St. Farnan's win Leinster Senior Gaelic Final!

St. Farnan's Prosperous 4-9
HFCS Rathcoole 0-4

St Farnan's Post Primary School Prosperous were ruthless in victory as they claimed the Top Oil Leinster Post Primary Schools Senior D Football title at Blanchardstown IT on Thursday, May 17.

St. Farnan's had already contested an All-Ireland semi-final due to this decider being postponed due to delays with the running of the Dublin competition, but despite this delay and the need for St. Farnan's to change to an alternative kit the result was never in doubt.

The game was notable for a fine man marking display from Cillian Manders on Dublin Minor midfielder Alex O' Neill and the Farnan's tight defensive unit.

Both sides had an array of chances in the opening few minutes with Emmet Donoghue and Eoin Bagnall both firing wide inside two minutes. It wasn't until the seventh minute that Farnan's opened the scoring via the left foot of wing back Darren Judge.

The Allenwood clubman was cool, calm and collected throughout as he conducted the game from the half back line with his fellow club mates Jason Wyse and Mark Byrne. St. Farnan's were in the ascendancy for the rest of the first half as they raced to a 2-5 to 0-0 score line. Ballyteague man Conor Hanley and Robertstown's Brion Kennedy scored the goals for Farnan's while any potential chances that HFCS engineered were brought to an abrupt halt due to the physicality of the Farnan's full back line, in particular Paraic Hanley. Man of the Match Eoin Bagnall was also quite clinical throughout this period as he chipped in with three points.

Farnan's could have had some more scores, but HFCS worked hard in defence with their keeper Kristupas Gadiamavicius denying Daniel Lynam of a goal, after the Caragh man showed great speed cutting through the middle.

HFCS opened their account in the 24th minute with a James Timmins point followed by a score from Dublin minor midfielder Alex O' Neill after a well worked team move. HFCS dominated this period scoring three out of their four scores between the 24th and 29th minutes. This resurgence was short lived as Brion Kennedy slotted in his second goal after a strong run from centre back Mark Byrne. St. Farnan's were dealt a blow just before half time when midfielder Jack Turbett received a second yellow card for a foul on James Timmins.

Hopes of a HFCS second half revival were short lived after the restart as a Darren Judge free and a hat trick goal from Brion Kennedy put the result beyond doubt. This moved the score line to 4-8 to 0-3 after 44 minutes. In the 50th minute after a strong Alex O' Neill run, he was fouled inside the square and was awarded a penalty. To the sheer delight of the Farnan's travelling support Luke Anderson dived low to his right hand side and making a terrific save. Brendan O'Halloran managed only a point from the rebound and this proved to be Rathcoole's final score of the game.

After the game St. Farnan's joint captains Ollie Hogarty and the injured Billy Maher received the trophy from Leinster GAA schools officer Tadhg Doran who also presented the man of the match award to Eoin Bagnall.

Date: 17/05/2018 
Venue: Blanchardstown IT Referee: David Sweeney

St Farnan's, Prosperous: Luke Anderson (Allenwood), Paraic Hanley (Ballyteague), Oliver Hogarty (Robertsown), Craig Lenehan (Allenwood), Jason Wyse (Allenwood), Mark Byrne (Allenwood), Darren Judge 0-2 (Allenwood), Jack Turbett (Allenwood), Cillian Manders (Caragh), Lorcan Behan (Caragh), Emmet Donoghue 0-1 (Caragh), Daniel Lynam (Caragh), Conor Hanley 1-0 (Ballyteague), Brion Kennedy 3-0 (Robertstown), Eoin Bagnall 0-6 (Allenwood). 
Subs: Josh Lee (St. Kevin's) for Kennedy 51; Richard Dynan (Ballyteague) for Hogarty 51; Colm Moran (Allenwood) for Daniel Lynam 54. 
Selectors: Denis Malone and Sean Langton.

HFCS Rathcoole: Kristupas Gaidamavicius (St. Mary's), William Hanly (St. Finian's), Cianran O' Roarke (St. Mary's), Alex Byrne (St. Anne's), Michael O' Leary (St. Mary's), Jack Morris (St. Mary's), Ben Reddan (Cill Airde), Owen Omataje (St Mary's), Alex O' Neill 0-1 (Round Towers), James Timmins 0-1 (St. Mary's), Adam McCabe (St. Mary's), Sean Quinn (St. Mary's), Dillon Fetherstone (St. Mary's), Darrach o' Nuallain (St. Mary's), Brendan O' Halloran 0-2 (St. Mary's). 
Selectors: Liam O' Sullivan and Des O' Connor.