Premier 2 U16 FC final: Clonakilty are football champions after beating St Nick's in a hard fought final

Clonakilty 1-15 

St Nicholas 2-6 

A superb closing quarter helped Clonakilty see off a resilient St Nicholas side in a highly entertaining U16 Premier 2 Minor football championship final at Pairc Ui Rinn on Monday night.

To be fair, both sides were evenly matched up to that stage but Clon inspired by a 1-4 tally from Tom Whooley found the crucial scores when the game hung in the balance.

It was evident both sides were intent on playing good open football with Jack Byerley kicking a fabulous point in the second minute to edge the west Cork side ahead.

Clonakility had the majority of possession in the opening five minutes but with Nicks defending with sheer resilience it curtailed them on the scoring front.

The Blackpool outfit were struggling to get possession into their forwards and the Clon lead was extended to three points following a second Whooley point in the ninth minute.

Finally, after going 11 minutes without a score the city side responded with a Josh Brosnan point following a placed ball.

Despite trailing 0-4 to 0-1 midway through the half Nick’s continued to battle and James O’Mahony showed class personified to kick a long-range point that narrowed the gap with 12 minutes remaining to the interval.

Despite Clonakilty responding with a second Byerley point they were shell-shocked in the 20th minute with a sucker punch goal.

A high ball into the square wasn’t dealt with and Adam Mannix was on hand to guide the ball to the empty net.

Amazingly after playing second fiddle for the majority of the half Josh Brosnan kicked a monstrous point that edged his side ahead with five minutes remaining to the interval.

In fairness Clon didn’t lie down and they had the final say of the half when Whooley levelled proceedings with the sides tied at 1-3 to 0-6 at the break.

Two minutes into the restart Mattie Lyons spilt the posts for his second point but again the city side responded with a Conor Burke white flag.

The major move that helped Nicks was bringing Michael T Brosnan to midfield where he gained valuable possession and he added a vital point six minutes into the half.

A brace of points from Emmet Nolan and Byerley gave the west Cork side a two-point lead but Nick’s will rue missing two kickable frees in front of goal that would have tied the game.

Despite Nick’s defence getting marshalled well by captain Robert O’Callaghan they had to succumb to the late scoring spree from Clonakilty who were crowned champions in style.

Scorers for Clonakilty: J Byerley 1-4 (0-3f), T Whooley 0-7, M Lyons 0-2, B Bennett, F O’Donovan (0-1 each).

St Nicholas: J O’Mahony 1-1, J Brosnan 0-3 (0-2f), A Mannix 1-0, C Burke, M T Brosnan (0-1 each).

Clonakilty: C Harrington; L Kelleher, J Costello, E Minhane; M F Collins, B Coffey, I Smith; S O’Donovan, C O’Gorman; E Deiseach, J Byerley, E Nolan; F O’Mahony, T Whooley, M Lyons.

Subs: C Delis for F O’Mahony (25), N O’Sullivan for M Lyons (37), F O’Donovan for M F Collins (50), B Bennett for I Smith (50).

St Nicholas: Z Healy-Lynch; C Barrett, R O’Callaghan, L Woods; R McNicholas, S Daly, C Cunningham; C Burke, J Brosnan; J O’Mahony, S McCarthy, D Twomey; C O’Brien, M T Brosnan, A Mannix.

Subs: N Considine for L Woods (27), J Maloney for C Barrett (37). S Gale for A Mannix (50), K O’Keeffe for D Twomey (50).

Referee: Niall Hayes (Blarney).