Thomas Edward Donohoe in U16 final action
Cathal Reilly (left) and Ben Conaty during the U16 Division 2 League final
U16 Michael Hyland
play-off with former intermediate champions Drumgoon on October 20, with the winners guaranteed complete senior status for 2013. Drumgoon has secured a 10th place finish in Division One by the end of the season, but the newly implemented format meant that they would have to overcome Division Two’s top side in order to ensure their survival. The two sides would battle it out under lights on the 3G pitch at Kingspan Breffni Park, where Drumgoon got off to the better start before failing to clear a goal-mouth scramble which saw Jerome Kiernan pouncing and burying to the net to hand Denn the lead. Kiernan would pick a straight red card minutes later, with Patrick McCabe pointing down the other end to send the teams in all square on 1-1 to 0-4 at the interval. With the numerical advantage, Drumgoon looked the likely side heading into the second-half but consecutive points from Tomas Corr, Padraig McGovern and Dean Hyland had the Crosskeys men in the driving-seat with the final quarter approaching. McCabe pulled back two points for ‘the Goonies’ to leave the difference at one before Denn struck one of the most important scores of their season which saw Fergal Farrelly get in behind the Drumgoon defence and bury to the back of Niall McIntyre’s net. John Smith made it a five-point lead in the next attack, much to the delight of the Denn contingent, and from there on it was a matter of hanging on for Higgins’ men as Eoin McPhilips, Ciaran McGovern and the returned Martin Cahill pulled off some brave blocks and interceptions in the closing stages to help their side seal a 2-5 to 0-9 win and a timely return to the top flight. The Denn team that lined-out was as follows: Brian Boylan; Eoin McPhilips, Ciaran McGovern; Aidan Kiernan, Adrian Cahill, Noel Crowe; Tomas Corr, Padraig McGovern; Fergal Farrelly, Jerome Kiernan, Damien Callaghan; Colin Kiernan, Hubert Smith, Dean Hyland. Subs: Martin Cahill, John Smith, Cormac Cusack-Smith, Ronan Kiernan.
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Bernard Galligan
Adrian Cahill
Senior team selectors Pat Baker (left) and Donal Keogan