East Cork Under 21A Football Championship Final

By Derek Kiely

Youghal 1-12 Erin's Own 0-11

YOUGHAL are the East Cork under 21'A'football champions after a four point victory over Erin's Own Friday evening in Midleton.
This was a hard game to call prior tothe throw in and there wasn't much between the sides in the firsthalf.
Youghal playing into the wind had thefirst score three minutes in when wing back Ronan O'Sullivan put theball over from play.
Three minutes later and the sides werelevel when Niall Scanlon pointed for the Caherlag men also from play.Erin's Own struck the lead for the only time on the eighth minutewhen Calvin O'Callaghan landed a free, but this was cancelled outseconds later when the Youghal captain James O'Mahony put one overfrom 21 meters out.
Adrian Curtin re-established the leadfor the Youghal men with a great score off the right boot, but againErin's Own levelled when Diarmuid Ryng pointed from play on the 14thminute.
Then Youghal had their best spell ofthe first half when O'Mahony gave Youghal the lead two minutes laterand after a great move on the 22nd minute Andrew Curtinscored a goal to give Youghal the four point advantage. Soon itbecame a five point gap when Adrian Curtin landed another score fromplay, but Erin's Own did have the last say of the first half with twopoints from David Smiddy and Mark Collins.
The second half was yet again a tightaffair and a costly opening 15 minutes for Erin's Own who missedchance after chance, but some great Youghal defending and someoutstanding goalkeeping from Scott O'Sullivan kept the Caherlag menout.
Youghal's full forward Dale Donoghuescored three crucial points all from play and Adrian Curtin put overfour points to help seal a famous victory for the Youghal Club who will now contest the County championships against Beara.
Scorers for Youghal: Adrian Curtin 0-6(2f) D Donoghue 0-3, Andrew Curtin 1-0, J O'Mahony 0-2, R O'Sullivan0-1.
Erin's Own: Calvin O'Callaghan, NScanlon, M Collins and D Ryng 0-2 each. D Smiddy and C O'Connor 0-1each.
YOUGHAL: S O'Sullivan; D Power, AKenny, L McCarthy; R O'Sullivan, M Cronin, P O'Sullivan; AFrahill-O'Connor, A Daly; Andrew Curtin, J O'Mahony (Cpt) AdrianCurtin; D O'Mahony, D Donoghue, C Keenaghan.
Subs: A O'Connor for D Power (HT) TColeman for A O'Connor (45) M Flaherty for C Keenaghan (61) V Cahillfor Andrew Curtin (62)
ERIN'S OWN: R O'Neill; K Moynihan, CDooley, N Fouhy (Cpt); C O'Connor, J Sheehan, N Scanlon; CalvinO'Callaghan, A Power, D Smiddy; Cian O'Callaghan, D Ryng, I Mylod.
Referee: James Bermingham (Bride Rovers)