Na Fianna clinched the u-21 A FC crown with a 1-16 to 1-10 victory over the combined forces for St Vincent's and Curraha.

The first burst of scores came midway through the opening half when the winners outscored St Vincent's / Curraha by 1-6 to 0-1 between the seventh and 17th minutes with the outstanding Ethan Devine grabbing the goal.

St Vincent's/Curraha threatened a recovery after the break with a goal from black card replacement Niall McLarnon, but again Na Fianna outscored them 0-7 to 0-1 between 42nd and 59th minutes to quell that rebellion and clinch their first u-21 crown.

In today's curtain-raiser at Pairc Tailteann Ballinabrackey turned on the style in the second-half with Sean Kavanagh inspiring them to a 1-10 to 0-7 victory.

The opening 28 minutes of this u-21 B FC final was dour stuff with the sides sharing just two points. However three points close to the half-time whiles gave the south county boys a 0-4 to 0-2 interval lead.

Oisin Gannin's 48th minute goal stretched Ballinabrackey's lead to 1-7 to 0-4 and they never looked back.

 

Read the full match reports and photos from both finals in Tuesday's Meath Chronicle.