Enniskillen Gaels 3-08
Aghadrumsee 0-11
As the cliche goes, goals win games and in this instance that was certainly true with Enniskillen Gaels finding the net three times to secure a six point win over an Aghadrumsee side who perhaps deserved little better.
Gaels manager, Warren Dixon, was delighted to finish the season with some silverware;
“It was a very pleasing end to the season for us. A decent performance and a win. We are rebuilding and this was an important year for us and we felt we made improvement especially during the second half of the season.”
His counter part in the Aghadrumsee dugout, Ciaran Carey was also generally upbeat about the prospects of his side.
“Not making the top five in the league was real hammer blow for us and it took us a little while to recover from that but we have a young squad and we continue to be very hopeful for the future.”
This division 2b league final could have had a different result but for the intervention of Enniskillen’s veteran goal keeper, Chris Breen who pulled off a brilliant save that turned out to be the decisive moment in the game. Trailing by just three points Aghadrumsee had got their way back into the game ten minutes into the second half when Breen made his save and had the ball found the net the momentum would have swung to the men in black and white.
Overall this final was an enjoyable encounter throughout between two times who were meeting for the fourth time this season.
Eddie Courtney was to have a productive afternoon for the losers and he was quick off the mark with the first score and was to contribute 0-08 of his sides tally over the course of the hour, with four of these coming from dead balls. He and former team mate at St Michael’s, Eoin Hamill were to have a great battle over the course of the hour with the tenacious Gaels corner back also catching the eye.
The McAleer brothers replied quickly to that opening score for the with Sean slotting in his sides first goal and Conor adding a point. But Aghadrumsee were to peg the Gaels back and hit three points in a row with Eugene Kearns, who was to have an excellent game around the middle of the field, landing one of these with a fine effort.
The third McAleer brother was hungry to get in on the act for the Gaels and Brian duly obliged with two quick points to give Enniskillen a lead they were not to relinquish. Their grip tightened when the marauding Richard O’Callaghan crashed the ball to the net for his sides second goal.
The sides traded two points apiece heading in to half time with O’Callaghan adding a point to his goal and Conor McAleer and Courtney trading free kicks.
Aghadrumsee started the second half the better team however and two more Courtney points had just a kick in the ball between the teams when Breen pulled off his wonder save to maintain his teams lead.
Breen’s intervention seemed to act as a wake up call for his teammates and of the next four scores in the game the Gaels were to collect three. The Aghadrumsee defence was finding it impossible to handle Conor McAleer and he hit 1-02 in a purple patch that swung the game decisively in the Gaels favour.
This put the Gaels six up and although Aghadrumsee were to battle to the end and hit two points through Ryan Boyle and Noel Beggan it was fitting that Conor McAleer should wrap up the game with the final point to give him a personal tally of 1-05.
The Gaels were well served by Ryan McCluskey and Paul Mullan with Sean McAleer threatening in attack alongside brother Conor. For the losers Ciaran Flynn was impressive at corner back after his introduction with Damian Flanagan and the aforementioned Boyle and Kearns also putting in good shifts.
Scorers:
Enniskillen: Conor McAleer (1-05, 0-03f), Richard O’Callaghan (1-01), Sean McAleer (1-00), Brian McAleer (0-02).
Aghadrumsee: Eddie Courtney (0-08, 0-04f), Eugene Kearns (0-01), Ryan Boyle (0-01), Noel Beggan (0-01)