South Donegal Schoolboys Under 16 Shield Final

21/01/10

Copany Rovers U16's 3-1 Drumbar United U16's
Dara Brogan (39), Glen Harron (69), Ryan Kerrigan (79)
Venue: Hospital Field, Donegal Town

Extremely poor visiblilty due to heavy fog meant this South Donegal Schoolboys Under 16 Shield Final was changed at the last minute from Tymen, Letterbarrow to the Hospital Field, Donegal Town.

When the game eventually kicked off, it soon became apparent that this would certainly not be a walk in the park for Copany, as a much improved Drumbar side having a great cup run, under the tenureship of Shane Browne, were showing plenty of heart and desire to match their opponents early on.

Indeed, Drumbar had the first real chance of this final on sixteen minutes, when a through ball from midfield found Drumbar striker Gavin Bennett one-on-one with the keeper, but his low drive from the edge of the area was saved by the feet of Sam Burgess in the Copany nets, who had rushed out to narrow the angle.

On 31 minutes, a neat move down the Copany right hand side, involving neat inteplay from Stephen Graham, Ross Gallagher and Dara Brogan sent Ryan Kerrigan free into the box, but his effort from a narrow angle skewed wide of the Drumbar net.

Copany took the lead four minutes before half time, when Dara Brogan broke from midfield and sent a shot which wickedly looped over Jason Carr in the Drumbar net to give the Cobras the advantage at half time.

The second half was another keenly contested half, with both sides pushing for a goal but lacking a little in end product until the game exploded into life going into the final twenty minutes.

Glen Harron put Copany two-nil up with eleven minutes left on the clock, when he was the first to react to a smart save from Jason Carr from a Ryan Kerrigan effort, and he smashed the ball into the roof of the net with the outside of his foot from 8 yards.

This second goal really spurred Drumbar into action, and when they forced a free-kick down the right hand flank, a dangerous delivery caused panic in the Copany defense, and Dara Doogan sent a shot which crossed the line to put Drumbar back into contention.

Drumbar pushed hard for the final 10 minutes of the game to force an equalizer but were hit with a sucker-punch on the counter attack on the final minute of the game when the explosive Ryan Kerrigan bolted free down the left-hand flank, cut in from the edge of the area, and sent the ball into the far corner of the net to secure the Shield for Copany.

Two every good performances were put in from each side, with Sam Burgess, Dara Brogan and Eoin McFadden impressing for Copany, and Patrick Brady, Dara McMenamin and Gavin Bennett best for Drumbar.

Copany
GK Sam Burgess
RB Stephen Graham
LB Liam Duffy
CB Dale Duncan
CB Christy Price
RM Ross Gallagher
LM Gary McGrath
CM Dara Brogan
CM Eoin McFadden
CF Ryan Kerrigan
CF Glen Harron
Subs:
Shane Kilpatrick
Jake McGroary
David Harron
Liam McGirr

click here for the photos...