Ahane claim Limerick U19 B football title after penalty shoot-out success

“NOTHING to separate us in the match so it had to go to penalties – and it was down to the last one at that”, was how Ahane manager Brian Murphy summed up a final that couldn't have been tighter as Ahane captured the county Under-19 B football title when edging past St Senan's in Mungret on Monday evening.

Ahane claimed the title 3-2 on penalties after the teams were tied 2-12 each after extra-time. The finalists had been deadlocked on 1-9 each after 60 minutes.

Having met regularly all the way up through the age groups, it was inevitable that the pair should meet once again in the decider but, this time, the margin of the winners' victory couldn't have been closer and it mightn't have even gone to penalties had the losers defended the leads they had put together coming up to the end of both normal time and extra time.

It may have been a case of lost opportunity for Senans as they failed to close out the advantage that man-of-the-match Oisín O'Farrell and impressive half-back Michael Mulcahy had created for them.

However, it was equally a story of an Ahane spirit that never flagged no matter how hopeless the scoreboard may have looked at times. Even though they struggled to convert dominant possession into scores, the wider spread of talent in their lineup gave them the options to rescue the result even when it looked beyond them.

Ahead led 0-5 to 0-4 at half-time in normal time.

Four minutes into the first period of extra-time, Senan's moved four ahead when O'Farrell's point was followed by Mulcahy collecting off Senan O'Brien to blast home his second goal.

However, they then missed another two scoreable chances to put the result to bed and Ahane inevitably responded with Glynn's free and Cian O'Sullivan narrowing the deficit to 2-10 to 1-11 at the change of ends.

The second period of extra-time started like the first with O'Farrell striking twice to leave Foynes four ahead with four minutes to go.

However, just as their packed defence appeared to have held out, Dylan O'Connell got a snap chance on goal and, even though it was stopped on the line, Donnacha O'Leary rammed the rebound home.

Two minutes of injury time followed, Senans missed a chance to reply on the break before it ended, as it seemed it inevitably would, with O'Connell firing a last gasp effort from a tight angle into the welcoming space between the posts.

Gavin Rowsome's final spot kick proved the winner in the shoot-out.

SCORERS: AHANE: Jack Butler (2 frees), Liam Ó Glynn (3 frees) 0-3 each, John Donohue, Donnacha O'Leary 1-0 each, Craig O'Connell, Kyle Furlong, Adam O'Donnell, Paddy Hussey, Cian Slattery, Dylan O'Connell 0-1 each; SAINT SENAN'S: Oisín O'Farrell 0-8 (2 frees), Michael Mulcahy 2-0, Philip Kearney 0-2, Cillian Meade, Killian O'Mahony 0-1 each.

AHANE: Cian O'Leary; Colm Slattery, Mark Murphy, James Myers; Dylan O'Connell, Danny Shahab, Stephen Hassett; Gavin Rowsome, David Carr; John Donohue, Jack Butler, Craig O'Connell; Adam O'Connell, Donnacha O'Leary, Kyle Furlong. SUBS: Liam Óg Glynn for Kyle Furlong (29 minutes), John Clifford for James Myers (half-time), Pádraig Hussey for Jack Butler (injured, 45 minutes), James Myers for John Clifford (half-time, extra time), Seán O'Neill for Stephen Hassett (72 minutes).

SAINT SENAN'S: Stephen kearney; Dominic Hayes, Cathal O'Sullivan, Eoin O'Donnell; mMichael Mulcahy, PJ Griffin, Senan Walsh; Cillian Meade, Oisín O'Farrell; AJ Moroney, Senan O'Brien, Aaron Kearns; Adam O'Malley, Philip Kearney, Killian O'Mahony. SUBS: Darragh Griffin for AJ Moroney (42 minutes), Tadhg O'Brien for Aaron Kearns (55 minutes), James Corbett for Senan Walsh (72 minutes).

REFEREE: Éamonn Phelan (Saint Patrick's).