Oranmore Maree come on top after extra time battle with Corofin in U19 A football final
ORANMORE-MAREE were crowned Galway U19 A football champions for the third consecutive year after overcoming Corofin 2-22 to 1-19 following extra-time in Duggan Park on Wednesday evening, Niall de Paor’s goal eight minutes into extra-time giving them a lead they never relinquished in a contest that was level eight times.
Leonard O’Halloran’s side hit a second half blitz that was nearly good enough in normal time. Captain de Paor was their star player with 1-11, and Oranmore-Maree also had strong showings from Shay Rabbitt, Alan Burke, Dan and Joey Cullinane, Michael Claffey and Barry Keating.
Corofin will look back to that second period when they surrendered a three-point advantage with the wind as a telling moment. Keeper Michael Quinn produced three quality saves, while forwards Mark Kelly, Killian Joyce and Rory Fahey also put in solid shifts.
Oranmore-Maree began with points from Dan and Joey Cullinane before Corofin overturned the deficit through a Joyce free and Aaron Murphy two-pointer. De Paor’s opening score levelled at 0-3 apiece on seven minutes.
They shared parity twice more by the quarter hour as Corofin scores from Mark Kelly and Cian Rafferty sandwiched a de Paor brace. Another from Rafferty and Ryan Connolly put the North champions 0-7 to 0-5 up on 17 minutes.
Momentum shifted regularly with Oranmore-Maree tagging the next four white flags through de Paor (3) and Jonah O’Halloran. But they found themselves behind again on 27 minutes when Joyce’s long-range effort dropped short and Oisin Kelly won possession and got Corofin’s goal.
Corofin led 1-9 to 0-9 at half-time with Fahey and Joyce tallying. The restart was critical and the defending champions commenced with James Lennon, de Paor and Burke troubling the umpires to level again.
And after Adam Healy and Kealan Moran put Corofin two up, substitute Keating won a 41st minute penalty for Oranmore-Maree. Dan Cullinane stepped up but his shot and follow up were both saved by Quinn. Joey Cullinane volleyed a third effort to the net.
Oranmore-Maree stretched their lead to 1-15 to 1-12 thanks to Michael Leahy, de Paor and James McGuire with Joyce providing their opponents’ response. And the latter continued with three more points (an orange and white flag) to make it all square again on 55 minutes.
Galway minor Joey Cullinane gave Oranmore-Maree the edge in injury time but a late free, correctly overturned for charging by referee Ciaran Harkin, gave Corofin one last chance and substitute Aaron O’Malley landed the equaliser on 63 minutes.
The added period began with two-pointers traded by Murphy and de Paor before the game’s defining score. Claffey sent a ball into the corner towards Keating who quickly unleashed de Paor from an acute angle resulting in Oranmore-Maree’s second goal.
That gave them a 2-18 to 1-18 interval lead before De Paor and Keating (2) put six between them. Joyce concluded Corofin’s account and Keating capped off Oranmore-Maree’s victory giving them the John Power Memorial Cup again.
Oranmore-Maree: B Carroll; T Furlong, S Martyn, E Healy; S Caulfield, S Rabbitt, J Lennon (0-1); A Burke (0-1), D Cullinane (0-1); J Cullinane (1-2), N de Paor (1-11, 4f, 1tp), G Curran; J O’Halloran (0-1), A Hanrahan, M Claffey.
Subs used: B Keating (0-3) for Claffey (HT), M Leahy (0-1) for Curran (HT), J McGuire (0-1) for O’Halloran (48), Claffey for Hanrahan (60), Curran for J Cullinane (67), D Stokes for Caulfield (76).
Corofin: M Quinn; J Quinn, P Tighe, T Looney; C Winston, C Rafferty (0-2), K Moran (0-1); R Connolly (0-1), M O’Malley; M Kelly (0-1), K Joyce (0-7, 4f, 1tpf), A Murphy (0-4, 2tp); R Fahey (0-1), O Kelly (1-0), L Jordan.
Subs used: A Healy (0-1) for Jordan (30), A Harty for O Kelly (49), S Folan for M Kelly (49), A O’Malley (0-1) for Connolly (58), L Treacy for Murphy (70), Connolly for Fahey (73), E Lynch for Moran (73, inj), M Kelly for O’Malley (79).
Referee: C Harkin