HISTORY! St Mary's strike late to seal historic U19 county title at the expense of Cashel

FBD Insurance County U19A Hurling Championship Final

St Mary's 1-17

Cashel King Cormacs 0-18

St Mary’s have banished their recent hard luck stories at the U19 grade to finish stronger in the final quarter to defeat favourites Cashel King Cormacs dramatically in the FBD Insurance U19A Hurling Championship final in Golden on Saturday afternoon.

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Trailing 0-18 to 0-13 after 46 minutes of play, the Clonmel outfit finished with confidence and flair, just as they did in the semi-final against Borris-Ileigh, to outscore Cashel by 1-4 to nil to finally break their county duck at this level, despite the late protestations of the West champions over some refereeing decisions.

The outstanding Aaron Cagney was by far and away the best player on the field throughout, hitting some sublime scores from play and placed balls, and when he started off the move that led to Mary’s 56th-minute goal from Dara Beckett, he had sent his team on their way to victory.

Cashel will have so many regrets after this game, refereeing decisions aside. They really fell into their shell in the final quarter, and whether it was a calculated thing or a subconscious one, they dropped deep to hold onto what they had, which backfired massively.

They were in a similar situation against Holycross in the semi-final, and continued to pour forward to find scores to secure the victory on that occasion, so it would be more likely the case that they contracted a fatal dose of white-line fever.

Scorers: St Mary's: Aaron Cagney (0-13, 0-7f), Dara Beckett 1-0, Ben Fuller 0-2,  Darragh Landers, James Power 0-1 each.

Cashel King Cormacs: Oisin O'Donoghue (0-9, 0-4f), Cian Fitzgerald 0-3, Eimhin Ryan, Denis O'Callaghan 0-2 each, Tudor Mereacre, Callum Byrnes 0-1 each.

St Mary’s: Jamie Ryan; Max O’Dwyer, Jack Lawlor, Cormac Brennan; Daniel Charles, Darragh Landers, David McSweeney; Jamie O’Keeffe, Kayden Cloona; James Power, Paul Maher, Harry Lawlor; Ben Fuller, Finn Napier, Aaron Cagney.

Subs used: Enda Condon for J Lawlor (35); Dara Beckett for Cloona (41); Conor Landers for Paul Maher (48).

Cashel King Cormacs: Eoghan Dunne; Kyle Cully, Cormac McInerney, Aidan Skeffington; Tommy O’Connor, Briain O’Donoghue, Colin Maher; Colm Ryan, Callum Butler Buckley; Tudor Mereacre, Oisin O'Donoghue, Denis O’Callaghan; Eimhin Ryan, Callum Byrnes, Cian Fitzgerald.

Subs used: Ultan O'Donoghue for Mereacre (37, inj); Evan Ryan for Byrnes (48).

Referee: Mark Gennery (Portroe)

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