Tracton relegated from Premier Junior as St Finbarr's dig deep

St Finbarr’s 0-17 Tracton 0-14

ST Finbarr’s retained their Co-op Superstores JAH status following their win over Tracton in the relegation playoff at Ballygarvan.

Over the hour the Barrs were deserving winners and when they had to dig deep in the last few minutes they did so.

Tracton were never going to go down easily as they played high balls in to try and get the goal they needed to take it to a replay.

But Cathal Crowley marshalled the Barrs defence to keep them at bay to help ensure the city side retained their status in what was a good weekend for them, with their senior side reaching the championship semi-final on Saturday.

Jack O’Kelly opened the scoring for the Barrs, with Colm Keane adding a second from a free.

Six minutes in Ronan Walsh got Tracton off the mark from a free and he added a second to level it.

Another Keane free put the Barrs back in front, before Daniel Harrington got Tracton’s first point from play in the 13th minute.

Walsh added another free before Keane hit back for the Barrs, from another free.

Michael O’Sullivan and David Murray, Barrs, exchanged points to see the sides level at 0-5 apiece after 19 minutes.

Keane put the Barrs back in front before Walsh and Keith Webb helped Tracton to a 0-8 to 0-6 lead after 25 minutes.

Kevin O’Flynn had his effort on goal well saved by Kieran Lyons with Keane scoring the resulting 65.

Keane pointed another free to see them level for the sixth time before Ciaran Steele got the last score of the half as the Barrs led 0-9 to 0-8 at half-time.

From here to the end they never lost the lead again, with Keane putting them further ahead at the start of the second half.

Graham Webb pulled a point back for Tracton, before four in a row for the Barrs put them well on the road to victory.

Keane hit two from frees, with Steele and O’Flynn also raising white flags to put them 0-14 to 0-9 in front after 40 minutes.

Credit to Tracton they never gave up, with Walsh and Paul O’Riordan reducing the deficit.

Keane responded, with Walsh on target at the other end, to make it 0-15 to 0-12 with seven minutes to go.

Jamie Lenihan increased the Barrs' lead before points from Walsh and Daniel O’Flaherty put only two between the sides as the game headed into injury time.

Lenihan raised another white flag, meaning Tracton needed a goal to take it to a replay, but the Barrs defence stood strong to ensure they stayed up and Tracton were relegated.

Scorers for St Finbarr’s: C Keane 0-10 (0-9 f, 0-1 65), J Lenihan, C Steele 0-2 each, J O’Kelly, D Murray, K O’Flynn 0-1 each.

Tracton: R Walsh 0-7 f, D Harrington 0-2, M O’Sullivan, K Webb, G Webb, P O’Riordan, D O’Flaherty 0-1 each.

St FINBARR’S: J McCarthy; R O’Sullivan, D Scannell, S Kennedy; C Steele, C Crowley, A Barry; S O’Leary, M Nason; A Murphy, C Keane, A Buckley; D Murray, J O’Kelly, K O’Flynn.

Subs: J Lenihan for D Murray (44), R Doyle for A Murphy (48), P Kennedy for A Buckley (56).

TRACTON: K Lyons; D Good, K Healy, M Castleton; R Sinclair, G Webb, K Webb; J Good, D Byrne; J Kingston, M O’Sullivan, C Quinn; D Harrington, R Walsh, M Byrne.

Subs: P O’Riordan for M Byrne (38), D Kidney for M Castleton (40), D O’Flaherty for J Kingston (48), A Kiely for D Harrington (53).

Referee: David Daly, Brian Dillons.