Cootehill Celtic GAA

Much improved Celts just fall short

Cootehil Celtic 3 - 07           Cuchulainns 4 - 10

The Under 12s played their Shield semi final last Sunday night and went down narrowly to Cuchulainns by 6 points on a score of 4 – 10 to 3 – 7.  It really was a top class performance for the boys and girls and they were very unlucky not to get anything from the game. 

The visitors to Hugh O'Reilly Park opened the scoring with a pointed free inside the first couple of minutes but Cootehill soon replied with a similar effort from Shane Sexton. Sean O'Connor put the Celts ahead soon after with a point after a great run through the Cucu's defence but they soon went back into the lead hitting the home side for a goal and a point in quick succession. O'Connor replied for Cootehill to take a bit of the pressure off but Cuchulainns scored another couple of goals and a point but O'Connor pointed for the Hoops just before half time leaving the score at four points for Cootehill and 3 goals and 3 points for Cuchulainns.

The Cucu's added another point to their tally straight after half time before Lee Sherlock scoring a cracker of a goal to lift the home side's spirits. Dylan Sherlock and O'Connor both pointed to close the gap and a Evan Argue goal 2 minutes later really brought the Celts back into the tie. Cuchulainns however got in for some crucial scores after Argue's goal, scoring 1 - 4 without reply - and essentially this scoring burst was proved to be the difference between the sides.

Cootehill were determined not to lose heart and pushed on to look for more scores with Kielan McCarville pointing and Dylan Sherlock equalling his twin brother's earlier effort with a top class goal of his own. Unfortunately time ran out for the young Celts but it certainly was them and not the winners who finished the game the strongest and perhaps if there had of been 5 minutes more played, who knows what way the result would have gone?

The lads and lassies were very unlucky in many ways and had several goal bound efforts denied only by the goal posts. In truth, Cuchulainns were very lucky to see some of their goals hit the net and Cootehill were very unlucky not to see more green flags of their own raised and that was the difference. As well when you take into consideration the same side beat Cootehill by nearly 30 points nearly 3 months ago, Sunday’s result shows how much the team have improved so a lot of credit must go to the management of Johnny Sherlock and David McCann.

Team: Cillian Delaney; Gearóid McDonald, Niall Finnegan; Kielan McCarville (0 - 1), Mickey O’Neill, James Costin; Sean O’Connor (0 - 4), Dylan Sherlock (1 - 1); Lee Sherlock (1 - 0), Evan Argue (1 - 0), Shane Sexton (0 - 1, 1 free); Ellie Hayes, Tomás Smith.
Subs: Cillian McGahan; Naoise Hughes