U16 | Brady’s double bags the Division One title for St Dominic’s

U16 Division One | Bellurgan United 1–2 St Dominic’s

Action from the Bellurgan United v St Dominic’s game at Tom Flynn Park on Thursday night

Fintan Brady was the hero for St Dominic’s as he grabbed a goal in each half to edge out Bellurgan United and win the U16 Division One title decider on Thursday evening at Tom Flynn Park.

This closely fought final league match of the season failed to yield any goals until the 21st minute when Brady pounced to head home Oisin Conroy’s free kick.

Bellurgan were stung into action almost immediately with Luke Higgins — who was a handful for the visiting defence — winning possession in midfield.

Dawe’s pass put Sean Dawe on his way and the Bellurgan player drilled a powerful shot to the corner of Jack McKenna’s net for the equaliser.

The peninsula side were now in control and they were denied by the woodwork either side of half time.

Action from the Bellurgan United v St Dominic’s game at Tom Bellew Park on Thursday night

A well worked free kick by Higgins smashed off the crossbar before the break and then a low shot from Ciaran Murphy in first minute of the second half bounced off the bottom of the post.

The game then took a dramatic twist when St Dominic’s were awarded an indirect free kick for a back pass and Oisin Conroy rolled the ball into the path of Brady who smashed the ball home via the Bellurgan wall to net his 17th goal of the season.

It was a huge blow for Bellurgan but they piled forward, forcing several corners but the visitors goalkeeper McKenna did well on several occasions to claim everything in the air with plenty of Bellurgan players lurking around the six-yard area.

The Brian Brady and Tony McBride managed team fought for every ball and eventually the hard working Bellurgan players just ran out of steam.

The efforts of Cathal McElroy and Aaron Crawford gave the Friary defence some well-earned respite in the final 10 minutes and although the result was hard on the home side, as they played well enough in the game, it was Brady’s double that was the difference in the end.

BELLURGAN UNITED: Marty McEneaney, Craig Kane, Kelvin Larkin, Aidan Boher, Joseph Toner, Conor Watters, Jake McArdle, Ciaran Murphy, Sean Dawe, Luke Higgins, Diarmuid O’Neill, Adam Connolly, Jason McParland, Kevin Morgan, James McGrath.

ST DOMINIC’S: Jack McKenna, Tom McBride, Jack Conlon, Mark Lee, Oisin Conroy, Oran O’Hanlon, Aaron Crawford, Fintan Brady, Cathal McElroy, Brian Brady, Ewan McEnteggart, Darren Mandow, Aaron Farrell, Colm Bellew, Jack Barron.

REFEREE: Niall Minto.