Mid U-21 A Football semi-final.

JK Brackens Og 1-15

Upperchurch/Drombane 0-13

(After extra-time).

JK Brackens advanced to the Mid Final at the expense of Upperchurch/Drombane following their extra-time victory on Saturday afternoon last. A match that was originally fixed for Drombane was switched to Templemore midweek, before the incessant rain led to a further switch, this time to Templetuohy. Credit to the ground staff who had the pitch in excellent condition for the 4pm throw-in. Competitions at this time of the year are notoriously difficult to prepare for with the inclement weather and college making any kind of team training hard to arrange. That certainly showed in the opening half with quite a bit of rust on show as both sides struggled up front. Sean Ryan of Upperchurch proved an exception to the rule as he kicked three excellent scores from play in the opening eighteen minutes. Meanwhile Brackens had a succession of poor wides before Stephen Cahill surged forward from the back to open their account with a point from play in the 7th minute. Darragh Doyle added another in the 14th minute while Luke Shanahan added two frees to leave the ‘Church 0-5 to 0-2 ahead after twenty minutes. James Corcoran had a great chance to level the game from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute but James Griffin made a great save to deny him. He was on hand again four minutes later to deny Joe Bourke with another good stop as Brackens were getting on top. Brian Quinn opened his account from a free in the 30th minute to close the gap to two before Bourke left just a point between the sides at the break when he added a nice point from play.

Darragh Doyle got the second half scoring underway with his second from play in the 36th minute to level the game but scores were hard to come by. Owen Noonan landed a point for Upperchurch in the 40th minute, their first in 22 minutes to restore their slender advantage. Following a quiet first half Conor Cadell was beginning to exert quite an influence on the game, and he levelled the game once more in the 42nd minute. The game opened up in the final quarter and three points in five minutes courtesy of Jim O’Dwyer, Shanahan and an excellent ’45 from Pat Ryan pushed the ‘Church three clear and they looked likely winners. Brackens dug in and points in the 50th minute and 51st minutes from Quinn and Corcoran gave them hope. O’Dwyer and Quinn exchanged points before another Shanahan free left Upperchurch 0-11 to 0-9 ahead on 57 minutes. Good work from Quinn and substitute Jamie Ormond set up Ned Walsh for a Brackens point before Quinn sent the match to extra time with a pointed free in the 63rd minute, the last kick of the game.

Brackens won their second penalty of the day four minutes into extra-time but once again Griffin denied Brackens, this time from Quinn. Two minutes later Pat Ryan kicked another excellent point and Brackens wondered if their luck was out. But they rallied once more and landed points through Walsh and Corcoran to lead by a point at half-time. Cadell landed another in the 12th minute before the game was finally put to bed in the 14th minute when great work from Stephen Cahill and James Corcoran set up Michael Cahill for the games only goal. Corcoran got his third from play in the 19th minute to leave Brackens 1-15 to 0-13 ahead at the long whistle. They now go forward to play Drom/Inch in the final and while they will be happy with some aspects of their play, they still have plenty to work on. Jamie Bergin and Stephen Cahill were strong at the back, Conor Cadell and Diarmuid Delaney got through an amount of work at midfield while James Corcoran, Ned Walsh and Brian Quinn all featured prominently up front. The ‘Church will be disappointed not to have held out at the end of normal time having brought an awful lot to a very competitive game. James Griffin was outstanding in goals while Pat Ryan, Sean Ryan, Luke Shanahan, Tom Purcell and Jim O’Dwyer fared best.

JK Brackens Og: Tom Bourke, Paddy Moloney, Jamie Bergin, James Ryan, Michael Cahill (1-0), Stephen Cahill (0-1), Mikey Delaney, Conor Cadell (0-2), Diarmuid Delaney, Ned Walsh (0-2), James Corcoran (0-3), Ned Delaney, Brian Quinn (0-4f), Darragh Doyle (0-2), Joe Bourke (0-1). Subs used: Jamie Ormond for Doyle, Sean Collier for Bergin (inj), Ciaran O’Shea for Joe Bourke, Eoin Leahy for Mikey Delaney.

Upperchurch: James Griffin, Joe Bourke, Mikey Griffin, Patrick Bourke, Paddy Phelan (0-1), Pat Ryan (0-2), Oisin Treacy, Sean Ryan (0-3), Tom Purcell, Padraig Griffin, Luke Shanahan (0-4f), Michael McLoughlin, Sean Shanahan, Owen Noonan (0-1), Jim Dwyer (0-2). Sub used: David Ryan for McLoughlin.

Referee: Murty Ryan (Moyne/Templetuohy).