Turloughmore win historic first U21 Title

Turloughmore 2-12, Liam Mellows 0-13

Turloughmore won the County U21 A title for the first time in the Club’s history when they overcame Liam Mellows in the Final replay in Pearse Stadium on Saturday. And while there was again little between these age old rivals, Turloughmore deserved their win with their two goals, seven scorers and ability to score from play – it was 2-9 to 0-3 from play to the winners – proving to be significant.

Liam Mellows started well with 2 Ronan Elwood points and Turloughmore keeper Mark Fahy was called into action twice in the opening quarter to save from mellows corner forward Enda Fallon. Turloughmore began to settle though and 2 excellent Jamie Holland long range points from play from inside his own half allied to a Sean Loftus score had Turloughmore 0-3 to 0-2 ahead on 16 minutes.

Richard Doyle and Adrian Morrissey exchanged points before Turloughmore struck a decisive blow on 19 minutes when Jamie Holland’s long range free was finished smartly to the net by Barry Callanan to leave Turloughmore 1-3 to 0-4 ahead. But Mellows responded impressively with 3 Ronan Elwood frees in the next 5 minutes to leave just the minimum between them.

Turloughmore finished the half well however. Jamie Holland shot his third point from play of the opening half before a fine surging run by Sean Linnane saw him find Conor Shaughnessy whose neat lay-off set up Richard Doyle who crashed home a great goal to leave Turloughmore 2-5 to 0-6 ahead at the break.

Ronan Elwood converted 2 frees upon the restart to get his side up and running again and leave just 3 in it on 35 minutes. Conor Shaughnessy and Jamie Holland (a free) shot points in response to 2 more Elwood frees to leave Turloughmore ahead by 2-7 to 0-10 on 42 minutes, with Mellows reliance on scores from the placed ball a notable feature.

Man of the Match Jamie Holland had caught a great ball out of the sky as Turloughmore’s resolute defence endeavoured to ensure there would be no goal conceded. Damien Holland and Sean Loftus shot good points to stretch Turloughmore 2-9 to 0-10 ahead on 45 minutes and an historic first U21 title was now possible with 15 minutes left.

Mellows, to be expected, did not yield and a fine Adrian Morrissey point was answered on 50 minutes by a superb Sean Loftus sideline cut. However, Ronan Elwood – who converted 19 frees over the 2 Finals - put over 2 more frees by the 57^th minute to leave it at 2-10 to 0-13.

Again though Turloughmore responded and they finished strongly. Richard Doyle was fouled for a free which Conor Shaughnessy slotted and then 3 minutes into injury time sub Brian Callinan shot a good point to copper fasten a 2-12 to 0-13 win on an historic day for the Turloughmore Club.