Excellent Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana overcome St Aidan's, Cootehill to lift Faul Cup

Brilliant Naomh Mhuire, Buncrana superbly banished the blues of last year’s Faul Cup final defeat to with a most emphatic win over St Aidan’s, Cootehill at an icy Garvaghy.
Scoil Mhuire Buncrana 1-10 St Aidan’s Cootehill 0-5

But the Inishowen school’s large, vocal following did not mind the cold as they celebrated a great day thanks to the side managed by Kevin Campbell and assisted by Ciaran Thompson.

And it was three minutes of magic from outstanding corner forward Dylan Mulholland, which effectively sealed this affair early in the second half.

But the firm foundations for victory were laid in the first half when the Buncrana lads held their wind-assisted opponents to a 0-3 apiece scoreline at the break.

Cootehill actually got the first score of the second half from a pointed free from sub Harry McMullan in the 34th minute. But then Mulholland struck for a killer goal that had an element of good fortune in the 35th minute.

St Aidan’s keeper Caolan Reilly elected to punch rather than catch Billy Duffy’s long-range effort but Mulholland met the ball in mid-air and palmed to the net. He followed this up with two lightning points to put his side into a 1-5 to 0-4 lead.

Cootehill could only manage one more point from a free from Jake Whyte as the very well-drilled Buncrana side stormed to a very deserved victory 

And while they were very accurate up front their defence was outstanding - especially when playing into the wind in the first half when they repeatedly broke up their opponents’ attacks and were brilliantly led by centre-back Andrew Davison with Oisin McIntyre doing a fine sweeping job.

They did lose wing forward Shaunie Bradley to a straight red card in the 59th minute but the game was well over by that stage. For an outgunned St Aidan’s side, wing-back James Tully was outstanding.

St Aidan’s, who had a physical advantage in central slots, started briskly with the wind at their backs and put the Buncrana defence under swift pressure.

They could have had a goal after just two minutes when centre-back Ben Brennan got on the end of a flowing move-but Buncrana keeper Shane McNulty pulled off a superb point-blank save at the expense of a ‘45, which Adio Metlovas converted in the third minute.

Jake Whyte added another point from play in the 5th minute and Metlovas put them into a three-points lead by the tenth minute.

Cootehill had loads of possession but were too elaborate and a number of shooting chances were spurned as the Buncrana defence exerted big pressure on their own ‘45.

Sean McLaughlin landed two frees for them and the inevitable Mulholland levelled matters just before the break. And the wind-assisted Buncrana really asserted themselves-especially after Mulholland’s magic.

Donal Óg O’Brien and Billy Duffy were all on target as the winners cantered to a memorable victory which adds to the U-21 B title won by Buncrana just before Christmas.

Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana scorers: Dylan Mulholland 1-4; Sean McLaughlin 0-3 2f; Donal Og O’Brien 0-2; Billy Duffy 0-1.  

St Aidan’s, Cootehill scorers: Adio Metlovas 0-2,2f; Jake Whyte 0-1,1f; Harry McMullan 0-2.

Naomh Mhuire, Buncrana: Stephen McNulty; Daniel McMenamin, Leo Kelly, Elliott Friel: Conor Graham, Andrew Davison, Fionn O’Riordan; Aaron Duggan/Cleary, Donal Óg O’Brien; Shaunie Bradley, Sean McLaughlin, Billy Duffy; Dylan Mulholland, Darragh Coyle, Oisin McIntyre. 

Subs; Cillian McEleney for Leo Kelly (52), John McDaid for Darragh Coyle (56)

St Aidan’s, Cootehill: Caolan Reilly; Andrew Murray, Matthew McDermott, Conan McGahan; Adam Larmour, Ben Brennan, James Tully; John McDermott, Glen Hall; Shane Shalvey, Liam McCauley, Shane McCabe; Jake Whyte, Adio Metlovas, Machara Lynch. 

Subs; Harry McMullan for John McDermott (h-time), Michael Doherty for Shane McCabe (53).

Referee: Martin Conroy (Tyrone).