Monaghan’s two goals propel Clonkill to deserved victory

Clonkill 2-15 Na Piarsaigh 2-11

Clonkill are worthy Westmeath U17 hurling champions after a hard-earned, but deserved, win against amalgamation side Na Piarsaigh in an entertaining final played in very pleasant conditions at a well-attended TEG Cusack Park last Sunday afternoon.

This was a fine match, well refereed and played in a very good spirit throughout. The winning margin just about reflected the superiority of a slightly better-balanced side in green and gold over a Lough Lene Gaels/Turin combination which battled manfully from start to finish.

Ryan Williams nudged John Heffernan’s troops ahead in the second minute, either side of a brace of wides at the other end. Conor Heffernan doubled this lead some two minutes later after a fine run goalward. However, Clonkill went into a lead that they would never relinquish courtesy of points from half backs Darragh Kenny (a ‘65’) and Conor Daly (open play), and a tricky free from the stick of Kian Loughlin in the eighth minute.

Point exchanges ensued between Williams and Pádraig Monaghan, Heffernan (a free) and Luke Meyler (after great work by Loughlin), Killian Farrell (after Niall Brady had thwarted Darragh Smith) and Loughlin (a free), leaving Clonkill ahead by 0-6 to 0-5 at the end of the opening quarter.

Dwayne Egerton’s charges then pounced for three quickfire points from the sticks of Darragh Egerton, Loughlin (a free), and Jamie Kelleghan. Na Piarsaigh spurned two good point chances from placed balls, but they came right back into contention in the 29th minute when Conor Leech availed of hesitancy in the losers’ rearguard to deftly flick the sliotar to the net.

The impressive Daly doubled his tally on the half-hour mark. Meyler was denied a goal in injury-time by Conor Williams after a Loughlin lineball, leaving the scoreboard at the interval reading: Clonkill 0-10 Na Piarsaigh 1-5.

Within a minute of the resumption of play, Monaghan whipped the sliotar to the net. Some 30 seconds later, the same player made little of a hard, but fair, shoulder to dissect the posts and put his side six points clear. However, a rapid-fire hat-trick from Heffernan (a fine score from play and a brace of frees) halved the deficit by the 37th minute.

Soon afterwards, Meyler had a ‘goal’ disallowed for an illegal goalmouth challenge. Loughlin (a tricky free) and Williams (completing his hat-trick of points from a tight angle) traded points before Leech levelled the scoring (1-12 to 2-9) when he doubled his goal haul at the second attempt after fielding the ball in style in the 46th minute.

However, the Loughegar-based outfit responded in the best possible fashion when Monaghan goaled from close range at the end of a Daly delivery. The respective number 14s, Loughlin and Heffernan, soon swapped points from frees.

The ever-dangerous Monaghan superbly brought his personal tally to 2-3 from play in the 56th minute. A well-worked Clonkill ‘65’ ended with Meyler pointing. A minimum of four minutes of added-time was announced, and at the end of the designated period Heffernan rounded off match scoring with a low-trajectory point for Na Piarsaigh.

After the match, the chairman of Westmeath Coiste na n-Óg, Barry Kelly, presented the Ben Kelly Cup to a worthy recipient in Clonkill’s Jack Murtagh.

Scorers –

Clonkill: P Monaghan 2-3, K Loughlin 0-5 (5f), C Daly, L Meyler 0-2 each, D Kenny (‘65’), D Egerton, J Kelleghan 0-1 each.

Na Piarsaigh: C Leech 2-0, C Heffernan 0-7 (5f), R Williams 0-3, K Farrell 0-1.

Clonkill: Niall Brady; Andrew Brennan, Ross Murray, Finn Raeside; Darragh Kenny, Conor Daly, Aaron Connaire; Darragh Egerton, Carl McCormack; Luke Meyler, Jamie Kelleghan, Jake Muldoon; Jack Murtagh, Kian Loughlin, Pádraig Monaghan. Subs used: Liam de Clár for Muldoon (44), Adam Kenny for Egerton (60+1).

Na Piarsaigh: Conor Williams; Cathal Óg Fagan, Evan Murray, Hugh Isdell; Peter Finch, Alex Mills, Lee Cribben; Darragh Smith, Killian Farrell; Brian Aughey, Conor Leech, Ryan Williams; Shane Murray, Conor Heffernan, Kylan Heffernan. Subs used: Eoin McGrath for Murray (38), Liam Heffernan for Aughey (53).

Ref: Caymon Flynn (St Brigid’s)