End-to-end affair sees Glenswilly pip Naomh Padraig Uisce Chaoin in U-21B

In a contest of inches, it was Glenswilly who sealed their place in the last four of the County U-21B Championship against Naomh Padraig on Saturday.

Glenswilly 1-14
Naomh Padraig Uisce Chaoin 2-10

The margins were thin throughout, with both sides showing a daring level of offensiveness that made it a great spectacle at Hibernian Park in Burt.

 The Inishowen side went at the break with a narrow lead of 1-6 to 0-8, thanks to a goal late in the half from Kevin Lynch following on from two points by Johnny Toye, the ATU goalkeeper and Naomh Padraig midfielder. One of his scores, from the sideline, was worth the admission fee alone.

 But just to emphasise the closeness on things, the goal came following a shot at goal at the other end from Emmet O'Boyle that struck the inside of the post. With Glenswilly upfield, the Naomh Padraig break was telling and they made the most of it. 

 For Glenswilly, who had won their opening three group games before losing out to Aodh Ruadh in their fourth, 17-year-old Daithi Gildea was on form with seven points in all. He would open the second half scoring to tie things up before edging his team in front before a placed ball from Kealan Dunleavy gave Adrian Glackin’s team a two-point lead.

 Naomh Padraig - missing Lee Barr, Oran McCauley, Drew McKiney and Ronan McCarron - had sealed their place in the last eight with a fine win over Malin and, driven on my Toye, Caolan and Cormac McColgan and Lynch, got back on terms again at 1-8 to 0-11. However, O’Boyle was on target to hit the net when another goal chance came his way and when Dunleavy added a free, Glenswilly were four up and looking good. 

But Naomh Padraig never lay down and a goal from Cormac McColgan brought them back to just the one down and right in the mix. Darragh Enright put Glenswilly 1-14 to 2-9 up before a breakaway Gildea point. Naomh Padraig then took it back to the minimum with Lynch scoring from a free. They had one late chance to force extra-time when a huge free from Toye fell just short and Glenswilly won by a point.

Glenswilly scorers: Daithi Gildea 0-7, 4f Emmet O’Boyle 1-1; Kealan Dunleavy 0-3, 3f; Jamie McCauley, Gerard Shields and Darragh Enright 0-1 each.
Naomh Padraig Uisce Chaoin scorers:  Cormac McColgan 1-2;  Kevin Lynch 1-2, 1f; Johnny Toye 0-3, 2f; Caolan McColgan 0-1.

Glenswilly: Caolan Curran; Jake Kelly, Sean Collum, John Lapsley; Oisin McDaid, Jack Gallagher, Sean Gallagher;  Kealan Dunleavy, Gerard Shields; Luke Toye, Emmet O'Boyle, Jamie McCauley; Daithi Gildea, Conor McGinty, Donal Gallagher. Subs: Gary Kelly for Toye, Mark Bonner for Oisin McDaid, Darragh Enright for McGinty; Oisin McGrenra for S Gallagher; Peadar Gallagher for Shields.
Naomh Padraig: Cormac Kelly; Shea Lynch, Darragh McIntyre, Dylan McCallion; Michael McCarron, Caolan Harkin, Caolan McColgan; Ronan Hoy, Johnny Toye; Cormac McColgan, Alan Clarke, Rian Gallagher; Kevin Doherty, Kevin Lynch, Oisin McIntyre. Subs: Peter Grant for Gallagher; Shane Grant for McCallion. 
Referee: Pat Barrett (Milford)