Wolfe Tones all out for six

Plenty of good football was provided as Wolfe Tones added the Junior D FC trophy, the 'Dickser" Dunne Memorial Cup, to their haul with a comfortable victory over Clann na nGael in an entertaining decider at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday evening. The pitch at the old stadium was in perfect condition and was definitely a credit to the people who are responsible for it. The torrential rain from Firday"s deluge hardly made any impact and it held up remarkably well. Even after the second game, the surface was still in perfect condition. There was only one negative aspect to the final and that was the sight of Clann na nGael"s Michael McDonagh leaving the pitch on a stretcher with a bad leg injury towards the end of the opening half. McDonagh had converted a fifth minute free for Clann na nGael and was exerting a lot of pressure down the wing. The injury arose when he appeared to stumble while in pursuit of a Wolfe Tones player and he was promptly brought to hospital after receiving first aid from the personnel who were on duty. There were loads of positives to take from this game, despite the fact that it was the lowest grade of club championship football in the county. And Wolfe Tones have now achieved a unique feat, they have won all of the six adult championships which a club can win. The influence of team manager Tony Kearney must also be considered, although he was quick to play down his role in the immediate aftermath of the victory. 'Yes, I have managed all the teams to success, but this is not about me, or any one individual, this is about the dedication and determination throughout the club, and some of those players will be out again on Sunday morning for the JFC,' he stated. The Tones were probably too strong for this grade, but it was the club"s third team, hastily put together to provide some football for a group of guys who obviously love the game. When you can include players of the calibre of Tommy Dowd at full-forward and Pat Fitzpatrick at midfield, it"s a good set of building blocks. Dowd claimed 1-3 in the opening half as he helped his side into a 1-9 to 1-6 interval lead with both goals arriving in injury-time. Clann na nGael showed some character to bounce back from Dowd"s goal when Damien Tuite rifled to the net soon after. Points from Eanna Harrington and Aidan McKeever (two each), a superb Mark McKeever effort after a lengthy run and an equally impressive one from Alan Callaghan completed the Tones first-half tally while a brace apiece from Damien Tuite and Gerard Walsh plus a Sean Fitzsimons effort kept Clann na nGael in touch. The fact that Clann na nGael could muster only two more points after the resumption adequately reflects the task they faced as Wolfe Tones upped the tempo. Central to that dominance were the displays of Harrington, Callaghan and Mark McKeever, but there was also the combined team effort which totally swamped the opposition and reversed the scoreline from the opening round clash when Clann na nGael won by 3-15 to 1-7. That simple statistic demonstrates the amount of improvement which Wolfe Tones found and when team captain Declan County hoisted the silverware, there was a huge cheer of appreciaiton for a job well done. SCORERS Wolfe Tones - T Dowd 1-5, one free; A McKeever 0-3; A Callaghan 0-3; E Harrington 0-2, one free; M McKeever 0-1; C Shaw 0-1, free; A Cahill 0-1. Clann na nGael - D Tuite 1-2; G Walsh 0-2; M McDonagh 0-1, free; G Mangan 0-1, free; G Brown 0-1; S Fitzsimons 0-1. THE TEAMS Wolfe Tones - D Browne; A Browne, T McKeever, D Feeney; C McMahon, D County, M McKeever; C Crahan, P Fitzpatrick; D O"Sullivan, E Harrington, A Callaghan; C Shaw, T Dowd, A McKeever. Sub - A Cahill for A Browne 55 mins. Clann na nGael - D Griffin; B Duffy, A Farrell, P Seoighe; G Brown, A Healy, C Heaney; D Heaney, B Quirke; M McDonagh, G Mangan, D Tuite; S Fitzsimons, G Walsh, J Daly. Subs - C Quinn for McDonagh 27 mins; A Cully for Duffy 30m; C Kelly for Fitzsimons 35m; D Wright for Brown 52m; F Fagan for Quirke 55m. REFEREE Joe Synnott (Dunshaughlin)