Lynam leads the way as Joseph’s reach decider

St Joseph's 3-8 Bunbrosna 1-11

A leader's performance by Mikey Lynam helped St Joseph’s secure a slender victory in a tight game against Bunbrosna to advance to the final of the Junior 1 Football Championship on Sunday afternoon.

With swirling wind and rain to contend with in Milltown, both sides found things difficult early on, as possession was the order of the day. When things did come to life, it was the Streamstown side who burst the net twice before half-time, forcing Bunbrosna to attack in the second period.

It took a solid twelve minutes before either side registered a score, with Bunbrosna forward Barry O’Mara clipping a free between the posts. Neither side wanted to give an inch, but what ensued was a feast of passing to nowhere, turnovers, and poorly executed shots.

Ten minutes before the break, Eoin Carberry’s side levelled at 0-1 apiece when Lynam set up Jake Gannon for a white flag. It would be another seven minutes before Aaron McDonnell put his side in front, but a fine score it was, as the midfielder kicked with the left, running at speed.

Ronan Scally then equalised when O’Mara did the work to create the space for the corner-back to fire over Aidan Lennon’s crossbar. With the digital scoreboard in Milltown showing just shy of thirty minutes, it looked like the drab affair would continue to the dressing rooms. That was until St Joseph’s struck for not one but two goals in a matter of seconds. Firstly, Lynam decided to go route-one through the middle again before passing to Dean Slevin, who finished to the net.

From the next play, Ross Elliffe chipped the ball to the waiting Jordan McDonnell, who drilled home to leave a stunned Bunbrosna trailing 2-2 to 0-2 on the whistle.

Daragh Lyons was brought on at the break for Bunbrosna, and he impacted their attack well. With the need for scores now essential, O’Mara got them off to the ideal start with a well-taken free inside sixty seconds of the resumption. A fantastic block from Scally denied Slevin his second green flag, but the 2023 beaten semi-finalists would add on a point through Lynam soon after. After a complete famine for 29 minutes of the encounter, both sides were now offering scores consistently.

O’Mara pointed under pressure before Lyons’ sliding mark was also knocked over to bring it back to 2-3 to 0-5. Just before the final twenty, O’Mara showed why he is one of the best in both codes in the county by catching a lofted ball, spinning, and scoring beyond the hapless Lennon.

Slevin managed to curl a beauty over to keep a goal between them, but the tension around the engaged crowd was palpable.

The free-takers O’Mara and Jordan McDonnell swapped scores before McDonnell and Shane McGovern traded ones from open play, as Bunbrosna searched for that elusive parity goal.

After Lyons’ fantastic point, and only down by two, O’Mara almost repeated the dose from earlier, but this time his shot agonisingly struck the base of the far post and flew across the goals to safety.

Slevin and Aidan Finnan (excellent free off the turf) left it 2-8 to 1-9 with five minutes to go. There was just a single point in it when Finnan, Simon Moorehead, and McGovern exchanged passes before the latter fired over the black spot. The key moment, however, came a mere sixty seconds or so later. With Joseph’s eager to keep control, Mikey Lynam surveyed the situation from the 45 before opting to chip into space for the moving Elliffe. Sensing danger, Bunbrosna keeper Liam Mitchell came charging out, but with his longer strides, Elliffe won the contest before punching the ball over Mitchell into the empty goal. Not even a last-gasp free from O’Mara could dampen the Joseph’s spirit as they held out for the remainder of injury time to reach the final.

Scorers – St Joseph’s Streamstown: D Slevin 1-2, J McDonnell 1-2 (1f), R Elliffe 1-0, M Lynam, J Gannon, A McDonnell, B McDonnell 0-1 each. Bunbrosna: B O’Mara 1-5 (4f), D Lyons 0-2 (1m), S McGovern 0-2, R Scally, A Finnan 0-1 (1f) each.

St Joseph’s: Aidan Lennon; Andy Conway, Mikey Lynam, Brian Fitzgerald; Andy Scally, Jake Gannon, Pearse Weir-Norris; Aaron McDonnell, Noah McDonnell; Ben McDonnell, Ross Elliffe, Thomas Conlon; Daniel Keegan, Dean Slevin, Jordan McDonnell. Subs used: Alan Conlon for Keegan (37), Brian Keegan for Weir-Norris (40), Dylan McDonnell for A McDonnell (51), Niall Moran for Scally (60).

Bunbrosna: Liam Mitchell; Simon Moorehead, Joe Tormey, Ronan Scally; Matthew Hope, Noel Yourell, Luke Kiernan; John Kiernan, Aidan Finnan; Mark Donnelly, Fintan Finnan, David Newman; Ken Conroy, Barry O’Mara, Shane McGovern. Subs used: Daragh Lyons for Conroy (h-t), Peter Tormey for Donnelly (inj. 39), Enda Newman for L Kiernan (53).

Referee: Seán Carroll (The Downs).