St James annexed their first ever u-21 county title on Sunday when they comprehensively defeated Corofin on a score-line of 1-19 to 2-7.
It was an mpressive and polished display by the city outfit as they won almost all the individual battles, and were by far the superior team throughout the entire contest.
The victors had pace and purpose up front, and in youngsters such as Sean Glynn, Lee Vahey, Michael Elwood and the free scoring Ronan O’Connell (1-5 ), and Eoghan O’Regan (0-7 6fs ), they had far too much for the badly stretched
These two men, and others in the club, have given many years of commitment and thousands of man-hours to try to bring their club and these young men up the ranks of Galway football. And their selfless work is paying off in spades.
Few things happen by chance, and positive, young and vibrant teams do not just appear. Work and dedication are the secret of success.
O’Regan and Burke have been involved with some of these young men since the u-6s and u-8 grades, and their huge contribution to last Sunday’s historic win and the city side’s progression up the ranks of Galway football has to be acknowledged.
St James led by 0-13 to 2-2 at half time and they could have been further ahead.
Apart from their two goals, Corofin struggled badly all over the field. What really turned the screw on Ollie Burke’s Corofin team were two superb points from distance from the accurate and efficient Ronan O’Connell who was named the man-of-the-match, although St James had three or four contenders for that award.
O’Connell lofted two mighty scores over Tomas Healy in the Corofin goal just before half time and it seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Corofin lads.
The second half was almost all one-way traffic and St James could even afford to miss a second-half penalty and a host of point opportunities, such was their dominance.
Corofin’s Ian Burke at full-forward, team captain Adrian Molloy, Oisín Mannion, Daithí Burke and Alan Molloy all worked hard, but they will concede they were well beaten by a superior outfit.
St James: David Heffernan, Oisín O’Malley, Cathal Walsh, Michael Fahy, Shane Coughlan, Andrew Burke, Adam Lee, Johnny Duane (cpt ) (0-1 ), Aaron Connolly (0-1 ), Eoin Teagle, Michael Elwood, Sean Glynn(0-2 ), Lee Vahey, Eoghan O’ Regan (0-7 6fs ), Ronan O’Connell (1-5 ). Subs: Philip Ryan, Liam Finnerty (0-1 ), Cillian Murphy.
Corofin: Tomás Healy, Liam Silke, Conor Keady, Conor Langan, Enda Fleming, Eanna Langan, Stephen Burke, Alan Molloy, Daithí Burke (1-0 ), Oisín Mannion (0-1 ), Adrian Molloy (cpt ) (0-2 ), Conor McNamara, Seán Silke, Ian Burke (1-1 ) (1f ), Niall Collins (0-1 ). Subs: Martin Farragher (0-2 ), Jason Leonard, Stephen Broderick.
