Incredible Comeback by Minors

ccShelmalier minor footballers staged a great late scoring surge to beat St. Martins by the narrowest of margins 4-3 to 2-8 in the county semi final played in St. Patrick Park on Sunday morning last.

In a low scoring first half, the black and amber side lead by a single point at half time 1-1 to 0-3 with full forward Kevin O Connor scoring a fine point and Colin Cleary firing to the St. Martins net. In the half the midfield areas was very congested with midfield paring James Cash and Eoghan Nolan played well ably assisted by the half forward line of Graham Staples, Neal Rossiter, Tony Smith and Stephen McGuire. The Martins started the second half with a goal after two minutes and had a further two points before Kevin O Connor got the Shels first score of the second half in the 6th minute. St. Martins continued to dominate with a further 1-3 up the 20th minute with the Shels only score in that period a single Kevin O Connor point in the 15th minute. If it wasn’t for the great play during this period of the full back line of Sean Byrne, Eoghan Fitzgerald, Glen Malone and Eoin O Leary the score would have been even greater. In this period the Shels had a man sent off and also missed a penalty. If it was St Martins that dominate the first 20 minutes of the second half it was the Shels that totally dominated the closing stages of the half with Simon Donohoe (1-0) and Colin Cleary (2-0) firing the Shels to a famous victory by a single point 4-3 to 2-8. The team now go forward to meet Starlights in the county final before the senior county final in Wexford Park on Sunday 7th October.
Team Sean Byrne, Eoghan Fitzgerald, Glen Malone, Eoin O Leary, Aaron Murphy, Simon Donohoe, Neal Rossiter, James Cash, Eoghan Nolan, Stephen McGuire, Graham Staples, Tony Smith, Colin Cleary, Adam Whitmore and Kevin O Connor. Sub Conor Forde for Tony Smith.