2010 Kiernan Cup Final

25th JUNE 2010, Ballymote

Shamrock Gaels 0-10

St Marys 1-14

St Marys captured the 2010 Kiernan Cup with a convincing win over Shamrock Gaels last Friday evening in Corran Park, Ballymote. St Marys were always in control of this game and were stronger and sharper than the Gaels dominating in all sectors.

The Gaels did look lively in the opening minutes and opened the scoring with a point from Joe Quinn. Declan Cawley opened the Marys account on five minutes with an easy score as the Gaels defence gave him too much room. The Gaels were winning a lot of possession however they were
guilty of over elaboration with hand passing when a more direct route may have yielded more dividends. Marys added their second score on nine minutes when Neil Smith pointed from the right having won the ball from a '45. St Marys were now beginning to assert their authority and were
winning most of the exchanges particularly around the middle of the pitch. They notched up three quick points to go into a three point lead mid way through the half.

Joe Quinn, the Gaels most impressive player scored on seventeen minutes to narrow the gap, however St Marys responded immediately with a point from Declan Cawley and the equally impressive Donnacha Gallagher added another a minute later. John Paul Henry kept the Gaels in touch with a point on twenty two minutes. The Gaels had to work hard for their
scores while St Marys seemed to be able to score at ease when needed. They added two more points from Gallagher to go into a five point lead as the half entered the last final five minutes while the industrious Connor Maye was causing the Gaels defence all sorts of problems. Joe
Quinn pointed from a free in the last minute of the half to leave the half time score 0-8 to 0-4 in favour of St Marys.

In the second half Donnacha Gallagher opened the scoring with a point from a free in the third minute while Joe Quinn responded for the Gaels with an excellent free from the sideline. Both sides continued to trade scores over the following period with Gallagher and Quinn both pointing
again from frees. The Gaels gifted a point to St Marys in the twelfth minute when a quick Colin Harte free went straight to Declan Cawley who popped the ball over the bar to extend their lead to five points. Joe Quinn kept the Gaels in touch with a good individual point coming in
from the left while Cawley again kept the Marys advantage with a point on twenty minutes.

Despite the Gaels best efforts they struggled to narrow the gap as St Marys were doing enough to keep distance between the teams and when a Gaels move broke down on the St Marys twenty one yard line and with three passes they pointed through Stephen Hardagon - it looked like it
was going to be their day. This was re-affirmed a minute later when a defence splitting pass found man of the match Donnacha Gallagher on his own and with only the goalkeeper to beat he calmly rounded John Cregg to calmly score the only goal of the game. This put St Marys eight
points up with six minutes left and in control of the game as their more effective direct style of play and strong running created dividends. Joe Quinn added another free for the Gaels while Stephen Hardagon pointed for St Marys to maintain their advantage. John Paul
Henry added a consolation point for the Gaels in the closing minute to leave the final score 1-14 to 0-10.

The Kiernan Cup was presented to St Marys captain Johnny Martin by County Board Chairman John Murphy.

Teams and Scorers: Shamrock Gaels: John Craig, Liam O'Connell, James Lyons, Niall Craig, Keith McMorrow, Paul Higgins, Johnny Burke, Eoin McDermott, Jarlath Lyons, Mark Tuohy, Niall Henry, John Paul Henry (0-2), Colin Harte, Joe Quinn (0-8), Patrick O'Grady, Subs: Derek Davey
for Patrick O'Grady, Noel Jinks for Colin Harte.

St Marys: Brian Collery, Conor Carroll, Tomas Carroll, Caolan O'Grady, Ronan Carter, Donal Carroll, Kieran O'Boyle, Seamus Burns, Johnny Martin, Connor Maye (0-2), Neil Smith, Mark Butler, Declan Cawley (0-3), Donnacha Gallagher (1-5), Stephen Hardagon (0-3). Subs: Glen
Monaghan for Donal Carroll (inj), Daniel Land for Neil Smith.