Summerhill College

Connacht Colleges 'A' Juvenile League Final
Summerhill College (Sligo) 2-8
St. Jarlath's (Tuam) 1-7

Summerhill College, Sligo retained the Connacht 'A' Juvenile League trophy after a hard fought win against St. Jarlaths of Tuam in blustery conditions in the new Connacht centre of excellence in Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo last Wednesday.

Summerhill opted to play with the storm force wind and driving rain in the first half and made good use of the elements with Captain Steven Keirns, tapping over a point before a minute had passed. Tuams St. Jarlath's replied, with a well worked score of their own. Summerhill then went on to score three points without a reply from full forward Ryan Mc Manus, Midfielder Dara Cummins and forward Ciaran Stenson and the Sligo side were looking dominant.

The turning point of the first half came when Ryan Mc Manus expertly fisted Aaron Flynn’s 45’ to the back of the net on fifteen minutes. This put 6 points between the teams on the half-way stage of the first-half but all the Sligo supporters and observers felt that Summerhill would have to put more distance between them and St Jarleths going against the wind in the second half.

Referring a game on the 3G astra turf pitch was always going to be hard to keep up with and as the sides constantly swapped free after free, Stephen Keirns got onto the end of a long ball from Dylan Kilgallon to put Summerhill in a promising position going into half-time when he put the ball in the back of the Jarlath’s net for the second time after an intelligent flick on by Ryan Mc Manus. The combination of Kerins and Mc Manus were proving too hot to handle for the Jarlath’s backs having scored 2-3 between them in the first half. The half-time score was Summerhill 2-5 St.Jarlath’s 0-2

Jarlath’s came out strongly in the second half and with the aid of the wind and rain had the ball in the back of the Summerhill within two minutes of the restart. Summerhill then scored two quick points on the trot by Dylan Kilgallon and Steven Henry to put 8 points between the teams. Jarlaths’s period of real dominance came half-way through the second-way when they scored 4 points without reply. With only 4 points between the team’s and 5 minutes to go Jarlath’s looked very threatening but Summerhill rallied well to keep them at arm’s length Brian Mc Gowan and Aaron Flynn were especially impressive.
The Sligo boys then got a vital score when midfielder Paul Mc Namara scored a fine point from to put the pressure back on the Galway lads. This put 5 points between the teams and gave Summerhill some breathing space.

Jarlath’s scored a consolation point near the end but it wasn’t enough. This gave Summerhill a hard-fought victory on the score-line. Summerhill 2-8 St. Jarlath’s 1-7.
The entire Summerhill team played their hearts out and Captain Steven Keirns accepted the trophy from an official from the Connaught GAA offices.

School team Managers Damian Keenan and Kenny Donagher and trainer Charles Harrison were delighted with the win and were looking forward to the 1 round of the Championship against St Coleman’s of Claremorris on Monday in Kiltimagh.

Impressive for Summerhill on the day were the Henry twins – Liam & Steven, Stephen Kerins, Ryan Mc Manus, Brian Mc Gowan, Aaron Flynn, Aaron Clerkin and Darragh Cummins.

Summerhill College: Jack Keegan, Brian Mc Gowan, Connor Hegarty, Liam Henry, Aaron Clerkin, Aaron Clerkin, Gerard O Kelly-Lynch, Darragh Cummins, Paul Mc Namara, Steven Henry, Dylan Kilgallon, Steven Henry, Nathan Rooney, Ryan Mc Manus, Steven Kerins (Capt.)

Subs: Luke Nicholson for N. Rooney (55 min), Dara O Brien for R. Mc Manus (55 min)
Dylan Tierney, Ronan Devaney, Jude Mc Garry, Ryan Blake, Ryan Feehily, Steven Regan, Kyle Harrigan, Conan O Donnell, Alex Selby, Hadi Moussa, Mark Mc Callion, Macdara Tinney