St Michael's claim silverware

The magic touch of Tony Kearney worked once again as the former Keegan Cup-winning manager returned to the Royal County on a successful note by guiding St Michael's to a u-21 C FC final victory over Curraha at Dunganny on Saturday afternoon. "Perhaps I'm a lucky manager, but it was good to win this one against a very skilful Curraha team," commented Kearney who took a brief break from Meath club football this year to guide St Fechin's to the Louth JFC final where they were beaten by St Mochta's. There was a lot of vocal criticism for the venue by St Michael's supporters as they prepared to celebrate what would have been a surprise victory at this level. "Who is responsible for fixing a game at this venue," was one comment directed towards this correspondent although it wasn't clear exactly what the concerns were. Perhaps it was the absence of a boundary wall around the pitch, maybe it was the lack of some shelter for substitutes or even the state of the pitch, but people who appeared to be genuine Gaels were not happy with the conditions. St Michael's were uncertain if they would even have enough players to field a team in the 13-a-side competition last October, but the return of Kearney prompted an influx of players who hadn't lined out for the club in recent times. "Any group I'm involved with tends to work very hard, the players trained as hard for this as they would a more important championship," the manager told the Meath Chronicle. Curraha played a nice style of football and were certainly the better side in that aspect of the game, but nice football doesn't always produce the required result. The St Michael's selectors had watched Curraha's semi-final victory over Kilmainhamwood last week and learned enough from that game to plot the way to the winner's enclosure on Saturday. "This is a very good Curraha team and we had to be slightly negative to cope with them, we deployed an extra man in defence and it worked in our favour," stated Kearney. Although St Michael's took the lead from Ciaran Lynch's third minute sideline, they were on the backfoot for most of the half as Curraha tallied six wides on the way to parity (1-1 to 0-4) at the interval. David Coyle drew the sides level in the seventh minute and when Sean Laffery finished to the net at the end of the first-quarter, after Sean Prendeville hit the post, matters didn't look to promising for the men from Carlanstown and Kilbeg. However, St Michael's were also denied by the woodwork, they hit each post and the crossbar in separate attacks, but were grateful that three more points from Lynch kept them in the game. Defender Paddy Flood also made a vital interception close to the interval which denied Curraha a clear shot at goal. Sean Mallon's point immediately after the resumption eased Curraha into the lead while all St Michael's could manage was another shot off the woodwork, this time from Ronan Cassidy. Curraha played some nice football with Phelim Dowling and Mallon enjoying plenty of possession at midfield combined with some probing runs from Prendeville and David Coyle. It forced St Michael's to raise the tempo of their game and Robert Briody answered the call when he drew the sides level again in the eighth minute. Soon after Kevin Cassidy, David Lynch and Ronan Cassidy combined to set up Ciaran Lynch for the lead point. Ciaran Lynch then made the opening for Kevin Cassidy who split the posts before Prendeville got Curraha going again. Under-pressure St Michael's survived a Dowling run which almost produced a goal and the winners countered with a well-taken Graham Owens point which gave them sufficient fuel to make it across the line. Best on the day for Curraha were PJ McMahon, Patrick Coyle, Kevin Mallon, Sean Mallon and Dowling while St Michael's worked well as a team with goalkeeper Darren O'Connell particularly impressive, especially in the closing stages. Meath Co Committee PRO Brendan Cummins presented the cup. St Michael's - D O'Connell; M Stafford, P Flood; R Cassidy, P Rogers, S Clarke; C McCormack, R Briody (0-1); G Meehan, S Cassidy, D Lynch; K Cassidy (0-1), C Lynch (0-6, two frees, one sideline). Subs - M Cassidy for Meehan 25 mins; G Owens (0-1) for M Cassidy 54m. Curraha - A Dowling; PJ McMahon, K Mallon; P Coyle, T Hetherton, P Marmion; P Dowling, S Mallon (0-1); S Carey, G Coyle, S Prendeville (0-1); D Coyle (0-1), S Laffey (1-0). Subs - N Macken for Carey 42 mins; P O'Hanrahan for Laffey 58m. Referee - Des Smyth (St Ultan's).